November 4, 2015 – The latest on the ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT ATTEMPTS TO STRANGLE ISRAEL. The BDS Movement. Worldwide explosion of anti-Semitism against Jews. Focus at this NY City Hall presser was on Kuwaiti Airlines and their discrimination against Israeli Citizens flying to London.
VIDEO of FULL PRESSER – 25 minutes
The nine speakers in order: Lancman,Hoelein,Goldstein,Levine,Moerdler,Greenfield,Levitky,Maisel and Dr. Stone.
Elected Officials, Advocates Call on Department of Transportation and Port Authority to Enforce DOT Decision Prohibiting Kuwait Airways’ Discrimination Against Israeli Citizens.
WHAT:
The Lawfare Project, New York City Council Members Lancman, Greenfield, and Maisel, and others call on the Port Authority and the Department of Transportation (DOT) to enforce federal anti-discrimination laws and the anti-discrimination provisions of Kuwait Airways’ lease at JFK Airport to prevent the airline from continuing to refuse to sell tickets to Israeli citizens.
DOT has already determined that this policy violates federal law, and its practice violates the airline’s lease with the Port Authority. The Council Members and advocates publicly released a letter to DOT and the Port Authority requesting enforcement action or termination of Kuwait Airways’ lease and ability to fly out of JFK Airport.
WHO:
Council Members Rory I. Lancman, David Greenfield, Alan Maisel, Mark Levine
Malcolm Hoenlein – Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
Professor Richard B. Stone – Former Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
Jeffrey A. Moerdler – Former Commissioner, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Jeffrey Lovitky – Attorney at Law, counsel for complainant in action against DOT
Brooke Goldstein – Director, The Lawfare Project
WHERE:
City Hall Steps (City Hall Park, New York, NY 10007)
WHEN:
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 @ 12:00PM ET
STATEMENTS:
“I commend the Department of Transportation on reaching its just conclusion, and urge both the DOT and Port Authority to take all steps necessary to ensure that Kuwait Airways’ flagrant discrimination is not permitted in the United States.”
– Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
“The Department of Transportation’s decision is a crucial step toward the elimination of unlawful discrimination in air travel and the protection of human rights. Now, it is imperative that DOT and the Port Authority staunchly enforce this decision such that Kuwait Airways ceases its deplorable conduct. All travelers within the United States should expect to be treated equally in our nation’s airports, regardless of their ethnicity or national origin.” – Brooke Goldstein, Director, The Lawfare Project
“The Arab League boycott, of which Kuwait Airways’ reprehensible practices are part and parcel, is discriminatory at its core. Like the modern-day BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement, the Arab League boycott and its offshoots are expressions of bigotry. This is precisely why the U.S. Congress and state governments have enacted anti-boycott legislation to protect individuals and entities who are singled out for unequal, punitive treatment based not on what they do, but on who they are.” – Professor Richard B. Stone, Former Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
“Kuwait Airway’s action establishes an intolerable precedent for the airline industry. If an airline stated that it would not accept passengers with Mexican passports, people would justifiably claim discrimination against Hispanics. If an airline stated that it would not accept passengers with Saudi passports, people would justifiably claim discrimination against Muslim passengers. The same is true here, except that the discrimination is directed against citizens of the Jewish state. The Arab League boycott of Israel is a manifestation of religious intolerance, motivated by the Jewish nature of the State of Israel.
The illegal discrimination practiced by Kuwait Airways is inconsistent with our laws and our fundamental values as a nation. By its terms, the permit granted by the Department of Transportation to Kuwait Airways has lapsed because that airline is not in compliance with U.S. law. Therefore, the Department of Transportation must swiftly terminate all Kuwait Airways service between New York and London. Such termination is mandated by statute, and is fully consistent with Article 4 of the U.S.-Kuwait Air Transportation (“Open Skies”) Agreement.”
– Jeffrey Lovitky, Attorney at Law
“The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has a long tradition of doing the right thing. Now that the U.S. Department of Transportation has determined that Kuwait Airlines’ policy of not selling tickets on flights to London to Israeli passport holders violates United States law, we call on the Port Authority to do the right thing here too and enforce the anti-discrimination provisions of its lease with Kuwait Airlines.”– Jeffrey A. Moerdler, Former Commissioner, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
From AFSI: In the Middle East, the Muslims are moving the clock back to the seventh century, as they attempt to regain the glory of the early years of Islam. Today, Islam is on the march. ISIS, the Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah are all the same thing, and make no mistake – all are bent on jihad and the destruction of western civilization.
The “Little Satan” – Israel – is the only bulwark keeping Islam from conquering Europe, by preventing a total Islamist takeover of the Middle East. Israel is buying Europe a little time. Alas, to its grave misfortune Europe is squandering the opportunity Israel is presenting it. Europe is importing hundreds of thousands of Muslims; people who will never integrate into European society, but who are creating parallel governments, education and social systems, with one aim: conquest. Forget bombs or a decades-long battle of the womb. Muslims are very quickly reaching critical mass in major cities throughout Europe, and only need to be a small percent of a society’s population before they are empowered to use their power. It is happening in front of our eyes.
Here in the United States, the Obama administration has made several pronouncements indicating a decision to take in and resettle at least 100,000 “refugees” from the Middle East.
If it goes ahead and is successful with this plan, woe is us.
History DOES repeat itself as documented in these videos on the horrors of anti-semitism – Film maker Pierre Rehovhas dedicated himself to exposing the murderous lies and anti-Semitism by recently making available these two important videos.
Closing thoughts, as the Global Warfare metastasizes and the THIRD Intifada continues. The Religion of “Peace” has struck AGAIN:
“the attack on france is what israel goes through daily for close to 70 years. when arafat turned down the bill clinton-brokered peace treaty (june, 2000) in which the palestinians got 98% of what they demanded (still, without recognizing israel!), arafat started the second intifada, in which 1000 israelis were blown up on a daily basis, in pizzeria’s, on buses, etc. Considering the population differences (israel has 7 million people, america, 325 million), that would be the equivalent of an uprising in this country where 50,000 people were killed. did you read that? every time 5 israelis are stabbed or murdered —which is an everyday occurrence — that’s the equivalent of it happening to 50 people in france.daily. and all obama and hillary and kerry and the EU and Ban at the UN can do is blame israel for building apartments in its own territory as the main cause for the worldwide terror. sure.” [seth swirsky]
“… isn’t it about time to rethink this whole diversity-for-the-sake-of-diversity nonsense?? How do we co-exist with crazed… lunatics?”
WELCOME THE REFUGEES KICK OUT NAZIS, POLITICIANS, AND COPS
Call for a No Borders and Antifascist contingent to the 9/12 Syrian Refugee solidarity demonstration
In Budapest, Lampedusa, Lesvos, Berlin, Calais, Kobani, Manus Island Melilla, the Negev, Yarmouk, Rafa, Santo Domingo, San Antonio and Nogales, we see the same crisis, the same dehumanizing rhetoric. We are told those fleeing violence and poverty of in Latin America, North Africa, and the Middle East are contagions of instability, that in order to defend our national character, we must build walls and detention camps, and ruthlessly exploit the chosen few we allow in.
They call this the worst refugee crisis since World War II. And today, just as Jews, Roma, Queers and others were turned away by the Allies, the thousands of Syrian, Iraqis, Kurds, and Afghans now fleeing ISIS, Assad and Erdogan are labeled pariahs and infiltrators.
In Turkey, Hungary, Germany, Britain, Sweden, France, Greece, Israel and the United States, nationalist politicians and fascist groups have used the crisis to heighten the friend/enemy and inside/outside rhetoric that props up their disgusting militarism, bigotry, and ethnic cleansing.
Over the last four years, sections of the United States have begun to wake up and take to the streets, confronting the bourgeois state and the murdering racist police that protect it.
In New York this Saturday, hundreds will call for the United States to take in Syrian refugees. We will stand with them to push that rhetoric even further:
– Solidarity with all those displaced by bombs, markets, or discrimination – Abolish borders, and the nationalism and racism that depend on them – Free entry for Syrian refugees, and everyone else!
Invite friends! Bring your crew… you’ll know us by the antifa and black flags!
Long live social revolution! Down with tyranny! THE ANARCHIST FIGHTERS.
==
A member of NY-ICEgave me a heads-up on this rally. Glad I caught it.
SEIU was on hand— as always-
As was NY-ICE ( New Yorkers For Immigration control)
The age of the rally participants was YOUNG, obnoxious and very ANTI- America.
Followed by the older die-hard ‘seniors’ who won’t rest til America (and Israel) are both destroyed.
The more recent addition: the Muslims.
ALL working together to deconstruct-America by brainwashing our youth. One Day. One Class. One meeting at a time.
There is a sickness in our colleges. Our schools. Our text-books. A disease fed and nurtured by the soc/commie/progs (ALL of whom are welcomed by our media and our educators)
ANARCHY breeds contempt (for America)
Contempt and the death of FREEDOM (they just don’t ‘get’ that—yet—)
Part 1 video – This guy chose (who said “YES, I am an AMERICAN”) Challenged the agitprop glaring from sign after sign, “There are enough people here already. Homeless. No jobs”
Of course there were the usual Commies, Socialistas, a mix of Muslims/Syrians and pro ‘fakestinians’. They say, “WELCOME THE REFUGEES, KICK OUT NAZIS, POLITICIANS AND COPS”
Part 2 video – The Anarchists’ spokesman gave a detailed propaganda diatribe regarding Obama, Syria and the Muslim refugees.
John Hawkins | Sep 12, 2015 – As millions of Syrian migrants stream into Europe, the Obama Administration has announced that the United States will be taking in 10,000 refugees… if we were picking nations to recruit new Americans from, Syria would be pretty close to the bottom of the list.
People speak Arabic there, not English… it’s a dictatorship… the people of Syria have little experience with democracy, freedom of the press or the rule of law….Syria is not a fertile breeding ground of the sort of people who are going to fit into the culture of a country like America and make a big contribution…
Syria is also an ISIS stronghold and the terrorist group has publicly promised to use the migrant crisis to sneak its members into Western countries. This is not an idle threat.
… the United States has already done more than any nation in history to help nations in the Middle East… We already take in 70,000 refugees a year, we have north of 5 million illegal immigrants here using their kids to live on the dole (and that’s a VERY conservative estimate), we spend billions we don’t have in foreign aid every year and the American people give more to charity than any other group of people on earth. When is enough, enough?
… It’s time that we let other nations do their fair share for once instead of risking the next 9/11 by taking in Syrian migrants.
++
In closing,a look at, what for now, is the local political front:
I missed the ubiquitous Linda Sarsour. I left after the main speech. Look at the picture behind her. That display must have come with/for Sarsour’s speech. (she is being groomed to run for political office in Brooklyn) so manipulating the hearts and simple-minds of the indoctrinated…is pro-forma.
