The Idan Raichel Project's single Mima'amakim (Hebrew for "Out of the Depths") is from the musical collaboration's 2005 album by the same title. The album, which is remarkable, reached triple platinum.
The featured songs are predominately in Hebrew and Amharic, but there are also tracks in Arabic, Zulu, Hindi and Yemenite Hebrew.
This month Israel's government decided to include the Tomb of the Patriarchs (also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron as a heritage site. The structure which surrounds the burial cave was built around 2,000 years ago by King Herod. Abraham, who is the forefather of the Jews, is buried at the site which contains a nearly 4,000 year-old link to the foundation of the Jewish faith.
On Sunday Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained that the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb would both be recognized as national heritage sites. Both areas have a palpable, direct link to Judaic faith and history.
However, the decision to list the site has sparked disapproval from the Obama administration. Officials associated with the United Nations have also condemned Israel. The question is why Jewish historical rights are unrecognized, even slammed by some, while Palestinian-Arab religious rights are revered despite the calls to violence and holy war from civilians under the Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu explained that the Palestinian Authority's warnings of a possible "religious war" is "an artificial attempt to distort reality and sow discord."
What is most telling is the fabricated claims issued during the last few hours from Palestinian officials which attempt to give Islamic significance to a traditionally Jewish site. For example, the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency issued a press release this week which called the tomb Islam’s "fourth holiest" site. Realistically, however, the region of Hebron is not considered a top holy site among Shi'ites or Sunnis. The tomb is not even among the top fifteen Islamic holy sites. In contrast, the tomb is the second holiest place for the Jewish worshipers.
Ultimately, the decision to include the tomb as a Jewish heritage and cultural site does not detract from Israel's recognition that the site is important to Muslims. For years the site has been shared as it is divided to give space to Jewish and Muslim worshipers throughout most of the year. The current clashes between violent Palestinian Arab protesters and Israeli security is unfortunate and reflective that it takes very little to spark violence among the Palestinian Authority.
Is it really that difficult for Arabs to share the site with Jews? These sorts of violent reactions, which are truly unnecessary, do not bode too well for peace and any possible sort of integration, coexistence or lasting stability.
The assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh continues to concern much of the international community. Al-Mabhouh, who was purportedly killed in a Dubai hotel room, was a senior Hamas member responsible for the transport of weapons from Iran to Gaza. He was also involved in the abductions and murders of two Israeli soldiers in 1989.
Police in Dubai are now claiming that between 26 to 30 operatives were involved. Last week General Khalfan Tamim, the Dubai police chief, said he was 99 percent sure Israel is responsible for the killing of al-Mabhouh. Several international governments are demanding that Israel offers answers in the wake of passport fraud in which the names on several of the passports of the alleged assassins match the names of civilians in Israel with dual citizenship who, in all cases, have never been to the United Arab Emirates.
As I expressed in an earlier post, several key facts are being overlooked by those who wish to lay blame at Israel's feet. Much of the international media is engaging in hasty prognostications without objectively assessing the incident.
One must bear in mind that there were two Jordanian-Palestinians extradited from Jordan to Dubai for their suspected involvement. Both men, according to Dubai authorities, are connected to Fatah. There is also reason to doubt the Mossad's involvement when one considers two of the agents, according to Dubai police, fled to Iran following the assassination of al-Mabhouh. Why would Israeli agents take shelter in Iran, a country which would most certainly put them to death if they were found? It also seems implausible that the Mossad would need up to thirty officials to eliminate one Hamas terrorist. Was the Mossad holding an annual conference for its agents in January... in Dubai? Lastly, I doubt that the Mossad, which is reputedly a competent and professional organization, would have difficulty in disabling CCTV cameras or that they would need to utilize passport names of existing civilians. The so-called “evidence” Dubai officials say links Israel to al-Mabhouh’s assassination is reminiscent of a child’s schoolyard prank to get a nemesis in trouble.
The most significant point, however, is that al-Mahbouh wasn't a peaceful civilian or irreproachable individual. He was a justifiable target of warfare with plenty of enemies, foreign and domestic. Oppressive, theocratic persons like al-Mabhouh, who use violence against civilians to achieve their contemptible goals, cannot be dealt with by reason. A man such as Mahmoud al-Mabhouh can only be dealt with by death, whether officially by execution in a war court or by assassination.
