Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/7/2008

• Islamobil: Mosque on Wheels
• Emigrating British Family Turned Away From Canada Because Their Daughter, 7, is Disabled
• Spain: Parish Priest ‘Disarms’ Saint, Devotees Rebel
• Growing Support for Sweden Democrats
• Montenegro: Ethnic Albanians Jailed for Alleged Plot
• Terrorism: Algeria; 38 Killed, Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility
• Members of the Egyptian Unique Moustache Association: We Respect the Moustache of Hitler
• Saudi Arabia: Call for Legislation to Stop Child Marriages
• Debate on Churches in Gulf States
• Saudi Arabia: Library Opens Its Doors to Women
• Afghanistan: Colombian Soldiers to Back Spanish Troops

Thanks to Amil Imani, C. Cantoni, Insubria, Lugundum, Spackle, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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Islamobil: Mosque on Wheels

by Amil Imani

In one of my articles, Terrorists’ Bill of Rights, I described how America will be taken over by the Muslims. I warned that Muslims do it first by establishing Mosques in every town and city. These mosques range from the ostentatious, such as the one in Washington D.C., to the academically-cloaked university Islamic centers, to the innocuous storefront types and even prison chapels. One and all have the same aims: Hold the faithful in line, recruit as many new adherents by any and all means, and indoctrinate one and all in the imperative of Islamic conquest.

It is in these Islamic places that the impressionable young and the fanatical adults are drilled with the duty to carry out Jihad against the Dar ul Harb (“land of war”—anyplace not completely under the rule of Islam.)

Operating this vast network of Islamism requires significant financing. Saudi Arabia has spent over $80 billion for these operations since 1970. The other Gulf States, with their treasuries flush with oil money, have done and continue to do their share of financing.

Not to be out-done by the virulent Wahhabism of the Saudis and their co-sectist Sunnis, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been bank-rolling its own array of clientele in the Middle East, much of Africa, and as far away as Southeast Asia and Latin America in a push for Shiism. The-non-Muslim world is literally caught in a pincer of the two rabid Islamic forces.

There are those who still delude themselves by preferring to believe that Islam has not made as many inroads into the United States as it has in other parts of the world, such as Europe. Facts prove otherwise…

           — Hat tip: Amil Imani


Emigrating British Family Turned Away From Canada Because Their Daughter, 7, is Disabled

They had sold their home, packed their bags and flown to Canada for a new life.

Paul Chapman, his wife Barbara-Anne and their children Jack, 16, and Lucy, seven, were excited about setting up home on a two-acre plot in Nova Scotia, where the family Labrador, Harvey, was waiting to greet them.

That was until they had their dreams shattered by a border guard — who announced they could not enter the country because Lucy has a disability.

The bombshell came when the family from Wokingham, Berkshire, handed their passports over for inspection to a female guard at Halifax International Airport.

Mr Chapman, 42, a former Metropolitan Police officer, said: ‘She was looking at our passports when the atmosphere changed.

‘She said: ‘Why have you brought your daughter to this country?’

‘I asked why shouldn’t I bring her and was told by the border guard that because she was disabled she had a lifetime ban.

‘We couldn’t believe what they were saying and after a six-hour flight we had to get them to repeat it.

‘In 2008 a country as sophisticated as Canada was refusing my daughter entry because she is disabled.’…

           — Hat tip: Spackle


The Belgian Case and the Role Played by the State

A conversation with Hossam Shaker

“Muslims quite rightly expect these Councils to represent their interests and their expectations. Serious interference — as happened in Belgium — seriously undermines the credibility of some organisations in the eyes of their coreligionists, and this results in a dangerous sense of bewilderment regards to the real representatives of Muslims”. Hossam Shaker, a Viennese journalist and an attentive observer of the dynamics of Islam and Muslims in Europe, assesses with these words the various approaches of European States in their dialogue with Muslims, starting with the recent election in France of Muslim representatives, that according to Shaker, is an “important and also problematic experience”.

Interview by Khalid Chaouki.

What do you think of the recent elections held for French Muslims and the creation of the French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM)?