Next up – I’m off to the Annual Muzzie Day Parade – 2015 –
NYC – September 1, 2015. RALLY AND PRESS CONFERENCE AGAINST A NUCLEAR IRAN
On this day, 7,000 people gathered outside two sitting Senators’ offices, a landmark political event, where a group of bi-partisan political leaders, brave American veterans and victims of Iranian terror gathered to deliver their message to her personally:
“Senator Gillibrand: Don’t Surrender America, Join Senator Chuck Schumer to Oppose this Bad Deal. We need a BETTER deal!”
(AFSI ) “The Stop Iran Now”Rally in front of Senator Schumer & Gillibrand’s offices went off without a hitch. An evening filled with inspirational speakers, “Hope was in the air as speaker after speaker highlighted the dangers of the deal, yet cautioned against defeatism. “
Kudos to the ZOA and others who helped organize and run the event.”
Link to complete audio with pictures
Part 1
Part 2
Introductory remarks- Jeffrey Wiesenfeld – Master of Ceremonies at 1:17
Intro of Ken Stethem at 2:41 . Stethem, a former US Navy SEAL whose brother Robert Stethemwas murdered by Hezbollah, begins speaking at 3:40
Wiesenfeld continues with, “Why we’re here ” at 12:36
Wiesenfeld intros Robert Bartlett at 14:24 . Robert Bartlett, a US Army Staff Sergeant Retired gravely injured by an Iranian bomb, begins speaking at 15:15
Wiesenfeld at 19:24 refers to the Gay Pride Flag and the murder of Gays in Iran.
Wiesenfeld then introsDaniel Miller at 20:33 . Daniel Miller, a victim of an Iranian financed terror-attack by Hamas, begins speaking at 21:14
Wiesenfeld introsMichael Gallagher and David Webb at 26:13
Michael Gallagher, Radio Host from 970 AM The Answer, begins speaking at 26:42
David Webb, Radio Host Sirius XM Patriot Ch 25, begins speaking at 31:44
Wiesenfeld intros the Key Note Speakers: Senators Lieberman and Lindsey Graham at 36:09
SenatorGraham, a Third-Term Republican Senator (NC), Former Congressman, Retired Air Force Reserve Colonel, speaks at 36:54
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Chairman of United Against Nuclear Iran, Former Democratic and Independent Senator (Conn) serving from 1989 to 2013, begins to speak at 41:40
Remarks from Wiesenfeld at 49:14
Then Wiesenfeld intros James Woolsey at49:45.
Woolsey, former Director of the CIA under Dem. and Rep. presidents and Chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, speaks at 50:19
Wiesenfeld gives another scathing criticism of Congressman Jerry Nadler‘s betrayal of his constituents at 55:10
Wiesenfeld then mentions State Senator Jesse Hamilton at 55:25 . Though he was scheduled to speak at the rally, Hamilton became a No-Show because of the “rev” Al Sharpton’s thuggery.
Continuing with the speakers:
Rob Astorino,Westchester County Executive, speaks at 55:56
At 59:29 Wiesenfeld reminds us that in 2009, as the Iranian regime was collapsing, we HELPED that regime to survive.
He then introduces Michael Ledeen, an Historian and expert on Iran’s failed 2009 Green Revolution. He speaks at 59:32.
Wiesenfeld intros Sami Steigmann at1:02.
Steigmann, a child survivor of experiments, abuse and torture at the hands of Nazi doctors at labor camp in Mogilev Podolski, Ukraine, during World War II. Steigmann begins to speak at 1:03
At 1:08:14 Richard Allen, co-organizer of the rally speaks and then introsKevin McCullough, radio host from WMCA and 970 The Answer, at 1:08:42
McCullough begins speaking at 1:09:33
Wiesenfeld introsDove Hikind, (D) NY State Assemblyman at 1:15:10.
Hikind begins speaking at 1:15:24.
Assemblyman Hikind, pointing to a truck (that for two hours went round and round the block) said ,“There is a sign… saying that the Ayatollahs send their thanks to the US. Well, they have a lot to be thankful for. They are getting a cash windfall that they never thought possible because of this outrageous deal and the ability to have a faster breakout time on a nuclear weapon.”
..
More from Wiesenfeld on Congressman Jerry Nadler at 1:22:19. Then he also shows us a NY Times ad, a letter signed by 214 military generals etc opposing the Iran Deal.
..
Wiesenfeld intros Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdaleat 1:24:23
Rabbi Weissbegins speaking at 1:24:52
Weisenfeld intros Rebecca Yousefzadeh Sassouni, an Iranian-American lawyer and activist whose family was forced to flee Iran, at 1:31:37.She begins speaking at 1:32:28.
Weisenfeld intros Frank Gaffney of The Center For Security Policy at 1:40:32
Gaffney begins speaking at 1:41:21.
Gaffneyintros his CSP Associate, Fred Fleitz at 1:49:36.
Fleitz, 25 year career with the CIA, DIA, and the House Intelligence Committee staff, Chief of Staff to John Bolton when he was Under Secretary of State for Arms Control, senior vice president for policy and programs at the Center for Security Policy, begins speaking at 1:49:54
Brief closing remarks from Jeffrey Wiesenfeld at 1:53:56 END audio at 1:55:36
“Today,(Wednesday, September 3) we read that Obama got the votes; 34 was his magic number and he reached it. A short while ago we heard that even ‘friend of Israel’, Hakeem Jeffries, who was originally leaning against the deal, will support it and not vote to override.”
1. An end to the farce being perpetrated against the American people with a pending deal which will endanger America and our allies.
2. A restoration of the ORIGINAL demands – NO nuclear military capability, NO centrifuges and authority for any and all unannounced inspections of all known and any future facilities discovered.
3. Providing an understanding that a failure to STOP IRAN NOW will necessitate a military response later.
The nation opposes the US Surrender Plan to Iran. Our Senators and Congress members must hear us!
“Retired Senator Joe Liebermanstated that even if Obama got the votes to override a Senate veto, the battle would not be lost and we should certainly stay true to the cause… a lot can happen between now and the vote in Congress, so we should continue opposing the deal and certainly not give up… even if Obama got the votes to override a Senate veto, the battle would not be lost and we should certainly stay true to the cause.”
Genocide:a term coined by Polish writer and attorney, Raphael Lemkin, in 1941.
As defined by the UN in 1948, GENOCIDE means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including:
(a) killing members of the group (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
A tragic centennial. 100 years. 1915 (lasting til 1923)
2015- I saw this ad below in Times Square, just a few days before The Armenian Holocaust Remembrance Day (hat tip from Urban Infidel)
The ad proclaims: TURKEY: Partner in Peace.”
(Notice the ‘c’ in ‘peace’) It’s a large red Islamic crescent and star.
..
In the background of this ad is The Blue Mosque (surrounded by minarets).
1616 A.D., it was built on the site of the Byzantine emperors’ palace & facing the beautiful Byzantine CHURCH, the Hagia Sophia.
Remember the Ground Zero Mosque? (Same idea) Islam andthe desecration of the Hagia Sophia. In 1453, after invading Constantinople, the Muslim Sultan, Mehmet ll, entered the Cathedral (the Hagia Sophia) and insisted it be transformed to a mosque at once. One of the Ulama climbed the pulpit and recited the Shahada.
An evil deed: done. The Hagia Sophia. VIOLATED.
Today, a beautiful Cathedral remains surrounded by those VILE minarets, forced to be a mosque/museum. Never again allowed to be a CHURCH.2015. Times Square. With these 21st century ads, Lies and More Lies abound. as Turkey continues to deny a Genocide. No Factcheck/Just LIES.
Turkish ads purposefully juxtaposed to the “REMEMBER the Armenian Genocide” billboard.
NEVER let an opportunity to OFFEND … Christians or Jews … go to waste.FACT: The history of Islam is NOT PEACE.
FACT: There were an estimated two million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire on the eve of WWI.
Approximately one and a half million Armenians perished between 1915 and 1923. Another half million found shelter abroad.
“… in all the cities and towns… (in Turkey) when you pick up a stone, under it is a story of an Armenian.”
The message is still the same : Stop Islamic Genocide!
April 24, 2015 – The Armenian Remembrance Day crowds gathered in Times Square and they were HUGE.Packed shoulder to shoulder from 44th street to 42nd st. (Walking through the crowd was nearly impossible)
It was also, the seventh year in a row that President Barack Obama has broken his promise to use the word “genocide” to describe the atrocity.WHO still REFUSES to call the mass killings a genocide? The Turkish government, the United States and President Obama .
Also, the European Commission, the United Kingdom AND (of course) the United Nations.
They ALL still refuse to acknowledge this first genocide of the the 20th century.
Yet, New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has signed a proclamation declaring April 24, 2015 the Armenian Remembrance Day; a day to honor the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
The document reads.“We honor the memories of the victims of the Armenian Genocide and pay tribute to the survivors, especially those who have established roots in New York, where new generation of Armenian Americans continues to thrive”
NY Senator, Chuck Schumer, had this to say about “Why are we here?”
More info can be found here on the Armenian Genocide
NEVER FORGET !
Sadly, the victims of Islam include those who are (and were) FORCED to be Muslim. It’s a FACT: Apostasy means DEATH. Christians, Jews, Hindus. even Muslims…. ALL are victims of the Savage Muslim hoards. Today. Tomorrow. Yesterday.
Yet, the Western Cultural elites continue to ignore the truth.
Inspired by a radical Islamist philosophy that considers all ancient artifacts and ruins as un-Islamic and akin to idolatry, the Islamic State has been on the rampage against antiquity.
In Iraq, it has destroyed the ancient cities of Nimrud, Nineveh and Hatra. Palmyra, home to some of the best-preserved, most-striking ruins outside of Rome, will be an even greater loss.
Whether the Islamic State wins or loses, even its brief occupation of Palmyra will resonate for generations.
We have been warned and SILENCE is NOT the Answer.In conclusion (for now) a slide show of more pictures from April 24th, 2015 .
The topic of the evening: “The First Amendment and Social Criticism”.
The First Amendment. Free Speech. Listening to what you might find offensive, but respecting the free speech rights of others to offend. However, Free Speech was trampled by the Brooklyn College Zoo, while Brooklyn College Security and Faculty stood by – on the sidelines. Immobile. Frozen. Neutered.
This is what Sharia Law Looks Like.
To begin. April 22. 2015. Brooklyn College. When I arrived, around 6 PM, there was a fairly large crowd standing outside in a light rain. It seemed to be students mostly. I figured they would start entering within about a half hour so I was escorted upstairs by the faculty sponsor,Professor Seidemann, to the “penthouse”, where I could set up my camera gear before the students took their seats. What I saw, as I entered, was a bare room (hardly a “penthouse”) with approx 200 (room capacity) folding chairs at-the-ready for the audience. But, for now, only Security and a few faculty-types were standing around; waiting.