This week a historical bill which stipulated recognition for up to 1,000,000 Middle Eastern Jews was passed by the legislative branch of the Israeli government. The bill was sponsored by Rabbi Nissim Ze'ev of Shas, the Sephardi/Mizrahi Orthodox political party in Israel. MK Ze'ev said that the passing of the law is "historical justice" for the Middle Eastern, or Mizrahi, Jews.
The bill passed 34-1. The main objection to the law came from Taleb el-Sana, a Bedouin-Israeli politician and lawyer. El-Sana went on the record stating, "This is an illegal legislation that gives judicial authority to a ministry and turns political ideologies into crimes." Indeed some political ideologies are criminal. The Pan-Arabist or Arab Nationalist ideology, for instance, is a racist and violent creed which is largely responsible for an exodus of up to one million Middle Eastern Jews who endured terrible persecution in their native lands.
Displaced Iraqi-Jewish woman and children.
It is disheartening to witness the contempt and blatant effort at historical revisionism of Taleb el-Sana who enjoys the democratic elements of Israeli society where he heads his own political party. El-Sana panders to Arab Nationalists and enemies of Israel with his imprudent, unjustifiable objections.
When Jews from Iraq, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen and other Middle Eastern territories came to Israel, they lived in dusty transit camps for years. They endured terrible conditions without ever receiving any recognition from the international community or compensation for the fact they were dispossessed of their properties in the East.
The difference between the Jewish refugees and and the Arab refugees is that the Arab League, which is responsible for both refugee issues, refused to absorb the Arabs who presently reside in Gaza and the West Bank. It is difficult not to feel pity for the Arabs, who adopted the Palestinian identity in 1967, when one considers how ostracized they have been from the rest of the Middle East. Unfortunately, it is impossible, under present circumstances, to absorb these people into Israeli society when one considers the genocidal motivations of Palestinian leadership and the civilians who elect them. Neither does an autonomous and stable Palestinian country seem feasible. One only needs to look at Gaza, which was turned over by Israel to the Palestinians, to comprehend how quickly the Palestinians overwhelmingly elected Hamas, an Islamic Totalitarian entity bent on the destruction of the Jewish people.
The second annual session of the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy, which is organized by an international coalition of human rights NGOs, will be taking place in Geneva, Switzerland from March 8-9, 2010.
The summit will purposely coincide with the annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC). The conference will focus on issues which are widely neglected by the United Nation's Human Rights Council, which in the past elected Libya, a chief violator of human rights, as the chairman of the HRC.
Here is a promotional video from UN Watch featuring many of the brave individuals who have taken part in the Geneva Summit for Human Rights:
Click here for a list of NGOs participating in the conference. Click here to sign up for the conference.
February 23, 2010 will mark the ten year anniversary of the death of Ofra Haza. Ofra achieved international acclaim and collaborated with various international artists throughout her career. She is often considered an Israeli musical ambassador who was able to connect to audiences from the Middle East to North America.
Haza was born on November 19, 1957. She was was the daughter of Yemenite Jewish parents who fled from their native country's Islamic regime. Ofra's Yemenite roots inspired much of her music. During her career, Haza performed with the acclaimed Hatikva theatrical troupe before embarking on an extremely successful solo career in 1979.
My favorite version of "Shecharchoret," which means "dark girl" in Hebrew, was performed by Haza. It's a Ladino folk song written by Moshe Giora and Moshe Elimelech.
Like many kids of Israeli origin, I grew up on Ofra's music and adored her. She was graceful and lovely, and it is a huge loss that she is not with us today.
After more than 60 years Israel's government is finally pushing for a law which would recognize the refugee status of Middle Eastern, or Mizrahi, Jews who were forced to flee from their native lands due to persecution under newly formed Arab countries and governments. An Israeli bill, which stipulates recognition for the dispossession of Middle Eastern Jews, passed its first hearing two weeks ago. The bill will be subjected to two more hearings before it can officially become a law.
Recognition for Middle Eastern Jews isn't simply about money. Much more than money or businesses were lost by Mizrahi Jewry. This is about justice for these Jewish minorities who suffered both under Islamic sharia rule and Arab Nationalist governments, and who lost loved ones and their identities when they were driven out of their homes. It is also about addressing a distorted narrative of the Israel-Arab conflict which omits mention of the Middle Eastern Jews.