I believe that the French experience is certainly the most important and also the most problematic, at least within the European Union. In Europe, France is the country with the most Muslim citizens, and it is also a country that has always had its own system for dealing with minorities. However, although France is traditionally against the activities of EU lobbies and prefers to address the individual citizen, France also promoted the creation of a Council for the Muslim Faith which now represents most French Islamic organisations.

Among the criticisms made to the CFCM there is also that of having used undemocratic methods. Furthermore, the French State is said to interfere indirectly so as to influence its initiatives. What is your opinion?

I believe that the CFCM was the result of researching what was achievable after 15 years of expectations and immobility. It is strange that this idea came from Sarkozy, who greatly wished the project to succeed, seating around one table the most important Muslim associations in France with all their diversities, and following the serious conflicts of the past. Obviously it would have been best to create this Council through common work, shared between the State and the Islamic communities, but this is not always possible, especially as far as Muslims are concerned in France, where there is a very large, varied and divided community with different ethnic and cultural origins. What matters in this case is that the State will know when to stop and not interfere with the role played by the Islamic associations.

Have there been occasions on which this balance was not achieved?

Belgium represents an exemplary case of aggressive interference in the affairs of the Islamic community. What happened was that, after the democratic election of Muslim representatives to the Belgium Council of Muslims, the Minister of the Interior ordered a number of democratically elected leaders to be expelled from the Board of Directors, because he did not approve of their approach and some of their ideas. The greatest problem was the amenability shown by other Islamic organisations, which, with their silent approval, legitimised a dangerous precedent. If one chooses the democratic way, then the State must be the first to be coherent with its own teachings, otherwise it marks the beginning of a crisis. In fact at the moment, in Belgium relations between the State and Muslims are at a total standstill.

What are the consequences of all this, especially among Muslims?

The main issue is that, like all groups with particular ethnic characteristic, Muslims quite rightly expect these Councils to represent their interests and their expectations. Serious interferences such as happened in Belgium, seriously undermine the credibility of some organisations in the eyes of their coreligionists, and this results in a dangerous sense of bewilderment regards to the real representatives of Muslims. This happens above all when countries use these Councils to pass laws or rules that are increasingly restrictive for Muslims and do so with the indirect approval of some leaders.

Could you provide an example?

France is a sufficiently clear example. A few weeks after the CFCM was instated, the government began to study a new law against the Islamic veil and the Islamic organisations were unable to find the strength and the courage to oppose this proposal. Hence they were used as legitimising elements for a law obviously going against Muslim women’s right to wear the veil in public places. In many cases some governments do not acknowledge and allow the individual communities to freely express their concern and defend their rights. Communities are continuously reduced to having to justify themselves and state their innocence. This atmosphere is conditioned by the self-censorship imposed by some Muslim leaders, in exchange for greater official acknowledgement. The greatest fear is that space available for claiming rights and for opposing the many forms of discrimination will be handed over to other Islamic organisations, with obvious extremist orientations and provocative methods.

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Spain: Parish Priest ‘Disarms’ Saint, Devotees Rebel