Contrary to a snarky crack made by a young woman, that can be heard in the Q and A video, regarding preferential seating (39:37 – 40:03) The only privileged early-seating that was witnessed by myself and the faculty sponsor, was a First Wave of early seating by quite a few Muslim students (male and female). The next wave of seating was about 10-15 minutes later and was also, mostly, Muslim students …. ALL of whom headed to the front of the room, filling the seats front to back. “Yes, Virginia” the treatment of some as being better than others (the Muslim students getting early seating) did NOT go unnoticed, despite your faux complaint.
While the waves of Muslim Students got settled, this fellow in the white shirt below, walked row by row, clearly giving the male students in particular instructions of some sort.
It became apparent as soon as Ms. Geller mentioned hijabs (buzz-words?) that the male Muslim students were to get up and walk out at appointed times. (“potty-breaks?”)
Since the “instructor” sat down front with his ear piece and ALL of the cell phones were being held close to their chests throughout her speech, it was clear how easily he was instructing and co-ordinating the intended visual chaos.
Different groups of males through out her speech walked out and then back in, back and forth, attempting to disrupt her speech. It did NOT work.
Continuing with the intros that preceded Ms. Geller’s Speech.
At about 7:20, once late-comers were accommodated, the intros began with Brooklyn College V.P., Joseph Giovannelli, who gave a very specific breakdown of how the students (and guests) were expected to behave and what behaviors would be grounds for removal from the event.
ALL of these pointless instructions were IGNORED by the Muslim students, as well as the Security Officers, once Ms. Geller began to speak.The bedlam during the Q and A grew to a deafening DIN where NO one could be heard and was tolerated (ignored?) by Mr. Giovannelli AND the BC Security. On camera (49:10 – to 49:23) Giovannelli can be seen looking bewildered while approaching a Security Officer.
Both just stared back at the raging crowd, incapable of putting any rules of decorum into action while these Muslim students screamed and yelled at the Armenian woman who had survived a genocide was TRYING to ask a question.
Brooklyn College SJP, ISO, & supporters filled the room for a talk by Pamela Geller. We made it known that her hate, bigotry, and flat out bullshit is not welcome here. This video was taken at the end of her lecture. Most of the crowd was chanting “Free Palestine” and “End the occupation now”.You can see the woman in the green shirt shouting at students to “go home”.This is the idiocy sanctioned by Pamela Geller. Your faith or ethnicity does not dictate home.”
(The same woman in green responds in my Q and A video to all their obnoxious screaming with, “You don’t act like American citizens.”
The COMMENTS that followed the Instagram video:
carmeister You guys seriously shouting down an old woman? Here I thought Islam was better than that. Judea was renamed Palestine by Rome by the way.
lisa.gagliardo Someone who says “go back home” deserves to be shut down and so does Pamela with her hate filled speech. Palestine has been occupied for 67 years and Israel is a war criminal by the way. @carmeister
carmeister@lisa.gagliardo so no respect for old women. Gotcha. I just heard Ms. Geller’s talk on YouTube and didn’t hear hate speech coming from her. She did however point out many horrible thing done by Muslims. Like a father killing his daughter for not wearing a hijab etc. is that the true face of Islam? I think you are mistaken about Palestine.
lisa.gagliardo You must not be familiar with the adds that she runs. She puts things like “Jew hatred is in the Quran” and “Defeat the savage, support Israel”. That’s hate speech. Obviously that’s not any face Islam has. A verse in the Quran says “killing one innocent person is as if you have killed all humanity”. No, I’m not mistaken. @carmeister
lisa.gagliardo Prophet Muhammad said “The best among you is one who is best to his family”. Does it sound like killing family members is the true face of Islam to you?
lisa.gagliardo@carmeister I hope your perspective changes. As a non-Muslim I’m thankful I had family members who said no religion is hateful, violent, or destructive at a young age or else the media would have me thinking like you.
ladamidesignsTerrible on so many levels. Pamela Geller needs to go home…
Video Part 1- Intros : First, JosephGiovannelli, Brooklyn College VP of Administration & Finance followed by Dr. Susan Aranoffa professor of economics at Kingsborough Community College
Video Part 2 – Pamela Geller speech and Q and A
The Muslim Students were itching for a fight. Manipulating the crowd vociferously. It is a credit to the non-Muslims in the audience that confrontations were avoided.
The hoots, yells, screams roared forth from the Muslim students with every derisive crack that posed as a question. One example in the Q and A video at 39:01 to 39:34, is when the hippy, finger-clicking chick claimed to be a Roman Catholic and derided Geller for speaking in favor of Free Speech. LOTS of noise followed.
The Muslim Students jeered at Geller for supporting Free Speech. They support shutting down Free Speech. Controlling our media. Our schools. Our police.
THIS is what Sharia Law Looks Like.
The Muslim Students think they have “won” the “intellectual” war. Taking selfies and screaming: ” Don’t Come Back”, “Free Free Palestine”, “End the Occupation Now” “Free, Free Gaza” and the ever pithy, “The People United Will Never Be Defeated”.
They have won NOTHING(they just don’t know it yet)
“I have been running the Islamic State (IS) videos despite the horror and gore because Americans have been woefully misled in this threat. What we predicted is/was happening and it will only get worse.
Urban Infidel came upon a stashof jihad recruitment films (gore and savagery is a successful recruitment tool for devout Muslims).”
“Found via Twitter a large cache of DAESH videos through their links to secret pages and stored on drive.google.com.aq
Embedded in each are links to active private message dumps and many dozens of slick videos ranging in length from 9 minutes to an hour are new and old releases known and never before seen.
Calls to jihad, admonishments, testimonials, threats and the usual fare of wholesale murder and massacre. There are ‘man on the street’ interviews in Mosul to show the soft side of the Islamic State (IS), their ability to implement shariah as a functioning government and attempts to demonstrate how much better life is living under the most brutal and depraved subhumans.
Featured strongly among this insanity are many instances showing children being indoctrinated and endless recruitment videos in several languages trying to show off the ‘diversity’ of the terrorist devils.”
Fresh-faced boys eager and destined to be the new wave of DAESH Islamic global terrorists are glorified to the point of pornographic obsession.
These are children….
Or they were children….
Until their souls were robbed from them.
Little girls were used as props and pawns.
NO adult women are ever shown speaking and are completely covered, effectively removed.
To read the entire post on the DAESH cache go to >> Urban Infidel>>
BTW, seems as soon as Urban Infidel’s expose hit the internet some of the IS links (you tube and twitter links in particular) began to DISAPPEAR.
CIA Director, John Brennan: insists that ISIS Not Islamic, They’re ‘Psychopathic Thugs’. Considering Brennan’s irrational jihad denial, one could make the case that he is the “psychopathic thug.”
Brennan argued that using words like “Islamic” to describe terrorists have resonance and it “does injustice to the tenets of religion when we attach a religious moniker to them.”
Just because John Brennan knows Muslims who are not waging holy war is irrelevant. These are devout Muslims who live and die by the Quran and the sword and no amount of finger wagging or mental gymnastics is going to change that.
“The Arabs call it ‘Daesh’ and I will be calling them the ‘Daesh cutthroats.’ ”
The name Daesh, according to France24, is a “loose acronym” for “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (al-Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham). The name is commonly used by enemies of ISIS and it also has many negative undertones, as Daesh sounds similar to the Arabic words Daes (“one who crushes something underfoot”) and Dahes (“one who sows discord”).
** IS, ISIS or DAESH **
. Daes (“one who crushes something underfoot”) and Dahes (“one who sows discord”).….
Meanwhile, Pamela Geller observes, ” Obama is busy with other things. He just removed Iran and Hezballah for the designated terror list,”
Urban Infidel reports, “This morning I saw a photo tweeted by a terrorist of two decapitated bodies, crucified back-to-back on a pole, their severed heads dangling from their hands on each side,”
And Geller warns, ” That’s a recruitment tool. And the problem continues to be: Islamophobia…. Insane.”
“Five people were killed early Tuesday morning ( November 18, 2014) when two Palestinian assailants entered a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood, armed with guns and knives. The dead were four Jewish worshipers, and a Druze policeman who died of his wounds hours after he was shot in the gunfight that ended the attack.”
“Father Naddaf serves as the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Yafia, near Nazareth, as well as the primary spiritual advisor and religious spokesperson for the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, a civil society organization that works to support Arab speaking Christian-Aramaen citizens of Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. Foe his efforts to encourage Arab Christian integration into mainstream Israeli society, father Naddaf has been denounced by Arab members of the Israeli Knesset and receives regular threats of intimidation. Before taking his current post, he served as a speaker and judge in the Court of the Patriarchate in Jerusalem.”
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“Combining an incredible personal story with his unique perspective as an Arabic-speaking Israeli Greek Orthodox priest from Nazareth, Father Gabriel Naddaf discussed the plight facing Middle Eastern Christians living under Islamic Extremism.”
That affirms the specialness of Muslims or Muslim privilege… NO they aren’t willing to share.”
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“Father Naddaf reviews the shocking stories and statistics of violent oppression facing his colleagues and friends in many of the region’s historic Christian communities and highlights the singular exception to this trend that Israel represents in providing religious freedom, security and opportunity for its Christian citizens and residents.”
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AUDIO Text follows (enhanced with a few pics in the video) Part 1 of 2
“The attack as you all know occurred during prayer hours at a synagogue. During the recitation of the (…?) Sh’ma Israel (snip) And I bring this up, to point out that these people were killed because they were Jews praying. And the conflict is not only between extremist Islam and Jews, it’s between extremist Islam and the rest of the world. And one of the most important things, lessons to take as we focus on what happened (snip)…. and it’s an important moment, poignant for us (…?) to remember how we are in brotherhood, in common-need with Christians in the Middle East… in my opinion, terribly under-described victims of this kind of brutality and inhumanity and animal behavior.
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And so, that brings me to today’s program (snip ) this week is a special time for us to have a program here at the Presidents’ Conference at the Lawfare Project, that focuses and examines closely the treatment of Christians at the hands of Muslim Extremists in the Middle East in particular, and we take my extension, in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world.
Intro for Fr Gabriel Naddaf begins [1:22]
We have with us, and it’s a great privilege, Fr. Gabriel Naddaf, who is the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jafiya, near Nazareth, and this should be of great interest to us, the primary spiritual adviser to an organization called Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, which is a Civil Society Organization designed to facilitate and persuade Arab-Israelis to participate in the IDF and to be strong, loyal, patriotic Israeli citizens(snip)
… a very substantial price for this activity, and for this point-of-view, which I, presume, he will tell us something about. He is a heroic figure, bringing us today a topic that we really need very much for our sake, his sake, for the sake of Christians, for the sake of Jews and for the sake of all Western Civilization (snip)
Applause as Fr. Naddaf goes to podium. [2;26]
Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here, with special thanks to the Lawfare Project and the Conference of Presidents for hosting me today. I am honored to speak before you and your guests today.
As you heard, my name is Father Gabriel Naddaf.
I was born in the city of Nazareth (the ?) north of Israel. The town where the Angel Gabriel, whose name I have, appeared to Mary, the Mother of G-d. The very town in which Jesus Christ grew up and began his ministry.