Lawmakers put together a bill demanding compensation on behalf of current Jewish Israeli citizens, who were expelled from Arab countries after Israel was established in 1948, leaving behind a significant amount of valuable property.
Originally submitted almost a year ago to the Knesset, the bill passed its first hearing two weeks ago. Now various interest groups are pushing the bill with the Knesset’s 120 members before it is subjected to a second and third hearing next week.
The bill was sponsored by MK Nissim Ze’ev (Shas) and follows a resolution passed in the US House of Representatives in 2008, calling for refugee recognition to be extended to Jews and Christians similar to that extended to Palestinians in the course of Middle East peace talks.
“I think the term ‘compensation’ is too limited a term,” former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler told The Media Line.
Cotler, a vocal advocate of the campaign, was one of several international representatives at the Knesset conference discussing the bill, organized by MK Nissim Ze’ev on Monday.
“We’re not just speaking about financial compensation or indemnification,” Cotler said. “We’re talking about justice for Jews from Arab countries. This speaks to the question of, among other things, rectifying the justice and peace narrative of the last 62 years where the question of Jews from Arab countries has not been part of the narrative.”
“There have been more than 160 UN resolutions on the matter of refugees,” he continued. “All 160 dealt with Palestinian refugees only. I’m not saying they shouldn’t address Palestinian refugees, but I’m saying there’s no justice and no truth if it does not also address the plight of Jews seeking justice from Arab countries.” [....]
I am very sorry that two of my grandparents from the Middle East, who escaped religious persecution and were refugees to a tiny and poor Israel, aren't alive today. I am certain they would have welcomed the knowledge that their plight is finally being recognized.
My paternal grandfather with his sons in the late 1950s. I have written about my grandfather's experiences as Jew in Iraq here.
The Arab League, through their wars and efforts to eliminate a newly founded Jewish entity, is responsible for both the Jewish and Arab refugee issue. Palestinian Arabs live in abject misery because the Arab League never absorbed these individuals, particularly after the Six-Day War in 1967 which was initiated by the Arab League. Nonetheless, I have made no secret of the fact that I support the notion of one state in which all people living in the so-called “disputed territories” would be declared citizens of Israel and given full rights irrespective of their religious background. Unfortunately, this idea cannot be translated to action presently, nor should it, when one considers the homicidal and hateful Palestinian Arab leadership and society.
Daniel Hannan, a British politician and a member of the European Parliament, spoke at the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies on January 24th. Mr. Hannan offered well thought out explanations for why Israel is unfairly targeted by the European Parliament. Hannan made several interesting points during his talk, including the idea that the European Union is a failed experiment. While I have heard similar ideas expressed on many occasions, especially by many of my British friends, Hannan makes unique comparisons of the nation-state and the European Union to Israel, the embodiment of a successful nation-state entity with a constitutional government. His lecture is very much worth listening to.
Last month a senior Hamas member was purportedly assassinated in a Dubai hotel room. The Hamas official was Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who had joined the Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological parent of movements like Hamas and Al Qaeda, in the 1970s. Al-Mabhouh was one of the founders of the Hamas organization. According to intelligence, he was involved in the abductions and murders of two Israeli soldiers in 1989. Al-Mabhouh was also responsible for sanctioning several terrorist attacks against Israel.
Israel has been condemned by Hamas for carrying out this assumed assassination. The international media has also implied that the Mossad, Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, likely sanctioned the assassination.
Reports released this week from Dubai, UAE contained the names of the alleged assassins. To make matters more compounded seven of the eleven names match up with people who reside in Israel. However, while the individuals share names with suspects identified by Dubai police, the individuals are not those in the photographs and have never been to the United Arab Emirates.
While many are taking the passports and names as a kind of substantiation that the Israeli Mossad utilized identities of Israeli residents to eliminate a terrorist, I am not convinced. At the very least, I don't think that people should take for granted the number of enemies al-Mabhouh had made.
Here is an excerpt from the Jerusalem Post (2/17/2010) citing Avigdor Lieberman's comments on this topic.
Dubai police this week released names, photos, and passport numbers of 11 members of an alleged hit-squad that killed Mabhouh in his luxury Dubai hotel room last month. Dubai said all 11 carried European passports. But most of the identities appear to be stolen and at least seven matched up with real people in Israel who claim they are victims of identity theft.
"I don't know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports," Lieberman told Army Radio in Israel's first official comments on the affair.