(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID, AUGUST 6 — Saint James ‘the Moors killer’ — ‘matamoros’ according to the Spanish tradition — remained without sword, after the decision of the parish priest of the village of Nieva de Cameros, in the province of La Rioja, to eliminate the weapon clasped by the Saint’s statue, kept in the Church of Saint Martin. But the decision did not appeal to everyone, so much so that in Spain a widespread controversy, which also appeared on the Web, has arisen. The nickname of ‘matamoros’, which designates the apostle Saint James (Santiago in Spanish) especially along the route of the Way of Saint James towards Santiago de Compostela, was given to the Saint because of the legend which spread during the Reconquest. The legend says that in the year 859 the King of Galicia, Ordono I, while fighting with his soldiers against the Muslims, saw a knight on a white horse appear to his rescue; the knight launched into the battle and managed to defeat the enemy. Since then, Saint James the apostle has become a symbol of the Reconquest, depicted with the sword in hand on a white horse. But now, according to reports by ‘Diario Montanes’, the parish priest don Jose’ Luis Fernandez has decided to redeem the memory of Santiago and to ‘‘separate the Saint from the inconsistency which has been accompanying him for centuries, because he has never killed anyone,’’ the priest assured. Therefore, the priest has placed the sword clasped by the statue of Santiago, at his feet ‘‘as a symbol of those who trample violence’’. This decision has divided the devotees of the parish church and has triggered also an inflamed and controversial debate on the Internet. To begin with, don Fernandez decided to ‘‘disarm’’ Matamoros on July 25, on the occasion of the day of Santiago, patron Saint of the village: ‘‘I did not approve of the fact that the statue would be carried in procession through the village brandishing the sword’’, the priest told the media. The priest had prepared beforehand the devotees to the Saint’s radical change of image with a sermon focused on the fifth Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill. ‘‘The sermon was also inspired by the sentence uttered by Jesus to the Apostle Peter: Put your sword in the scabbard,’’ don Fernandez explained. Then, after a quick survey among the village’s residents, the priest decided to remove the sword, embedded in the hand of the Saint through a jointed piece of iron, and to place it in front of the horse’s hoofs, ‘‘so that, instead of representing a symbol of violence, it might be trampled and disowned by Santiago’’, the priest remarked. Thus Santiago, who has become the ex-Moors killer, appeared on the pages of the local newspapers. But he has stirred up also a lively debate on the Internet, where on the blog Urania, for instance, the disarmament is defined as ‘‘a supreme act of violence’’ which responds ‘‘to the migratory invasion of Europe by 30 million Muslims’’. But the priest strenuously defended his decision: ‘‘Santiago cannot be Matamoros, because he never killed anybody,’’ he said. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Growing Support for Sweden Democrats

The nationalist party Sweden Democrats has reached a new all time high in public support. For the first time have they gained more than five percent in a opinion poll and have thereby passed both the Centre Party (green liberal) and the Christian Democrats.

The Sweden Democrats got 5.5 percent in a new opinion poll by Sentio Research, which corresponds to almost 300 000 votes. If an election were held today, Sweden Democrats would hold 21 seats in the Riksdagen (Swedish parliament).

The opinion poll was carried out the week after the Politicians Week in Almedalen, where the Sweden Democrats were in focus after a number of attacks from other parties. The Social Democrats and the Greens demanded that all parties in the Riksdagen should declare not to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats and the party leader of the Christian Democrats, Göran Hägglund, devoted a large part of his public speech to criticize the politics of the Sweden Democrats.

Henric Oscarsson, political scientist at Gothenburg University, think that the attacks could have resulted in the increasing support for the nationalist party.

-Their anti-establishment message does to a large extent get across among people who are disappointed on the parties in the Riksdagen, he tells news agency TT.

           — Hat tip: Lugundum


Montenegro: Ethnic Albanians Jailed for Alleged Plot

Podgorica, 5 August (AKI) — A court in the small Balkan country of Montenegro on Tuesday convicted 12 ethnic Albanians, including four US citizens, of plotting a rebellion when the republic became independent of Serbia in 2006.

Judge Ivica Stankovic also convicted five other members of the group from Montenegro’s Albanian minority of possessing illegal weapons.

He sentenced the 17 defendants to prison terms ranging from three months to six and a half years for planning a rebellion and the Americans received some of the toughest sentences.

The ethnic Albanians were arrested on terrorism charges in September 2006, but the charges were later modified.

Authorities claimed they were planning attacks with a view to creating an autonomous region.

Ethnic Albanians comprise about six percent of Montenegro’s total population of 620,000 and are concentrated in several areas bordering Albania.

Twelve ethnic Albanians were sentenced to a total of 48 years in prison, ranging from terms of three to six years each, while several others were given lighter sentences.