When I was born, Nazareth was a city that was majority Christian; mostly Greek Orthodox, but also Catholics and Protestants. Now it’s majority Muslim.
As I speak to you now, across the Middle East, a sword is being soaked with the blood of Christians. Across the Middle East in the (…?) ten years, one million Christians have been murdered in the Middle East (…?) [3:42] This means that every five minutes a Christian is killed because of his faith. A faith that stands for Love and Peace in the Lord.
[3:59] (…?) Christians were some 20% of the Middle East, today that figure is estimated to be around 4%. (…?) Islamic persecution have fled. Since 2000, over 77% of, Iraq’s 700,000 Christians, have fled. In Syria, where there were two million Christians, there are now (…?) 250,000. Those who remain exist as second class citizens to their Muslim rulers. They face discrimination, physical threats and have been subjected to the most hideous of crimes. Execution and forced conversion (…?) Why. Because they believe in a different faith; a faith with a universal message of love and peace for all.
But, in the Middle East today, there is one country where Christians are fortunately (…?) freedom of suppression, freedom of worship and security. It is Israel. The Jewish State. In Israel Christians enjoy good education, employment, welfare, health care and (…?) studying. [5:41] In Israel, Christians have freedom which NO Muslim power has ever offered us.
As I child I was told that there were bad relations with the Jews. I was told that the Jews said “This is their country” and the Arabs said “It was theirs”. After high school I went to live with my grandmother in Haifa. A mixed Israeli city of Jews and Arabs. I began to work and meet with the Jews. Everyday I was aware of Jews. I worked in a Jewish (…?) and was successful. Tnd they sent me to train courses. They invested in me. The idea that I needed to be scared of Jews or that there was something dangerous about them, was simply not true. A myth was exposed.
From my childhood, I was feeling that I had to save the church. To be honest, I really though that my family did not want me to enter the church, either. The wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor. But, it was my calling. So I began my studies with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch (here) in Jerusalem and learned that the people and the roots are from the Jewish People.
I learned that Jesus Christ was Jewish. Part of the people that Moses led out of Egypt with the help of G-d. Part of the tradition of (…?) [7:45] Joseph and Mary, who raised Jesus Christ were Jewish and knew their scriptures. (…?) are themselves of King David and the Laws of the Bible; including the Five Books of Moses and the Books of the Hebrew Prophets.
The Pope Francis presently spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu about whether Jesus spoke Hebrew or Aramaic, which was the language of the Talmud. (…?) our Christian origins are rooted in the Holy Land where Jesus walked and talked. Christianity considers itself (…?) the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible and is not separated from it. [8:38]
Those of us lucky enough to live under Israeli sovereignty have very good relations with the Jewish community living in the land. The State of Israel has demonstrated a considerate attitude towards my community and today, Israel, the Jewish State, the only place in the Middle East where Christians are safe.
Today, in the face of religious persecution and terrorism[snip] [worship, the (…?) for peace, are (…?). To live together in the land of (…?) our fathers. But, what about the rest of the world? ]Does the world speak up against the persecution of Christians in the Middle East? Does the world support Israel for its democratic values (…?) freedom of religion? No. sadly not. Instead Israel has become a victim (…?) SNIP criticism. So much] the International community chooses to single out and attack Israel. This is a terrible crime.
Our (…?) only free society in the Middle East and ???? encourages act of terror; and even against Jews, Yazidis, Christians and even Muslims. In the region, it is time the world woke up to the fact that those who want to destroy the Jewish State are also threatening the last free Christians in the Holy Land. [10;47]
That is why I am here today. To call on you to join me and to show the world Israeli (…?) (…?) safe, this in Christian life in the Middle East. It has (…?) open me by Jesus Christ to plead to you, leaders of people, seekers of peace, to support my (…?) ; to end the global witch-hunt of the only free country in the Middle East.
I call on you today, to (…?) the strength of your great country to prevent the persecution of Christians and to stand by Israel; to protect our community and heritage.
Please don’t let the thousands of years of thriving Christians in the Middle East come to an end on your watch. I ant to thank you again. G-d Bless you all and Shalom. [11:58]
Closing remarks [12:05]
Part 2 of 2 Videos
The Q and A is about 45 minutes – 13 questions and answers, Father Naddaf’s responses were as interesting as his presentation. He was assisted by a translator. He responds is Hebrew and Translator in English.
This is audio only, but captions and time codes should make it easier to scroll through the recording.
As we left 2014 and slipped cautiously into 2015, America was under-seige from the hard-core leftists and the violent racism, assaulting and murdering our police….while ‘mayor’ Red Bill DeBlasio and ‘president” barack hussein Obama work to disarm our country. We are vulnerable. As is the world, exploding with more and more terrorism aimed at citizens-not soldiers.
Islam is at WAR with the world. No one is safe. But, as I return to the point of Father Naddaf’s presentation, some places just might be a bit safer than others.
“Within the borders of Israel, however, according to the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the Christian population is growing. Israel provides Christians with security, freedom of worship, excellent education, employment, health care and other rights and opportunities beyond what is available in many parts of the Muslim world. Father Naddaf and other Christian priests of various denominations, both within and beyond Israel and the Middle East, are clear: One of the safest places for Christians in the Middle East today is Israel.”
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And, post-France terrorism attacks, “Netanyahu told Jews who may be fearful living inside France they would be welcomed with open arms if they decided to seek refuge in Israel.”
“The Muslims Are Coming: Islamophobia, Extremism and the Domestic War on Terror” by Dr. Arun Kundnani .
Kundnani has a theory that must rise above historical misunderstandings of Islam. He insists: The War on Terror is NOT about Islam. It is all about POLITICS, the FBI and government entrapment.
Whether the question was in agreement with him or not (though most seemed to support him) Kundnani predictably brought his answer back to his meme: The War on Terror is NOT about Islam. It’s about POLITICS; the FBI; entrapment.
Part Two : The Q and A – with a partial transcription for 14 questions and answers. (Q & A was still going on when I left)
Q and A BEGINS: Man asks – #1- re Entrapment Defense used by the terrorists has not been successful… through the justice department…
Answer – Kundnani: The way the entrapment defense is supposed to work, you begin saying the actions that you are accused of would not have occurred were it not for the government’s intervention. you, also, have to prove you did not have a predisposition to commit those acts BEFORE the government intervened. So far, No ONE has successfully won an entrapment defense in any of these Federal Terrorist related cases, BECAUSE it is very hard for the defendants to say they did NOT have a ‘predisposition’. That’s because the Prosecution brings a (so-called) Terrorism EXPERT in to the court who says that because this guy visited these web sites, expressed these opinions, that constitutes a predisposition to be a terrorist. What are those websites and the opinions expressed? Often, radical criticism to U.S. foreign policy OR expressions of belief that should be protected by the First Amendment (of the Constitution). The courts, the system, does not supply sufficient protection from that kind of abuse (of the First Amendment) from taking place.
Kundnani uses this moment to refer to Abdullah -Alim and his arrest for Gun possession. [46:29] Pointing out that THIS is NOT considered a TERRORISM related case. He doesn’t get to make his entrapment argument at all. The jury hears nothing about the FBI. Straight court-case. Guy stopped on street. Possession of a gun.
Kundnani CLAIMS this to be a sufficient protection from that kind of abuse (of the First Amendment) from taking place.
Kundnani uses this moment to refer to Abdullah -Alim and his arrest for Gun possession. [46:29] Pointing out that THIS is NOT considered a TERRORISM related case. He doesn’t get to make his entrapment argument at all. The jury hears nothing about the FBI. Straight court-case. Guy stopped on street. Possession of a gun.
Kundnani CLAIMS this to be a situation where THE COURTS are NOT providing PROTECTION to people who are being abused (so he claims) in this way (by the FBI)
Question # 2 – Is more about suggestion how potential informants might protect themselves BEFORE they agree to be an informant, This guy suggests that you PUBLISH in a magazine (for about $20) that the FBI approached you [47:15]
Kundnani replies: He thinks this is beyond most peoples means. That it seems a bit dramatic. Mosques are aware that they are targets for the FBI. So sadly, they are no longer welcoming to strangers who wish to join the mosque. They are suspicious of potential new members. VERY suspicious of anyone who talks Radical Talk while trying to bring about an entrapment. Mosques are now reporting that they have someone in he congregation who’s talking in an angry, radical way.
He mentions the immigration status of many of these potential informants, who are here ILLEGALLY. Vulnerable to being removed if they find themselves on the wrong end of the Federal Government. People are aware that the FBI can use its powers to TARGET you, it takes a little bit of courage to publish that the FBI is approaching you (for entrapment). He says Abdullah-Alim HAD that courage and he’s now spending 16 years in prison.
Kundnani says the more we can talk about these issues, the more we can overcome the fear and the isolation. To think about strategies.
Kundnani feels it is not possible to be as straight forward as Questioner # 2 was suggesting.[51:34]
Question # 3 [man with accented English] Clearly he agrees with Kundnani’s presentation by how he phrases his statement/question. He states ‘What’s new here?”He refers to government tactics targeting potentially radical groups. He mentions England where two years ago, he says, the government proposed to criminalize ‘free speech’, not just for radicalized groups but, for university.
Question (finally). “Is the biggest threat coming from the government or from the criminalization of being anti-Islamic . The minds seem to be already ‘colonized’ by all that rhetoric that happen in U.S. That happen in Europe. Isn’t it better (??) the police tactics from the government?”
Answer from Kundnani [53:22] (Not sure HOW this answer came out of that question above ) He says that is what he covers in his book.
The history of the FBI- 1940’s- Claiming that what’s different now from the FBI’s abuses under Hoover. Hoover had a program in the late 1950’s to criminalize the LEFT and to criminalize the Civil Rights Movement.
Kundnani says it was UNDERSTOOD at the time, by Hoover and the people that exposed it, as unauthorized criminal activity by the FBI.That’s why it had to be secret.
Exposed in the early 1970’s, recognizing that this secret program was against the Constitution; against the law. With 1990’s legislation in the U.S. the government can now do the same stuff lawfully. Some one can now be convicted not for something they are doing, but for expressing opinions.
Kundnani also says that to write this book, he had access to material that’s not public, but THIS is Open Secrets. ” If you publish an article that says something positive about a terrorist organization, you are effectively providing resources. material support to that organization.” Twenty years ago we’d have understood that activity as First Amendment protected.
Re Change: He feels this is about how we THINK about theses issues in society. We’re not going to bring about change by changing government policies here or by changing how we do counter-terrorism policy coming out of Washington.
What we NEED is a more FUNDAMENTAL change in how we question violence in society. How we THINK about Muslims.
Are we able to recognize Muslims as fellow citizens when they express opinions that we disagree with and not seen as extremism, but seen as just someone else expressing an opinion from us.
That’s the KEY test.
Next Kundnani refers to the questioner’s mentioning of pieces of legislation in Europe that target, not radicals, but what we consider to be radicalization is somewhat nebulous and vague.
Looking at how we use the word extremism in the United States, in relation to Muslims, we don’t use that term just for people who advocate violence, we use it in a much wider way-to talk about people’s choice in clothing.[58:21]
QUESTION #4 – a woman-“Going back to the recent beheadings, now you did say that you were compare the United Kingdom and the U.S. in regard to these kind of practices so I was just ‘looking’ at that. And, also, other than interviewing people who were in the FBI, have you in anyway been involved with the FBI-type work in your career?
Kundnani asks her to clarify what she is asking. (he euphemistically responds) That there seems to be more people coming from Britain involved in that “kind of activity”? Syria- UK – [she mentions the radicalization being worse in UK.] He continues, that for about a decade now the story, the impression, is that there is a bigger problem in the UK compared to the US. (He does not agree) He claims it’s very hard to reach that conclusion based on the actual statistics.
This is Kundnani’s answer (of sorts)
He thinks it’s about the same.Many from UK have gone to Syria (he says) for Humanitarian reasons, medical/nursing, in opposition to the Assad regime.Some join groups supported by US, some have joined ISIS.
NOW he starts talking about the son of a man who is between held in a downtown New York prison [1:02]The Metropolitan Correctional Center on Park Street. A Federal Building where we hold people accused of terrorism (Pre-trial) He’s Egyptian.
Egyptian Security services have wanted him for a long time. He was in prison in Britain for about 10 years without being convicted of a crime, extradited to the U.S. The son has grown up with his father in prison, the victim of a great miscarriage of justice. (HOW does this answer her question??? about beheadings. Seems he’s just making sure to keep his talking points on-the-floor)
QUESTION # 5 (a woman) [1:03] The questions started to get bit more demanding. (Accented English. Hard to understand) re “God of Islam” and madrassas.
Kundnani explains this is not his field- She is slightly argumentative- He responds this is what would be solved by the so-called terrorism experts. Another woman is saying that she asked, what does it mean. Lots of chatter happening at the same time. (He tries to answer the question that is apparently about the madrassa and a phrase that is about the ‘House of Islam”. About how to define the world(the woman keeps talking over him)
He tries to respond again:”These are kind of emotional issues I get once in awhile [1:05;30] I understand we have strong feelings, but…again…this mythology we’re being told that somehow that THEY (she interrupts him again) He responds, “You have to let me try to answer your question.” (she KEEPS talking over him)
He tries again, “We can talk about this ONE ideology called Islam. That everyone follows in the same way. This kind of monolith. Then we are told that these are the kind of beliefs that everyone in this monolith believes. Then you get the version where there are moderates on the one hand and there’s extremists — (and she INTERRUPTS HIM AGAIN) But, he continues —“…eventually we come to the same point, talking percentages. How many are extremists. THIS is the mythology we’re being sold.” [1:07;15] (He insists) This is not HOW people turn into terrorists …. because of religious text. There is absolutely NO evidence for that. (!!)
You’ve been TOLD that because it’s a NICE story to explain to you WHY we’re involved in this thing called the “War on Terror”. The REAL reason: It’s ALL about POLITICS and NOT religious Ideology. (she is still chattering in the background as the audience APPLAUDS him)[1:07;40]
Question #6 (a woman – Devils Advocate) WHY are you blaming the victims? (9-11) We’re not blaming ALL Muslims but, what happened to the Moderate Muslims who need to put their best foot forward and recognize that they do have a certain amount of extremism. (She then mentions the American Japanese in WW 2 who were interred.)
They were not responsible for the actions of Japan but, because they were so vilified (she says) the internment was so we could protect them. We don’t want to see Civil War in our streets the way ISIS is doing it. All we want – WHY are WE the VICTIMS not allowed to have the FBI to protect me…her? WHY are YOU right and I’m wrong?[1:08;55]
Kundnani tries to respond (she keeps talking in the background) First, you said I’m blaming the victims of 9-11. Kundnani insists he is NOT blaming the victims. He says our governments approach to counter-terrorism is misguided. We need to be consistent in our morality here.
If we’re going to condemn 9-11, we also need to condemn the actions of our OWN government when IT kills civilians. If we want to talk about morality, THAT’S moral consistency.
When our own government carries out violence, which could be domestically, we have to condemn that as passionately as we condemn the violence of 9-11. That’s the ONLY way we can condemn 9-11 without HYPOCRISY. (the room becomes a MESS of cross-talking)
(Rising above the vocal mess) He makes the point that the internment of the American Japanese (put in camps to “PROTECT” them) was one of the most Civil Rights (….?) that the US government has done in the last century [1:11;44] (She continues to argue with him and to babble-on til the next question)
Question #7 (a woman) [1:12;09] She feels he would have a much better argument if he said that the vast majority of Muslims are not radicalized, they don’t follow these teachings. But, when you say Islamic teachings never have anything to do with this, quite frankly it’s not believable.
NY Times had an interview, head of Pakistani madrassa system said that the “most important thing for his madrassa students to realize was that the destruction of the West is really the most important thing in Islam.” You can say that he is misinterpreting Islam, but I’m sure he believes that the madrassa system is (…?) Islam for him.
He has a PHD in Islamic Theology. He is exterminating Yizidis and Christians; selling them in to slavery. He is NOT doing that because he is reacting to the actions of the United States. So, I would ask, it’s just not credible to say that Islam never had anything to do with this.
Yes, the West has done wrong-things, but it’s not credible, in my opinion. I’d like to know how you respond to that. (there is a smattering of applause)
Kundnani jumps right back to his meme, not wavering one little bit: Islamic theology is NOT the CAUSE of Terrorism [1:13;26] He says she’s kind of objecting to something he’s not exactly saying (!?)
He takes a broader point with two talking points:
“Extremism causes terrorism. Moderate Islam is a Religion of Peace.”
“This still leaves you,” he says, “with this flawed assumption that ideology causes Political Violence and Terrorism.
Ideology does NOT cause political violence and terrorism.
One does not become a terrorist because he read an Islamist extremist texts. That’s never happened.
Someone watches videos, becomes propagandized, becomes a terrorist. Never happened.
Kundnani gives one example of a woman in London, Choudhury, who is the closet example (he says) that it happened. That’s IT.
The others: It’s Mental Health problems. Looking for a Sense of Adventure. OR Political Injustices. THAT’S what the data tells you.
He says it’s very hard to be objective about this right now. [1:16;09]And THEN he claims that ” the place where you go for OBJECTIVE knowledge is University. It should be. That’s what university is meant to do.”
So-called Terrorism Studies Departments, which have been founded by Federal Government after 9-11 with HUGE sums of money for a PARTICULAR agenda (!) There’s a revolving door between these particular departments. The FBI. The CIA. Various aspects of the National Security system. It’s NOT genuinely independent place.
SO, we have to start to create opportunities for a much more NUANCED, more ACCURATE account of what causes terrorism.
Instead of talking about radicalism, we need to be talking about the political cause (as well as) the way religious language is used,ways of expressing propaganda.
QUESTION #8– A man [1:17;18] He must be a supporter. He begins with ‘Thank you. Thank you for everything.’ This is all about Obama. He voted for him (twice) He asks, “What is his role, in your theories about what’s going on…”
Kundnani’s response: Says he likes the question, because you would think that Obama would be pretty good on the issues.
He jumps toUmar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the ‘so-called’ under-wear bomber ( TSM: He was held at a Michigan federal prison and tried in a civilian court in Detroit, not a military tribunal , a controversy at the time.)
[1:18;36] Kundnani says, “After that incident, the way the media and the debate plays-out after-the-fact actually set (??) the Obama administration. He’d just been in office a few weeks.”
The conclusion: ‘They’ (the Obama administration) decide that this ‘issue’ of terrorism has the potential to destroy any (?….) debate; to undermine (??) [1:18;57]THEY decide this can’t happen again,to have an issue spiral out-of-control and make it seem to the American people that WE’RE not tough on Terrorism.
Obama does two things(domestically).He gives the FBI Free-Hand. All kinds of Civil Rights and Muslim Community organizations are constantly turning up, saying we have the issues about civil rights not getting any play.
Internationally his strategy is, “We will try to close down Guantanamo”[1:19;38] Kundnani continues, “Which, of course, is the right thing to do.” We’re going to END torture.
In fact, we STILL out-source people who need to be tortured. We don’t do it ourselves any more. We’re going to try to bring those kinds of processes within the judicial system so we can (do it) with some sort of legal veneer.[1:20;04].
Then, still referring to Obama’s policies, he mentions drone-strikes as the (preferred?) kind of killer-act for counter-terrorism. We don’t need to do something like the Iraq War again. We don’t need to do interrogations (we’ve done so many now), we can just do extra–judicial killing. SO, he says, the ASSUMPTION was that the drone-strikes were THE solution.
He then mentions thatObama’s War on Terror Strategy is centered around his weekly Tuesday morning meetings. (Does he attend these/DID he? ) The War on Terror strategy meetings, where the list of potential drone targets keeps growing and growing and with the advise coming from his National Security advisers.
But, Kundnani says, the drone-strikes aren’t really ‘doing it’. It just manufactures more people who were involved in violence. It seemed to be a quick-fix solution. But, it turned out to be worse. [1:21;28] Kundnani continues, “We keep looking for these quick-Fix solutions,which involve inflicting violence on other people””
(A woman mentions Bin Laden) Kundnani he responds: It seems like we are making progress on the War on Terror. Yet, we have another round of (…..) which resembles what we were getting in 2003.
The evening Bin-Laden was killed- Peter Berg CNN’s Terrorism (guy) [1:22;10] said THIS is the END of the War on Terror (2011) It’s a decade. We’re DONE. (If only, says Kundnani) But, next morning, Hillary Clinton steps up and says the War on Terror continues. Lunch Time, the next day, Berg (back tracks). He is back on and says, the War on Terror is NOT over.
Kundnani says, the government did not use this opportunity to draw a line and think about these issues in a NEW way. They made a strategic error by saying “more of the same’ and the message from CNN becomes just a sort of ‘mouth-piece’ for the government.
(Finishing his response to the woman) Yes, we ‘got them out’, but it doesn’t feel like actually representing a ‘kind-of’ progress in retrospect now (The woman speaks, saying , “If we had not, we don’t know what it would be like now) Kundnani feels it would be pretty much the same place.[1:23;45]
QUESTION #9 A man – [1:23;53]“Thank you for a very interesting presentation. (his question) Even if your more ‘nuanced’ approach is the better one, once any massive terrorist attack occurs, wouldn’t any administration in power at the time be blamed for letting it happen.”
Kundnani’s response: Yes. (the man interrupts- every administration is afraid ) Yes, but, if you don’t have a serious attack, no one’s going to give you any credit for it. Now, any president, is just thinking about SELF-interest (wow – what a broad statement of ‘fact’: any and ALL presidents?) and that, he says, would a a TOUGH approach.
[1:25;30] He feels public opinion in the Fight Against Terrorism should we trade Civil Liberties for (greater ?) Powers for the Government. Ten years later (after people said ‘yes’) now people are saying, we should Keep our Civil Liberties.