But Lieberman did not deny involvement outright, saying Israel rightly maintains a policy of ambiguity where security operations are concerned.
Ultimately the question is whether Israeli intelligence would leave behind such obvious evidence. The Mossad, which is consistently blamed for everything and anything by enemies of Israel, isn't rash or stupid which is why I find it difficult to believe they’d make a mistake and allow something to be traced back to their organization. It is also impossible to fathom that Israeli intelligence would need to commit identity fraud and endanger Israeli civilians because they're incapable of making fake passports.
This assassination could have easily been carried out by Fatah, Jordan, Egypt, and several other organizations or individuals with a personal vendetta against al-Mabhouh. Don't forget that there were two Jordanian-Palestinians involved as well who are now being questioned and held by Dubai authorities. Another idea is that the elimination of al-Mabhouh was a joint effort. Nonetheless, the death of al-Mabhouh, who was a terrorist, doesn't leave me pained. His death will provide much fodder for conspiracy theorists, but it is unlikely we'll know who killed him. People like al-Mabhouh who deeply believe in an Islamic government and an eventual Caliphate are no proponents for peace or stability.
A former Palestinian intelligence officer, Fahmi Shabaneh, has accused the Palestinian Authority of unbridled corruption. Shabaneh purportedly attempted to provide evidence, including video and documents, to Arab media officials who were unwilling, perhaps even worried for their lives, to expose the PA’s treachery.
Shabaneh approached Israeli journalist Zvi Yehezkeli (pictured) with documents which evidently prove that top officials have stolen millions of dollars of public money and have engaged in sexual favors.
This week Israel’s Channel 10 aired clips from a graphic video, captured around 2008, which shows the PA’s senior official in compromising positions with a female job applicant. The senior official, Rafiq al-Husseini, solicited sex from the applicant who was applying for a secretarial position. Al-Husseini, who is the chief of staff to Mahmoud Abbas, enters a bedroom and crawls into bed naked to wait for the woman. He then asks the female applicant in Arabic, "How does this work? Should I turn off the lights or will you?" A few moments later Shabaneh and others enter the room and confront him with allegations.
The former PA intelligence officer told Zvi Yehezkeli of Channel 10 that he felt compelled to release the video because Abbas and the PA would not investigate officials who Shabaneh contends were stealing millions of dollars. Mr. Shabaneh (pictured) has turned over evidence to Channel 10 which allegedly shows millions of dollars were allocated from government accounts to private ones. Shabaneh says that if Abbas won’t deal with the corruption, that he will unveil more evidence and begin to name senior officials who he calls corrupt.
Mr. Shabaneh is a resident of eastern Jerusalem and thereby he is not within reach of the PA which has issued a warrant for his arrest for charges which include conspiracy to murder. However, Shabaneh was seen on Wednesday’s edition of Israel’s Channel 10 news saying that he had purchased a grave spot for himself because he is well aware his life is in jeopardy for exposing the Palestinian Authority’s fraudulence.
The Palestinian Authority’s initial response, as expected, has been to suggest that Israel is to blame. A spokesperson for the PA says that Shabaneh is making up “lies and unreal stories,” alleging that the former intelligence officer is a collaborator with the Israeli government.
Shabaneh who spoke to Ynetnews.com responded to the claims that he collaborated with Israel. He explained, “If the claims in the PA are correct, how did I act as the head of the security division in the General Intelligence Service and was promised by Abbas to be appointed as the deputy governor of Jerusalem?"
Abbas said that the Palestinian Authority would investigate the matter and some Palestinian Arabs are expecting a resignation from al-Husseini. However, the Palestinian Authority remains adamant that this latest scandal is an Israeli conspiracy to discredit he PA. Unfortunately, they have not yet realized that they are discrediting themselves without any help from anyone.
Over the last few years the international community has repeatedly praised the Palestinian Authority, made up primarily of former Fatah members, for cleaning up corruption. It appears that corruption has not died along with the late Yasser Arafat.
Last night I was interviewed by Jacob of the "BIBI report liveshow" on Blog Talk Radio.
Topics covered in the interview include Netanyahu's first year in office, the looming Iranian threat, and activism on college campuses from Muslim students on behalf of Islamic Totalitarian organizations.
Listen to the interview by clicking the play button below. My interview begins at about 23 minutes and ends a few seconds before 44 minutes.
An Israeli Druze soldier, Ihab Khatib (pictured), was knifed to death by a West Bank terrorist on Wednesday.
My heart goes out to Khatib's family and friends. It is especially sad that this isn't the first tragedy to befall Ihab's family. The terrorist was caught at the scene and Israeli media reported that he served as a senior Palestinian security officer. This is a terrible loss for Israel and the IDF. The sincerity of this young man shines through. Like most in the Israeli Druze community, Ihab was a very proud Israeli. He continued to serve in the military after completing his mandatory service.
The uncle of Ihab Khatib, and Israel Defense Forces soldier who was knifed to death by a Palestinian terrorist in the West Bank earlier in the day, said Wednesday that "he was a boy with a heart of gold who loved to help everyone, and loved to serve in the military so he continued on even after his mandatory service was completed."
Khatib, a resident of the Druze village of Kfar Maghar, was survived by two parents, three sisters and two brothers. He was the eldest brother, and served as a non-commissioned logistics officer in the Kfir Brigade....
West Bank terrorists, moreover, have used knives to kill Israeli soldiers and civilians alike. This tactic isn't new.
Yesterday afternoon Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the United States, spoke at UC Irvine, my alma mater. The talk was co-sponsored by UCI's Law School and the Political Science Department. Although Oren is a respected historian and professor, he was interrupted throughout his lecture by members of the Muslim Student Union and their cohorts.
9 UCI students and 3 students from UC Riverside were arrested by UCI police and escorted out of the lecture hall. Professor Mark P. Petracca, director of UCI's Political Science Department, addressed the protesters during the event and called their behavior embarrassing:
"This is beyond embarrassing...this is no way for our undergraduate students to behave. We have an opportunity to hear from a policy maker relevant to one of the most important issues facing this planet and you are preventing not only yourself from hearing him but hundreds of other people in this room and hundreds of other people in an overflow room. Shame on you! This is not an example of free speech."
The interruptions during Oren's talk were similar to the ones I blogged about when I was a student, such as the attempts to silence distinguished figures like Dr. Daniel Pipes and Dr. Yaron Brook whom often speak on issues concerning Islamic Totalitarianism and the Middle East.
Here is a video from yesterday's event posted by the Orange County Register:
It is blatantly clear that members of the Muslim Student Union (MSU) are terrified of respected individuals like Michael Oren. Otherwise the MSU and their supporters would endeavor to engage speakers in intellectual debate rather than to censor them. The MSU regularly sponsors hate-mongers at UCI, such as Amir Abdel Malik Ali, Ward Churchill and Muhammad al-Asi, who express unequivocal support for Hamas and Hezbollah. The group has never been capable of recognizing that freedom of speech cannot be monopolized by one organization on campus and that preventing someone from speaking takes away from their civil rights.
In July 2009 a school teacher from London said that he had been fired after noting the rise of racism and harassment in his classroom with school officials.
The instructor, Nicholas Kafouris (pictured), is a Greek-born teacher who taught in East London for more than ten years. He says he encountered many immigrant students from predominantly Muslim backgrounds who would openly praise Islamic extremists in class. He also recalled incidents in which youngsters praised the September 11 Islamic terrorists as "heroes" or would declare Jews and Christians to be enemies during class time.
Although Mr. Kafouris says he underscored the problems to the school's headmistress, including submitting a standard "Racist Incident Reporting Sheet" to the school, he claims his concerns were ignored by the headmistress Jill Hankey.
In a statement to the Central London Employment Tribunal Kafouris says:
Miss Hankey proceeded to excuse and justify the pupil's behaviour, conduct and remarks to me as if I had no right to be offended by the child's remarks and conduct. Amongst Miss Hankey's justifications for the child's remarks, she said, "If the child was older, say 15, I might take it more seriously. He's only nine - he's only doing it to wind you up".
The teacher asserts that he was warned not to contest any of his pupils in class, ultimately causing him great stress which prompted him to take time off from work. Apparently this gave school officials an excuse to fire him from his position.
Perhaps what is most shocking in this case is that there is no evidence the school investigated the teacher's claims and dealt with them to ensure a comfortable learning environment. To tell an instructor to allow his students to run amok and to refrain from addressing the obvious racism exhibited by students is ludicrous.
Today was Nicholas Koufaris' hearing with the employment tribunal.
The Idan Raichel Project's third album, "Bein Kirot Beiti" ("Within My Walls"), is very solid with some Latin American influences. Past albums by the project, which were equally excellent, primarily featured African and Middle Eastern influences.
In his 2009 album Idan Raichel collaborated with successful Colombian singer Marta Gómez to produce and arrange "Cada DÃa" (Every Day) which is one of two songs in Spanish on the 2009 album.
Raichel's song did very well with Israeli audiences. During the 2009 "Cochav Nolad" in Israel, the equivalent of "American Idol" in America or "The X Factor" in the United Kingdom, one of the contestants and the ultimate winner sang a lovely cover during an episode with Idan Raichel.
A sixteen-year-old Turkish girl was buried alive by her male relatives in an apparent honor killing. The victim is being identified only as M.M. (her initials), but details of her murder have been released. Turkish newspapers are noting that the teenager allegedly brought "dishonor" to her family because she spoke with boys. The victim had contacted police two months before her murder, complaining about beatings she suffered from her male relatives. In Turkey and in the Middle East where people practice the barbaric custom of honor murders, family councils usually decide what to do with relatives for offenses that are considered to violate the moral tenets of Islam or cultural norms.
A subsequent postmortem examination revealed that M.M. had a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she was buried alive and conscious, forensic experts told the news agency. “The autopsy result is blood-curdling. According to our findings, the girl – who had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood – was alive and fully conscious when she was buried,” one anonymous expert said.
The girl’s father and grandfather have been formally arrested and jailed pending trial over her killing, according to the agency. The father is reported to have said in his testimony that the family was unhappy that M.M. had male friends.
The girl was reported as missing and no clues about her disappearance were found for 40 days. Her mother was arrested along with the father, Ayhan, and grandfather, Memi, but later released. The two men were sent to prison by a local court and did not speak in the court.
The JIDF, an organization dedicated to exposing anti-Semitism and Islamic Totalitarianism on the web, is one of the nominees for Twitter's Shorty Awards in the politics category. The contest is extremely close, so the JIDF needs your vote if you're a Twitter user (or don't mind signing up). Voting ends tomorrow night at midnight, Pacific Time.
The better the JIDF does in these kinds of internet contests, the more people will learn about the excellent work that they do. The JIDF is currently the only Israeli or Jewish organization in the politics category. As a friend of David, the founder of the JIDF, I can easily attest to the fact that he's one of the most efficient and inspirational Israel advocates I know.
You can be as creative as you want with the reason. Please let your friends and family know that they can help too-- it will only take a few seconds to cast your vote.
Joseph Massad, an associate professor from Columbia University, spoke at UCLA last week. His lecture, sponsored by the Center of Near Eastern Studies, was titled "Pre-Positional Conjunctions: Sexuality and/in Islam" in which he made a bizarre presentation suggesting that there are no homosexuals living in the Arab world because the idea of homosexuality or being "queer" is an imperialist or Western construct. Eric Golub who covered the event for Campus Watch notes that the lecture was in tune with Massad's text, Desiring Arabs, in which he asserts that homosexuality is a social construct. Massad's attitude concerning the West in his text is scathing and derisive, and very far from academic.
Here is an excerpt of Eric Golub's article, published on February 1st, from Campus Watch:
While past CNES lectures resulted in Israel-bashing and anti-Semitism, UCLA finally decided to honor its commitment to diversity by attacking another minority group. This time, homosexuals had their turn in the multicultural bile wheel.
This was not a seminar on sexuality in Islam. From inception to completion, it was nothing more than gay-bashing. This was on par with the thesis of Massad's 2007 book, Desiring Arabs, which posits that gay sexuality among Muslims does not exist, but is rather a Western plot designed to undermine the Muslim world.
There were few attendees, with half the crowd consisting of elderly people and the other half students checking each other out to see if they were being checked out. Upon realizing that the lecture was an anti-sex discussion of homosexuality rather than a pro-sex meeting with flowers and Barry White music, a portion of the audience left.
The UCLA devotion to hyper-tolerance offered plenty of intolerance from Massad. Here's a sampling:
"Queer is about resistance to Islam."
"Queer is unknown and should not be demanded of most of the Arabic public."
"There is no Arabic transliteration of queer. It is a judgmental notice of deviance."
Offering up a helping of academic jargon, he described the queer issue as "epistemological" and "ontological."
Massad then claimed: "To the Islamic, hate and sexuality are only translatable to English-speaking people."
I keep forgetting about imaginary Judeo-Christian rape and honor killings.
"Queer is an imperialist term. It is part of the Anglo-American gay agenda."
He finally figured out the Neocon Zionist conspiracy. It spreads homosexuality throughout the Arab world so that Arab nations cannot reproduce. This explains why, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Middle East and North Africa are home to, "the world's second-fastest growing population, after sub-Saharan Africa."
"Queer is an example of cultural imperialism."
"Use of 'gay' in Iran is imperial politics."
Ahmadinejad famously told a Columbia University audience that there are no gay people in his country. One might ask Massad, how the West could have exported gay people if there are none over there?
"There is no such thing as Iran/Arab/Muslim sexuality. Sexuality is an English notion."
Is every single Arab or Muslim the result of an immaculate conception?
He then admitted he was "very interested in talking to people about their sexual experiences if they want to tell me." [...]
The Ethiopian Jewish community's Sigd is very important to the community. The holiday is several centuries old, celebrating that Ethiopian Jewry maintained their faith and persevered despite persecution. It was last celebrated in November 2009, traditionally falling on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan.
Some naysayers have argued that Sigd is not truly a holiday or it does not fit in with the Jewish religion, suggesting that it should not be adopted by Israel. However, Sigd is as much a holiday which commemorates the heritage and history of Israel's people as Purim celebrates Persian Jewry’s freedom from Haman, the royal vizier to King Ahasuerus, who had planned to kill the Jews under Persian rule.
The following is a video created by a YouTube user Jay3fer to celebrate Sigd 2009 and its official recognition by the Knesset. The song in the video is “Zichronot M'Africa” (“Memories from Africa”) from the kid's Putomayo collection. It is sung by Shlomo Gronich and the Sheba Choir (made up of Israeli children of Ethiopian origin).
The Knesset’s adoption of Sigd in 2008 as an official Israeli holiday was a positive move in the right direction. It can certainly aid Ethiopian Jews in the integration process and promote a greater understanding of the unique community to other Israelis. Like other customs of various ethnic Jewish groups, such as the Mimouna of North African Jews, Sigd should become a part of Israel’s unique cultural fabric. People don’t have to celebrate it if they don’t wish to, but at the very least we can respect the Ethiopian Jewish community enough to acknowledge their history.
Palestinian leaders and the weak-willed international community regularly blame Israel for everything from the weather to sewage infrastructure in Gaza. There won't be much, if any, condemnation of Islamic terror organizations in Gaza for today's rocket attacks and foiled terror attacks.
Also today two barrels with explosive devices washed up on the shores in south Israel. Apparently the explosives were cast a float from Gaza. Several Palestinian terror groups have claimed responsibility for the failed attack, including Islamic Jihad, the so-called moderate Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades. An Israeli team of bomb experts neutralized the explosives.
Last week a UN-backed report from the Human Rights Watch rejected Hamas' asinine claims that the firing of kassam rockets at Israel was meant to maim only military officials. Were the explosive devices which were sent via the sea to Israeli shores, which are filled with tourists and civilians alike, only meant to harm Israeli military too, then?
The Islamic Republic of Iran has vowed to execute nine additional people for their connection with protests following the rigged re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The nine people sentenced to death are among eleven who were sentenced by Tehran's Revolutionary Court. Two men were hanged last week.
Police have arrested more than 4,000 individuals following the government crackdowns on post-election protests.
Here are some details, courtesy of the Times Online:
Nine more dissidents will be executed soon, a senior member of Iran's judiciary declared today, as the regime stepped up its efforts to deter another huge opposition rally planned for next week.
The regime is sufficiently worried that it has ordered state television not to broadcast the usual historic television footage of insurrection on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah, lest the scenes incite today's opposition to follow suit.
Last Thursday it hanged two men for allegedly plotting against the regime - a move condemned internationally but praised by Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a hardline cleric, during Friday prayers in Tehran....
I am a journalist and researcher, and have written numerous research and investigative pieces. My work has been published with several notable organizations, including CAMERA on Campus, the Jewish Policy Center, Pajamas Media, and the Investigative Project on Terror.
My interests include ethics and epistemology, history, economics, and international relations.
I graduated from the University of California, Irvine with distinguished honors, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English. Presently I am pursuing a Master's degree at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism in the field of Broadcast Journalism. I can be reached at Reut AT reutrcohen DOT com.