All members of the group had pleaded not guilty to the charges and said they would appeal Tuesday’s verdict.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni


Terrorism: Algeria; 38 Killed, Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, AUGUST 6 — The Maghreb branch of al Qaeda has claimed the responsibility for two suicide attacks committed on July 23 and August 3 in Algeria, in which several people were injured, affirming that in the attacks a total of 38 soldiers and policemen were killed, the centre for surveillance of Islamic sites (SITE) informed. The first one of the two attacks was carried out in Lakhdaria, 70 kilometres east of Algiers, by a suicide bomber aboard a motorcycle who blew himself up in the way of a military convoy, injuring 13 soldiers, according to the account made on the Algerian media. The second one was committed on August 3 in Tizi Ouzou, in Kabylie, 150 kilometres east of Algiers, and caused 25 injuries, including four policemen, according to an account of Algeriàs Interior and Local Councils Ministry. In its statement, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is the heir of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), affirms that in the July 23 attack 25 men of the security forces were killed and 13 in the second one. The statement also provides the names and surnames of the two suicide bombers. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Members of the Egyptian Unique Moustache Association: We Respect the Moustache of Hitler

Because He Humiliated the World’s Most Despicable Sect

Don’t miss the insane chin fuzz and lip ferrets in this one — BB

(MEMRI video clip)

           — Hat tip: TB


Israeli, Palestinian Trade Unions Reach Historic Accord

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, AUGUST 6 — The Israeli national trade union centre Histadrut and the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), both of which are affiliated to the ITUC, have reached a landmark agreement to protect the rights of Palestinian workers employed by Israeli employers, and to base future relations on negotiations, dialogue and joint initiatives to advance “fraternity and coexistence between the two peoples.” The current agreement draws on the terms of an initial 1995 agreement, which it had not been possible to fully implement in the intervening years. The key features of the agreement include the reimbursement by Histadrut to the PGFTU of the outstanding balance of union and legal representation fees paid since 1993 by Palestinians working for Israeli employers. The reimbursement is based on a detailed year-by-year analysis of the fees paid by Palestinian workers, taking into account funds previously transferred to the PGFTU. The PGFTU will have sole discretion as to how the funds will be spent, in line with its Constitution. In the future, at least 50% of the representation fees paid by Palestinians working for Israeli employers will be transferred to the PGFTU, to enable both organizations to provide representation, legal and other trade union services to the workers. Implementation of the agreement, which was negotiated under the umbrella of the ITUC, will be overseen by a joint committee of the two organizations. “This agreement is tremendously significant, at a time when the political authorities in Israel and Palestine and the international community are failing to find just and lasting solutions to the political impasse. It means that the PGFTU will be able to ensure much more effective representation for Palestinian workers, while those working for Israeli employers will also benefit,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. “The agreement calls upon the ITUC and its affiliates to continue to support future cooperation, and we are fully committed to do this,” he added. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Saudi Official Slams “Racist” Israeli Nissan Ad

Shows rich Arabs attacking fuel-efficient car

A Saudi official has demanded an apology from auto-maker Nissan after Arab sheikhs were portrayed in a “racist” manner in an Israeli-made TV ad for a new fuel-efficient car.

The ad — produced by Israeli advertizing house Inbar Merhav Shaked — shows a group of irate and violent Arab oil barons attacking Nissan’s Tiida electric car — the new centerpiece of the car-makers green lineup.

The ad starts off with the wealthy-looking Arabs leaving the hotel and encountering the new Nissan vehicle. When they discover its fuel-efficient features, one man — shown wearing the traditional long white dress with a gold-lined black cloak — kicks the tire, then jumps onto the hood and starts pounding his fists on the windscreen.

All the while, security guards try to restrain him, as he shouts and screams and curses at the car.

At the end of the commercial, the voice-over says, “It’s clear the oil companies won’t like you.”

Speaking to MBC TV — the parent company of Al Arabiya — a Saudi official demanded an apology from the car-maker.

“It’s my opinion that Nissan made a huge error by igniting these [racist] instincts,” Hani al-Wafa said. “We need to apply punishments… against these things. In order for Nissan to keep its interests in the region, it must apologize.”

A spokesperson for Nissan in Israel, Daniella Ribenbach, told The Jerusalem Post: “It’s a humorous campaign that was loved by both the Jewish and Arab worlds.” She declined to comment further on the matter.

The Israeli advertising agency also declined to comment.

Nissan’s electric vehicle, introduced on Wednesday, is set to go on the market in Japan and the United States in 2010, and globally by 2012, The Post reported. The car is designed to provide more power than hybrid models, and has zero emissions.