It’s not just about the incident of a Terrorist attack, it’s about how we communicate about that terrorist attack in the aftermath. For example, the Boston Marathon bombing. It didn’t produce any really significant changes in counter terrorism ( …?) The reason: We’d been told for decades to expect something like that, if not worse. And when it hap pened, people were outraged, but they weren’t surprised or shocked. It didn’t generate the same kind of dynamic as the Post 9-11. (man interjects) But very few people were really killed. And you had thousands (Kundnani interrupts him) But, terrorism is about terror, not just about the number of people killed so … look at the beheadings videos, where again, the number of people being killed is not the same as 9-11, but it’s generated a whole lot of fear… in the United States… The man says, “But, people were killed—“Kundnani takes the next question.
Question #10 – a woman (accented English-Chinese) [1:27;08] This is just my observation. I agree with you. You do something wrong… you the minority must justify… The strategy…to wipe out the rich people. The so-called rich people. Or the intellectuals. I don’t follow you very well, I feel like there is similarity. When I grew up in China. I didn’t feel brain-washed. I was not active in politics. But, since I came to America, I find, I feel like brainwashing is universal. Not just in China. Right now we have so much brainwash. In America. I feel there is so much misunderstanding.
Your presentation, I think there is some truth, it’s not about… it’s like the Chinese Falun Gong. Americans have convince themselves we’re a religion, we’re not politics. Its totally politics. The Chinese, you have to understand the culture and I know Chinese culture so well, to know that Falun Gong is not a religion, it’s politics. So I really appreciate your point. (healthy applause)
Kundnani’s response [1:29;20] Thank you. All I can say is, an ideology is most affective when you don’t realize it’s an ideology. So in a society like the Soviet Union, or China, it’s obvious that it’s the State propaganda. We’re not a Totalitarian Society which makes the ideologies we (Americans? The West?) have less obvious. In a way, it makes them all the more pernicious. An interesting comparison. Thank you.
Question #11- a Muslim man [1:29;55]I’m a Muslim and my family has been Muslim since the Time of the Prophets. (lots that he said was garbled) I’m a Muslim. But, I am Arabic. So, my experience with Western Foreign Policy is quite different from a Muslim who is Palestinian. A Muslim who is Pakistani. He mentions Sharia. [1:30;31] (He is difficult to understand)[1:30;51] He says we have to understand Muslim Community. State Religion. Every major (..?) is in Arabic. Our Religious beliefs are the same. Our Cultures are quite different. (hard to understand again) To combat Terrorism we have to go back to his culture, hi people who are committing this act. Ask WHY. Being Muslims (..?) (applause)
Kundnani [1:31;50] Thank you. The way you are talking about culture there, has some problems for me. “It’s not the religion that cause the violence, but it’s the CULTURE.” (the man interjects) It’s your cultural ‘experience’. Perhaps I can be a bit more precise about it. (but he isn’t) If you’re talking about POLITICAL context where you have bombings….for me I’d describe that as a POLITICAL experience, NOT a Cultural Experience. (of course he would)
The reason I make that distinction... in order to defend against prejudice against Islam we create NEW prejudices against particular ethnic groups. We say Arabs because of their Cultural History become terrorists. Kundnani says he is personally uncomfortable with the idea that we would be saying they became terrorists because of their ethnicity (examples: Pakistanis or West Africans)
He ends with an obscure conclusion—When talking about different POLITICAL differences, you’re absolutely right the political experience is hugely different. Different scenarios.
Question #12 – a man– [1:33;38] Thanks for speaking and putting up with us for so long. You’ve been talking about how a person’s political context and their political experience can lead them to make a certain set of decisions. In the context of Osama bin-Laden and al-Qaeda, as far as my knowledge of their history goes, the kind of justification for the actions he had stemmed originally from the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia. And I guess you can keep going back and forth with the U.S. military reacted this to this thing because another group did this thing… and you can get back to the 60’s and Said Qu’tab and all these people…and you go back and forth…
So, how to you, kind of, make the distinctions that you are making that would stop the discussion from devolving into “He Said this/She Said this” or this came first…I think some of the comments that were happening earlier in this discussion: The FBI does this thing because Muslims or Arabs (whatever) have done this thing, but the counter-argument might go: The Arabs are acting this way because the U.S. government does this thing. And it could just go on and on forever.
Kundnani responds[1:34;49] (had difficulty transcribing some of this response) Right. And that’s the cycle we’re in. That’s my whole point. We’re doing this to you because you did this to us earlier. That’s precisely the cycle we need to break. I would hope that (the society?) in the United States will be much better at breaking that cycle than our enemies. We should be the reasonable ones with a strategy to break that cycle, much more effectively.
There’s always going to be the Bin Ladens who have an ideology that they use to legitimize their violence. (Their God?[1:35;36] Did he say that?) But, what we can do is to intervene to actually make their benevolent support for those people much reduced. (that’s about change…?)
Right now, for me, thinking about the situation with ISIS, we need to radically rethink our whole alliance with Saudi Arabia. Probably Turkey as well. Thinking along those lines is the key to breaking these cycles.
We’ve turned a blind-eye to Saudi Arabia and the official and semi-official funding that it provides for armed groups in the Middle East; for decades. We have assumed that we NEED Saudi Arabia to be our ‘friends’ , to supply cheap oil into our economy and to keep buying our weapons. The REALITY is we DON’T need to do that.
We actually get most of our oil from Canada so we can radically change our whole relationship with Saudi Arabia and as a result see that horribly unDemocratic regime over thrown once we withdraw our support (…??)
[1:36;53] Right now the people who are most affected by the United States are the Kurds. (… ) We’re never going to allow them to do very much because we have to hold on to Turkey as our ally.
We don’t want the Kurds to become more influential in the region. (…) If we’re serious, the United States, we should be doing something very different in terms of our relationship with Turkey. (…) …our political thinking around the whole foreign policy towards the region… in a situation where we have genuine grass-roots movements in the Middle East OR real democratic societies where the people in the region get to shape the direction their societies take…That’s the best way to prevent Terrorism in the end.
[1:38;08] How do we get there? We stop (…?) regimes in the region. Which no one talks about. Why don’t we do that … We don’t want a genuine democracy in Egypt. If that happened, then the Egyptian people might choose not to be an ally of the United States anymore. These kind of questions (…?) how do we break that cycle and create a more peaceful Middle East.
Question #13- a man (1:38;55) What is your take on the Assad regime. Why it is that we did absolutely nothing to fight ISIS, even though ISIS destroyed four Divisions of Iraqi Troops ( …) Why we did nothing to rid this country (of ISIS)
Kundnani’s Response [1:39;28] Yes, the Syrian Regime. Mass Human Rights Abuses the last few years, and going back much further to his father, killing whole civilian populations an entire towns. I would be delighted to see that regime over-thrown. He feels the end of that regime will be part of how we bring about the end of ISIS. [1:40;02]
The reason the regime … [noise on mic for about 40 seconds as I prepare to leave. Obscuring words] (sorry) The regime, how stupid ?… the perception that ISIS is the ONLY problem in Syria. The regime would be much ‘happier’ believing, convincing the world that he’s involved in a conflict (where he’s faced with this ??… ISIS… rather thinking these groups that are involved with …? Syrian regime. (?….?) [1:40;42]
From TSM:As I finish transcribing the Q and A, there has been ANOTHER ISIS BEHEADING. Sunday, November 16, 2014. “Abdul-Rahman” Kassig aka Peter Kassig. He converted (‘reverted’) to Islam. It didn’t save him. He had fought in Iraq in the U.S. military, and so for the Islamic State he was a “Crusader” and had to die. His grusome murder is part of a 16 minute video sent to the Social Networks. Kassig was murdered as part of a MASS beheading that included about a dozen Syrian soldiers.
Continuing with Kundnani’s comments regarding Syria and ISIS. ” So,that’s why the Assad Regime has been buying oil ISIS …? To the extent that … strategy…2003…don’t wind up with…in some way the hypocrisy of the last two years… Assad regime in the one hand…. on the other hand, the opposition… ? [wish I had gotten this statement…. I had now left the room and had mic noise interference-again)
Question #14 – man- (I was in the hallway) – Began by thanking Kundnani for giving people this platform; to sit down and listen to you. “I’m a Muslim, a convert to Islam (8 years back) I’m from India. My parents are still Hindu..”
END audio [1:42;19;00]
++ The Q and A was still going on after an hour. I quickly took a couple of cell-phone pics as I left the room. This is the best angle I could get of the clean-cut, ‘NYPL Dr.Kundnani’ vs the academic radical I found on-line.
Later, I found pictures of a completely different ‘look’ from Dr. Kundnani Seems this is his ‘rebel’ Kundnani, speaking to the Muslim student orgs. Since beheadings are IN THE NEWS. I wold love to see Dr. Kundnani encourage a dialogue that would focus on this question,
We are engaged in a war of ideas, with our principal enemy: an ideology.
An ideology that will not collapse out of economic incompetence.
The ideology of the terrorists is religiously based and derived from Islam and its founding texts, the Koran, hadith, and the sunna, and the history of the early caliphate.
One, but not the only way we know this, is because they tell us so.
“The Muslims are Coming:”Islamophobia, Extremism and the Domestic ‘War on Terror”.
On the evening of October 16, 2014, Dr. Arun Kundnani, the author, defended Islam from the accusation that it could in be, in any way, responsible for terrorism. This included a Q and A discussion (which can be found in a second blog-post)
Dr. Kundnani is an Adjunct Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University and terrorism studies teacher at John Jay College.
“Based on several years of research and reportage from Texas and New York to Yorkshire, the New York based scholar tackles the growing Islamophobia in Britain and the United States.
(In the book)”Kundnani gives a critique of counter-radicalization strategies, focusing particularly on the surveillance of American Muslims and exposes the hypocrisy of the states fighting terror and their misguided attempts to stem the tide of radicalisation.”
Part One is the author’s presentation. Length of lecture was 45 minutes [approx] Part Two – Q and A was one hour [approx.]
From The Silent Majority (TSM) :I transcribed the lecture as best I could. There were occasional spots where I couldn’t catch a word or phrase. I have indicated this with (??… ??)
It BEGINS:
The librarian, NOT surprisingly, began with a reference to RACHEL MADDOW. Validating how important and timely this topic of Islamophobia has been made by a current program of Maddow’s.
From the intro to Kudnani’s book, The Muslims Are Coming, “Government is no longer imagining the threat (?) foreign terrorist sleepers living among ordinary American Muslims; now that the radicalization of ordinary Muslims themselves (??) ”
In support of this statement she refers to a Rachel Maddow podcast (MSNBC political talk show host) Regarding Maddow, ” Two weeks previous to this event, Maddow referenced a story where the FBI distributed a photo to the public of a mass terrorist, American- native born”. She feels this shows how the FBI tells us we should now FEAR ordinary Americans.
Referring to the reviews of the “Muslims are Coming” (on Islamophobia and the domestic War on Terror) the claim is made that the book is, “the most comprehensive study yet on how governments fight Terrorism on both sides of the Atlantic.” He took several years to research this book. He interviewed FBI agents working on counter-terrorism and .. ?? (1:58)
Dr. Kundnani teaches terrorism studies at John Jay college. He also wrote a book on The End of Tolerance: Racism in the 21st Century.KundnaniBEGINS:
He said that he actually did some of the research for this book “here in this very building“. He briefly explains the motivation for the book.
“The debate on ? … ?? from the time Obama was elected, beginning of his first term, the debate about terrorism in the United States was starting to look very different from how it did in the “Bush Years”. The “Bush Years’- very dramatic. highly critical debate. people talking about the Iraq war. torture. Abu Ghraib.
Under Obama: EVERYTHING WENT QUIET. at least for the first term. (He claims what happened) was that Obama normalized the War on Terror. (even if he wasn’t using that phrase any more) [4:25]
He suspected that the way we were doing Domestic Counter Terrorism in the United States was FLAWED; even discriminatory. Many of the assumptions being made in how we understand terrorism and what causes it, were misguided.
2010. Dr. Kundnanitraveled the U.S. New York. Minnesota. Michigan. Texas. Virginia. Wash, DC.
Interviewed FBI agents working on counter terrorism with local police departments. Security Officials. Homeland Security. National Security Council in the White House. His goal: to get a sense of HOW they understood this counter-terrorism work that they were doing. The thinking behind it.
He also had interviews with COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS in Muslim Communities around the U.S. AND he interviewed a small number of people who actually were being accused and labeled as Islamic extremists. (to try to get an understanding of their stories as well) He spent a year doing this.
Kundnanitraveled England doing similar interviews over there.(5:51) Book is mainly about U.S. This evening he was going to give us three personal stories that he wrote about. To give us a feel for the issues he wants us to think about. (one of the stories -#2- is not in the book)
First story (6:29) Jesse Curtis Morton – Interviewed 2011, shortly before he was arrested.Younus Abdullah Muhammad, aka Jesse Curtis Morton– (NY Daily News-June 22, 2012) A Muslim convert from Brooklyn was sentenced Friday to nearly 12 years in prison for posting online threats against the creators of the “South Park” television show and others he deemed enemies of Islam.
Morton (33 yrs old) founded the now-defunct Revolution Muslim website. [9:03]
Morton’s siteinspired a variety of would-be jihadis, including “Jihad Jane” Colleen LaRose; Antonio Benjamin Martinez, who plotted to bomb a military recruiting station; and Jose Pimental, who plotted to assassinate members of the U.S. military returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. He also corresponded with American al-Qaida member Samir Khan on writing an article for use as al-Qaida propaganda.
Morton’sprosecution was relatively novel under a law enacted in recent years that makes it a federal crime to use the Internet to place another person in fear of death or serious injury. Morton was arrested last year in Morocco, where he moved after Chesser’s arrest.
Morton and Zachary Chesser used the Revolution Muslim website to deliver thinly veiled threats against the creators of the “South Park” television show for perceived insults to the prophet Muhammad, by depicting him in a bear costume. (Chesser earlier received a 25-year sentence, but he also tried to travel to Somalia to join the al-Shabab terrorist group.)
Typically, Morton was well educated. He had a Masters Degree from Columbia. Reverts to Islam. Credits Islam for saving him from drug addiction. Becomes a drug abuse Councilor.
Spends time in Saudi Arabia where he encounters the same materialism that alienated him from US society. American commercialism was being imposed around the world. He wants to save the world from Western Capitalism. Revolutionary, anti-Globalist politics version of Islam; a religious conservatism.
His point made: This is very different from how most American Muslims think about religion.
(Morton)Claims they were not directly trying to incite violence but then they quoted Bin-Laden: “If there is no check in the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions.”
QUESTION from author, Dr. Kundnani – What led him (Morton) to this radical form of Islam? Was it his abusive upbringing that produced his rage that was projected on to American Society as a whole? Was it to escape his drug addiction? A religious longing for a utopia where his life’s struggles could be redeemed?
Why did his ideological journey take the particular form that it did? The author’s attempt at an answer leads to the War on Terror and BUSH. Kundnani posits that Abdullah Morton’s own belief’s mirrored the War on Terror’s (fascist ??) civilization.
Did Morton accept on ‘face value’ the BUSH administration’s official narrative [12 :37] that Radical Islam is an existential threat to an American Society that he has come to despise. He gets his labels of Good and Evil from the Official War on Terror.
[FromThe Silent Majority: I have pictures on-file from 2008, when I captured the “Death to all Juice” poster in the hands of Carlos Almonte, the NJ Jihadi, who was convicted and sent to prison. Revolution Muslim (the organization) was there, at the same protest.]Continuing with Dr. Kundnani. He jumps (with no real conclusion) EXAMPLE, #2, which is not in the book. From Nation Magazine. [13:00]
An example of the FBI setting up a Muslim, with threats, to be an FBI Informant. Spying on fellow Muslims. Ayyub Abdul-Alim from Springfield, Mass. 36 years old. He founded and ran the Quran and Sunnah Community Center that provided a meal service in Springfield and helped with prison visitations.Abdul-Alim grew up in NYC. His father was a Black Panther, his mother a Puerto Rican Young Lord radical. He was raised as a Muslim. After he went to SAUDI ARABIA on a “three-week religious trip to Mecca”, Abdul-Alim got repeated visits from the FBI, pressuring him to be an informant (which he refused.)
He wound up marrying a woman who, unbeknownst to him, turned out to be an FBI informant. [she was supposedly paid almost 12,000 by the FBI)
Abdul-Alim claims that when he was arrested on Dec. 9, 2011, the police placed a gun on him. This was then followed by a visit from the FBI. Pressured again to be an informant so he can avoid a possible 10 years in prison on trumped up charges. He chose to go to trial.
At his trial-Ayyub cleaned up “real good”His trial was April of 2014. “… In the post-9/11 era to recruit Muslim informants… He sought justice through the legal system and, as with every other post-9/11 case in which a Muslim in the United States has mounted an entrapment defense, was unsuccessful.“
A black man with previous conviction (a 2003 conviction for cocaine trafficking) he was convicted again.This time he was found guilty of “possession of ammunition without a license and possession of a firearm without a license.” 6 years. Police also say they found another bag of guns that are his and could add 10 years to his sentence.
Kundnani says THIS is an example of the FBI tactics used to recruit informants. The implication being that Abdul-Alim was framed. (17:14)
THIRD Story.Black Muslim from Detroit. [17:21]Abdullah Luqman (also listed as Imam Luqman Abdullah) A revert to Islam in the 1980’s was “murdered” by the FBI inOctober 2009. FBI characterized his group as “radicalized Sunni, Black Americans, looking to create a separate Islamic State, within the borders of the United States, governed by sharia law.”
Sympathized with al-Qaeda, viewed the US government as an oppressive government, and the Imam called on his followers to organize a protest against it. Members of Abdullah-Luqman’s mosque also carried guns.Question asked byKundnani, were they just small-time hustlers who were set-up by the FBI, who infiltrated the mosque and entrapped the Imam in a warehouse sting.As he concludes his presentation,Kundnani’s claim that these cases are textbook examples of the taunting of people, not for their actions, but for their ideology, with agents and informants acting as provocateurs.
The FBI provides the plans for the alleged terrorist plot, but also the means and opportunity. Supplying money and weapons, the accused would not have had the capability to carry out the plot. The FBI was able to manipulate vulnerable people.
Supposedly, WE (the FBI, etc) were actually fantasizing in to existence the very threat of Domestic Terrorism that we claimed to be fighting.
“The ONLY rationalizing in this case is the FBI’s OWN.”
“On both sides of the Atlantic, so-called terrorism experts,with theories of radicalization, claim to be able to identify those who may not be terrorists now, but will be at some later date.” (23:23)
Kundnani ASKS,”How do you identify tomorrow’s terrorist, today?”
He mentions Spielberg’s futurist film”The Minority Report“, using the film as an allegory to debunk counter-terrorism within the United States right now.
He says of our own Security Officials, “They turn to Academic Mortals that claim scientific knowledge of a process by which ordinary Muslims are supposed to become terrorists. They CLAIM certain behavioral, cultural and ideological signals can reveal who is at risk to become a terrorist at some point in the future.”
They claim there are 4 stages on the way to becoming a terrorist:
1: Pre-radicalization 2. Identification (growing a beard, wearing Islamic clothing, alienated from one’s former life) 3. Indoctrination (increased activity in a pro-Muslim group) 4. Action
Claiming that some form of religious ideology is the root-cause of terrorism.
“In the last decade the government has spent MILLIONS of dollars TRYING to prove that there is some form of connection between religious ideology and terrorist violence.“
Kundnani claims that “when studied rigorously“, as he has tried to do in his book “The Muslims are Coming”,“these assumptions don’t actually stand up to scrutiny.” (he mentions again the film “The Minority Report”)
2008 the FBI had 15,000 paid informants. But, even though he admits he does not know how many were from the Muslim Community, he makes the claim that he finds it reasonable to assume there must have been at least 10,000 PAID informants of those 15,000 from the Muslim Community.
Their job, he says, was “to look for ‘warning’ signs of radicalization, not ‘suspected’ criminal activity.”
Mentioning, also, what he says is the “NYPD surveillance of every aspect of Muslim Life: mosques, restaurants, cafes and Muslim Student organizations; identified by the NYPD as ‘hot-spots’ NOT because there is any evidence of criminal activity, but based on their religious OPINIONS or expressing political opinions.”
[NYPD THOUGHT Police-actions] where under-cover officers take NOTES on what people are talking about) From 2008-2012 NO criminal actions was revealed. [28:16]
“Lost in the debate about having an informant in the (Muslim) community, is that this is way more pernicious in under-mining relationships of trust.
As government officials and the ‘so-called’ terrorist experts have repeatedly invoked this concept of radicalization, has become part of our everyday language. This had led to the situation where there is a wide-spread assumption now that the root-cause of terrorism lies in some kind of Islamic ideology.
Actually, this is NOT a particularly plausible way of thinking about TERRORISM…..we have this (?) reflex that links terrorism to Islamic belief. The evidence to support this is (surprisingly ?) weak.”
“Having a belief in (let’s call it) extremist Islam, or however you want to define that, does not correlate with involvement with terrorism” . “A simple STATISTICAL fact”.
“The many good reasons for objecting to reactionary interpretations of ‘religion’, but the idea that religious ideology (??) is causing terrorism, is not one of them. (30:00)
We see these ‘errors’ being made now in how we understand ISIS…we’ve totally misunderstood what’s led to its emergence…we’d like to think that there’ s something called Islamic extremism which can be used to explain everything bad that Muslims do.”
Kundnani continues, “The ‘reality’ is that it’s POLITICS not religious ideology that drives terrorist violence.
ISIS is the product not of religion but, POLITICAL decisions made by our allies, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and by our own government. It’s a product of a legacy that we’ve created in (Iraq?…??) [30:47] shows how deeply we’ve held on to this myth, Islamic extremism. How quickly we’ve forgotten the lessons of the last Iraq War.”
[TSM- Bill Maher and his argument with Ben Affleck was mentioned next]
“Bill Maher has this problem about Islam causing terrorism. Ben Affleck said that’s racist.”Kundnani says, “This is a debate that has been playing out since at least 9-11.“.
Someone says, “Islam is a Religion of Peace, it’s not inherently violent. You have this minority who misinterpreted Islam in an extremist fashion.”
Kundnani says, “This is a standard argument. Each side trades quotations from the Quran, out of context, which doesn’t really solve anything. We can ALL trade quotes from the Quran.”
The real meaning of this debate is not actually what each side says, but this hidden assumption that Islamic ideology is the KEY to understanding WHY terrorism happens“[32:25]
The argument Kundnani makes in the book, “The Muslims are Coming”, is that “Islamic ideology is largely irrelevant in trying to understand the causes of terrorism.
What we consider to be commonsense, is what we’ve been ‘told’ to believe by people we consider to be ‘authorities’ in this area. To systematically associate Islamic belief with terrorism, in this way, leads…to Islamophobia!” [32:57] A form of structural racism directed at Muslims.”
He now tells us more about his research for the book. About a town in Texas and a mosque. He tells us that he was in a restaurant in this town and that there was poster of a famous photograph of a lynching. He claims that instead of a black face, there was now a stereo-typical face of an Arab, with the caption, “Let’s play cowboys and Arabians.”
Showing how such a poster connects a long history of racism in the United States (a reworking of racism) to Islamophobia (and the genocide of indigenous peoples in America and a reference to Jim Crown segregation-lynching.)
It’s also analogous to anti-Semitism . He mentions late 19th c Jewish conspiracy theories. Jews were turned in to sub-humans and yet at the same time, super-powerful people.
He claims this is the same structure we have now with Islamophobia; conspiracy theories and secret Muslims controlling the world and Sharia Law in the White House.
“This is NOT to imply to criticize Islamic Belief, it is somehow ‘racist’.
[36:47] “What it means is that WE need to pay attention to opposing the kind of social and political processes by which Islamophobia is acted out in violent attacks on the street which we’ve seen increasing in the last few years in the U.S.“[37:03]
All institutionalized in government profiling. Civil rights abuses.
[37:14] Looking at the official way that terrorism is understood, leads us to the role of government in foreign policy, fostering political context. This idea that we can blame terrorism on Islamic belief is convenient, it allows us to talk about religion and NOT politics, including the politics of our own government.
[37:40] Some terrorists may use religion to articulate their particular propaganda, but (he insists) it’s POLITICS that is the underlying cause (of terrorism)
EXAMPLE: Hamas uses religious language to legitimize its violence. Uses religious language to legitimize its cease-fires. (he insists) that this indicates (somehow) that it is NOT the religion that drives them to use violence, What’s driving its decisions is (Hamas’) assessment of the political context (Israeli ‘occupation) [38:16]
Claims THIS is consistent with the WHOLE history of terrorism of the last 150-200 years. Terrorism is DRIVEN by political content.
Example – assassins of the late 19th c- ‘working class movement‘ – takes over Paris – 10’s of thousands killed by the army – some of survivors say it is legitimate for us to use dynamite. Context creates that decision.
NEXT example– British- Catholics-Irish- violent conflict that unfolds for decades
SOUTH AFRICA- students protesting that their classes have to be taught in Afrikaans. Not their language. Students shot by the apartheid state. African National Congress resorts to bombs in retaliation. He claims this is a pattern that repeats itself.
Kundnani jumps to 2003 to 2006 (2009)a dramatic surge in terrorism. It is the process that we need to understand.
Their ideology hasn’t change from moderate to extremist Islam. What’s changed is being exposed to the NEWS of 100’s of thousands of people dying. We are in a cycle of violence. BUT, we ONLY see the violence of OTHERS.
Quotes Brendan Behan (to paraphrase) the guy with the big bomb is the government ( little bomb – the terrorist). He claims, that Government violence is always seen as normal, necessary, rational. [42:19]
In actual fact, both forms of violence FEED each other in this cycle of war and murder. Words. Terrorism. Extremism. Radicalization. encourage us to seek only half an evaluation.
[42:39]He now claims to quote Dr Martin Luther King (1967) King said as he spoke to the angry young men across the country about a non-violent approach to protesting American racism, he felt like a hypocrite.
He could never raise his voice against the violence and oppressed in the ghettos, without speaking clearly against the greatest purveyor of violence IN THE WORLD, “my OWN government”. (Kundnani refers here to the Viet Nam war)
Kundnani’s conclusion: Violence is NOT just about the Angry Young Men, it’s about the Governments. They both feed each other.
That point is as valid today as it was then in the War Against Terror. Ground strikes, bombings and the way we entrap people within the United States itself, and put them in prison for decades, for the opinions they hold. [End of presentation 44:01]
End Part One – The Presentation ++ The next post :Part Two is The Q and A. The audience now had a chance to ask questions of Dr. Kundnani. Some even dared to ask him for comments regarding the recent beheadings .
TSM asks: Is it ‘Islamophobic’ to oppose ‘beheadings”??
The summer of 2014. One anti-Israel rally too many. Annoying. Repetitive. I stopped posting. (a temporary silence)
“There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture.”Then, on August 17th, the Pamela Geller/Robert Spencer Rally , “Support For Israel and Religious Minorities” was held in Union Square- NYC. Even though we are walk in the shadow of Global Horrors, I left feeling energized by such a wonderful, spirited community.
What follows now, in Three Parts, are different events (Pro and Anti Israel) from July and August. Beginning with “We The Living Support Israel”
“For the first time, defenders of Israel and representatives of minorities persecuted by Islamic jihadists from around the world gathered together to stand for life and for freedom. Finally, the truth.
Our speakers provided harrowing insight into the full breadth and depth of the havoc and destruction that Islamic jihadists have unleashed upon the world. New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind gave a stirring appeal for Israel in its struggle against the jihad, and was seconded by the eloquent Ethiopian Jewish spokesman Mordechai Tasman and an IDF soldier who spoke of his own experiences. Dr. Mordechai Kedar flew from Israel for the rally, and showed how the jihadists are proceeding according to quranic imperatives.
What was unprecedented and groundbreaking about our rally was that these strong defenders of Israel were joined by others: Yazidi spokesman Haider Elias, the toweringly courageous and eloquent Sudanese freedom fighter Simon Deng, Palestinian Christian Mazzen Warra, Pastor Matthew Singh of Christians United for Israel, Indian human rights activist Arish Sahani, and Kurdish spokesman Salar Motidi — all of them recognized that we all face the same foe, and all of them ringingly affirmed the necessity for us to stand together for freedom.”
Playlist of 15 great videos. Wonderful speakers gave support to Israel and to other victimsof devout Islamists.We heard from the victims. We heard their warnings.
Concern for those who fear for their lives 24/7 rang through the air. Cries and pleas ignored by the media. They can’t handle the truth. So they ignore it.
We sang of Hope,Hatikva, of Yerushalim. A crowd favorite was , “Hashem Melech, Hashem Malach“, The Lord is King!
It was a fabulous rally.
Perhaps “new blood”, like Ari Lesser, will expose the media lies and propaganda with his hip-hop lyrics (which you can enjoy in the video playlist above) His lyrics smartly meet the challenge for the Next Generation.
“This is their Battle. Their Future.” A great day for freedom lovers. Inspired. Our counter protests grow.
PART TWO
Thinking about our media battles. Looking back at July and August. I am posting some pictures and videos of anti-Israel protests from the summer of ’14
August 1, 2014.Columbus Circle. NYC.
Community Organizers prop-up these Muslim protests. Soc/Commie/Progs working behind-the-scenes to kill Western Civilization one protest-at-a-time. Fools and Tools. They. Never. Stop.
Slideshow August 1st PRO-Israel COUNTER PROTEST: Emotions ran deep from those who came out to support Israel in the midst of another anti-Israel hate-fest. They hung in there, even though the police kept moving them from corner to corner.
Death to Israel chants. Fists pumped in the air. Angry. Hateful. No call for peace. Not real peace. Not from these professional agitators. The leftist agitprop of genocidal hatred rang through the air, “Stop the killing. Stop the Hate”. Pleas meant to mislead the gullible press who choose to ignore the Nazi-like fists pounding over-head. The heart-felt pain of one womanwho came to support Israel . They called this ‘hate’. All I saw was despair. (August 1st playlist 5 short videos)
They NEVER stop.
This next rally was a “Takbir-fest”, in July.
July 17 , 2014 – Times Square-Pumping fists. Screaming. Yelling. Chants-of-Hate.
Intifada, Intifada and “Takbir, Takbir, Takbir” (allah is greatest)
To be Free from Fear. Free Of Islam. Free from Tyranny. From brutal, murderous Savages. That would be REAL Peace.
All the isms want ‘peace’. Communism, fascism, islamism etc.Their peace where everybody agrees with their philosophy/religion and always does what they are told. Non-conformists are of course severely punished or murdered.
The battle for peace continues as we fight to stop the Media lies and distortions.
Never Again means Never Again….
PART THREE
Protests. Rallies. Counter-Protests.
Be Aware. Be Ready.
The Met is scheduled to present the anti-Semitic and pro-terrorist opera, “The Death of Klinghoffer”, which tells the story of the PLO murder of an elderly Jewish man in 1985.
To date, Met director Peter Gelb has refused to cancel the opera despite strong opposition. All who object to terror should call Peter Gelb at 212-799-3100 x 2891 to insist that he cancel the opera.
AND NEW ADS are coming to the NY Subways this September from AFDI (American Freedom Defense Initiative) to Fight the Media Blackout on the Truth about Jihad and Islam.
Hat Tip – Urban Infidel
We are told those fleeing violence and poverty of in Latin America, North Africa, and the Middle East are contagions of instability, that in order to defend our national character, we must build walls and detention camps, and ruthlessly exploit the chosen few we allow in.
you’ll know us by the antifa and black flags! 
The ad proclaims: TURKEY: Partner in Peace.”
.
2015. Times Square. With these 21st century ads, 
Packed shoulder to shoulder from 44th street to 42nd st. 
(Walking through the crowd was nearly impossible)
WHO still REFUSES to call the mass killings a genocide? The Turkish government, the United States and President 
The bedlam during the Q and A grew to a deafening DIN where NO one could be heard and was tolerated (ignored?) by Mr. 
“I have been running the Islamic State (IS) videos despite the horror and gore because Americans have been woefully misled in this threat. What we predicted is/was happening and it will only get worse.
Until their souls were robbed from them.
Continuing with Dr. Kundnani. He jumps (with no real conclusion) EXAMPLE, #2, which is not in the book. 