One commenter on YouTube “moeali777” said that Arabs, not just Saudis, were offended by the ad. He wrote it was a “BAD COMMERCIAL NISSAN, heres why: 1. Arabs…buy 20 times more Nissan vehicles than Isrealis; 2. If the arabs did a commercial like this … how do you think the jews will react?; 3. Nissan better appologize or else they lost a s**t load of buyers.”

Another YouTube user, who goes by the name “zaydoun65” was more philosophical: “I’m Arabic from Kuwait and I think it’s a funny ad, but surely the Israelis knew what they were doing when they made it? Lighten up people!”

           — Hat tip: TB


Saudi Arabia: Call for Legislation to Stop Child Marriages

RIYADH: An 11-year-old boy gave out invitations to his classmates for a big event his family was planning this summer — and it wasn’t his birthday party.

It was his wedding to a 10-year-old cousin.

Muhammad Al-Rashidi’s marriage was eventually put on hold, his father said, after pressure from the governor of Hail, who considered the elementary school student too young to marry.

The case is among a recent spate of marriages involving the very young reported in the media and by human rights groups. They have been widely denounced by activists, Islamic scholars and others who say such unions are harmful to the children and trivialize the institution of marriage.

The Kingdom is already rocked by a high divorce rate that has jumped from 25 percent to 60 percent over the past 20 years, according to Noura Al-Shamlan, head of the research department at the Center of University Studies for Girls.

           — Hat tip: TB


Debate on Churches in Gulf States

By: E. B. Picali

In March 2008, the first Catholic church in Qatar — Our Lady of the Rosary — was inaugurated in the capital, Doha. Built on land donated by the Qatari Emir, it is meant to serve some 100,000 Catholics living in Qatar, nearly all of them foreign workers, who until then were forced to hold services in schools and private homes. Our Lady of the Rosary, which is affiliated with a mother church in Abu Dhabi, is one of five churches of various denominations whose construction was recently authorized by the Qatari government. The churches are prohibited from conducting missionary activity and from displaying external religious symbols.

In approving the construction of these churches, Qatar has joined other Gulf states — including Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, the UAE and Oman — which allow churches to operate within their borders.

The first church in the Gulf region was built in Bahrain, which today has some 30 churches, serving about 30,000 Christian citizens and many foreigners. Kuwait has some 10 churches, serving about 200 citizens and 400,000 foreigners. Three years ago, Kuwait allotted two large plots of land for the construction of additional churches, but objections by Islamists in the parliament and municipal authorities have delayed the implementation of the plans.

Saudi Arabia thus remains the only Gulf state that still bans the construction of non-Muslim houses of worship, despite pressure by the Vatican. According to a Vatican representative in the Gulf, three to four million Christians live in Saudi Arabia; however, the Saudis deny these figures.

           — Hat tip: TB


Saudi Arabia: Library Opens Its Doors to Women

Riyadh, 4 August (AKI) — Women in the Saudi coastal city of Dammam are able to use its library from Monday unaccompanied, according to the local ‘al-Watan’ newspaper.

“Female students no longer need to be escorted by a male relative,” said the library’s director, Saad al-Harithi, quoted by the paper.

“The library is a public place open to everyone and this rule was preventing women from coming.

“It is a safe place for everyone, and especially for women, who use a special area just for them,” al-Harithi said.

Besides encouraging women to use the library more, al-Harithi said he also wants to create sections for children, to introduce them to literature.

Most of the library’s users are university students preparing for exams, al-Harithi said, adding that it is difficult to estimate how many people use the library each day.

The library holds books in Arabic and English, while there are no volumes in other languages “as there have never been any foreign readers who have requested these,” al-Harithi said.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni


Afghanistan: Colombian Soldiers to Back Spanish Troops

Madrid, 7 August (AKI) — A contingent of 100 Colombian troops is likely to join Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan in 2009 in a bid to help quell the violence which has resurfaced in the war-torn country in recent months.

Spain would provide Colombia with training, infrastructure and equipment. In return, Colombian troops would be involved in demining activities, military engineering activities as well as counter drug-trafficking.

The deployment of Colombian troops would provide much needed help and relief for Spanish troops which are currently stationed near Qal-I-Naw, capital of Baghdis province in north-western Afghanistan.

If it goes ahead with the plan, Colombia would be the first Latin American country to be part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni