Canary In The Coal Mine

Maryland Teen Arrested By FBI in Jihad Jane Plot, Sources Say

by John Shiffman, Inquirer Staff Writer  |  Philly.com  |  August 25, 2011

 

Colleen LaRose, the suburban Philadelphia woman known as JihadJane, pleaded guilty to her alleged role in a terror plot.

 

The FBI has secretly arrested a Maryland juvenile who allegedly conspired in a terrorism plot with the Philadelphia-area woman known as Jihad Jane, sources have told The Inquirer.

The boy is 17 but was 15 when he conspired with Colleen LaRose of Pennsburg, Montgomery County, to solicit money and recruits for a jihad, according to documents and sources. His case is sealed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

His family emigrated from Pakistan four years ago, and relatives say the boy - Mohammed K., of Ellicott City, Md. - was headed to Johns Hopkins University on a full scholarship this fall. They also say he was questioned by the FBI, without a parent or lawyer present, at least eight times.

"Now we know that was a mistake," a relative said. "We had thought everything was taken care of and fine because he talked to the FBI so many times - but the next thing you know, a year later, without any warning, the FBI took Mohammed away. It was a shock to us and to him."

Family members spoke on condition of anonymity. The Inquirer is not publishing the boy's last name because he is a juvenile and the specific charges have not been made public.

Federal charges against juveniles are rare. Nationally, only 100 juveniles are serving federal sentences, and federal officials could not cite another juvenile who has been arrested on terror-related charges.

Mohammed's arrest came six months after LaRose, who called herself "Jihad Jane" on websites, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, including providing a U.S. passport, and lying to FBI agents about it. A coconspirator, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Leadville, Colo., pleaded guilty to providing material aid to terrorists.

U.S. counterterrorism officials have said the Jihad Jane case represents a new and alarming threat - suburban, American-born women aiding Islamic terror groups.

Prosecutors said LaRose worked obsessively on her computer "to communicate with, recruit, and incite other jihadists." In 2009, she agreed to help try to kill the Swedish artist Lars Vilk, whose 2007 drawing of a dog with the head of the prophet Muhammad offended some Muslims.

Mohammed K.'s relatives said they do not know much about the allegations - or what Mohammed told the FBI - but are confused and angry that they allowed the boy to spend so much time with agents.

"When they said, 'Can we take him out for a few hours?' it seemed so informal," one relative said. "And now, in a way, we feel cheated."

FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver and other federal officials declined to comment.

Mohammed's court-appointed lawyer, Jeffrey Lindy of Philadelphia, said, "This is a juvenile matter and is confidential, so it would be inappropriate to comment." Mark Wilson, a federal public defender representing LaRose, also declined to comment.

LaRose traveled to Ireland in September 2009 to meet several coconspirators. She offered to use her U.S. identity and her boyfriend's passport, and to marry a jihadist to help with the terror plot, officials said. The plot fizzled for reasons that have not been made public.

The FBI believes that Mohammed was part of the conspiracy, and that he met LaRose in a jihadist chatroom, sources said.

The only people publicly charged in the United States are LaRose and Ramirez. The other alleged coconspirators - including Mohammed and the Irish suspects - are cited in the LaRose indictment only by geographic location, numbers, and "CC," the code for coconspirator. In the public document, sources said Mohammed is "CC#4, a resident of the United States."

The indictment alleges that in July 2009, when Mohammed was 15, he posted "an online solicitation for funds to support terrorism on behalf of defendant Colleen R. LaRose, a.k.a. Fatima LaRose, a.k.a. Jihad Jane."

"I write this message on behalf of a respected sister," Mohammed allegedly wrote. "The sister has been in touch with a brother [who] appealed for urgent funds stating that his resources are limited. The sister has provide me proofs that have confirmed that the brother is . . . true. . . . I know the sister and by Allah all money will be transferred to her. The sister will then transfer the money to the brother. . . ."

The LaRose indictment also alleges that Mohammed forwarded her a questionnaire "in which [he] asked another woman about her beliefs and intentions with regard to jihad."

At the end of the questionnaire, prosecutors said, Mohammed wrote: "The reason why I am not providing much information as to why I am asking the above-mentioned information is due to security. . . . Also, if you have any contacts to other sisters (only the ones whom you extremely trust. . .!!!), please forward this message to them."

The FBI arrested Mohammed on July 6, family members said, and he is being held at the Berks County Youth Detention Center, about three hours' drive from their home, which is near Baltimore.

During several interviews, relatives said family members are all legal residents of the United States, and moved here to get a better education. The parents are the first in the family to be literate; the children will be the first generation to attend college. Mohammed's father works for a delivery company.

Mohammed and his siblings shined in school, but did not socialize much, relatives said, because their parents insisted that they stick to their studies. They were not permitted sleepovers or even to play with other children in the neighborhood.

"School, education is everything," a relative said. "If you waste one second on anything else, you are disrespecting your elders."

A year after they arrived, Mohammed found himself excelling academically, but also, to the concern of other family members, spending hours alone online. He became moody and did not talk much, though he never spoke of violent, religious, or political thoughts - the kind of comments authorities found on his computer.

Mohammed's outlook changed after the FBI seized the family's computers last year and began meeting with him. Mohammed seemed to become more social, relatives said.

"We hoped he'd come out of his shell more when he went off to college," a relative said.

Family members remain shocked, they said. They believe Mohammed was lured by an adult and was too young to understand the consequences.

"Some 47-year-old woman was taking advantage of a kid who was just 14 or 15 years old, someone who's easy to brainwash," a relative said. "How did this happen?"

 

Source:  http://www.philly.com/philly/news/128433248.html?viewAll=y

Israeli Ambassador to U.S. Hosts Ramadan Dinner

by Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor  |  Religion.Blogs.CNN.com  |  August 25, 2011

 

 

The Israeli ambassador to the United States is hosting a dinner celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Thursday, marking the first time an ambassador from the Jewish state has hosted such a dinner in the United States, the embassy said.

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren (Pictured) is hosting the dinner at his residence, with about 60 guests expected, including imams, rabbis and officials from the White House, Congress and the State Department, according to Israeli Embassy spokesman Lior Weintraub.

Oren told CNN that the unusual dinner is fitting at a time when the future of the Middle East is uncertain, as the Arab Spring has unseated regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and as Libya appears poised on the brink of a revolution.

“We’re in the middle of a huge transition in the Middle East and we see risks, but we also see opportunities there,” he said. “We want to be able to tell people in the Middle East what those opportunities are.”

“There’s a lot of misinformation about Israel and we want to show we’re open to dialogue and reconciliation,” he said. “We can begin to build bridges on an interpersonal level.”

Thursday’s Ramadan dinner, called an Iftar, will feature a call to prayer, during which the dining room at the ambassador’s residence will be turned into a Muslim prayer space, the embassy said.

All food served at the meal will be halal, meaning it has been prepared according to certain Muslim customs. The meal was prepared under the direction of a Muslim chef, the embassy said.

Oren said he hopes the meal at the Israeli ambassador’s residence becomes an annual tradition.

“Israel has a very large and vibrant Muslim population, with Muslim members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) and in science and academics and I’m their ambassador as well,” Oren said. “This is very much a state function for us, not just about reaching out.”

The ambassador said he was heartened about prospects for Jewish and Muslim cooperation when his wife visited an Israeli hospital last week for an emergency appendectomy, with the operation and the recovery overseen by Jewish and Muslim doctors and nurses working together.

Oren said he saw medical staff “acting on the basis of common humanity, without any distinction over faith … everyone there was an example of how it can be.”

The Iftar dinner comes at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and much of the Muslim world, with a rash of violence between Israel and the Palestinians in the past week and the Palestinian Authority preparing to make a bid for statehood in the United Nations next month.

Iftar dinners are held during Ramadan to break the daily fast.

President Barack Obama hosted an Iftar dinner at the White House this month, a tradition that dates to President Bill Clinton.

Source:  http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/25/israeli-ambassador-to-u-s-hosts-ramadan-dinner/

Israel and the Youth

by Sammy Levine  |  FrontPageMag.com  |  August 25, 2011

 

 

Many young Jews in America have unfortunately been indoctrinated by a leftist anti-Israel sentiment, which has corroded their minds. David Suissa of the Jewish Journal has written about Gabriel Mathew Schivone, a Jewish student at the University of Arizona, who has grown apathetic with Israel. Schivone wrote in Haaretz that he “simply cannot sit idle while my country aids and abets Israel’s siege, occupation and repression of the Palestinians.” He continues, “I am one of a growing number of young American Jews who are determined to shake off an assumed — and largely imposed — association with Israel.” How sad is this? If you had to bet your life on whether Schivone is politically liberal or conservative, what would you guess?

In 2008, the students at Brandeis University declined commemorating the 60th anniversary of Israel. In addition, when Frank Luntz held focus groups at American universities to probe the lack of interest in Israel among young Jews, he found that they “desperately want peace” and felt Israel was not doing enough to accomplish this goal. As if Israel — which has unilaterally withdrawn from land conquered in defensive wars by forcefully removing Jewish citizens from their homes — does not want peace. Do you think these Jews at Brandeis and other universities, who are irritated with the pesky Jewish state that dares to defend itself against annihilation, are Republicans or Democrats?

These young people, brainwashed by the left, naively look at peace as if it’s some tangible, easily accessible thing that Israel just refuses to accept. But history actually teaches us that peace is often achieved through war. History also teaches us that it is a virtue to fight evil. Furthermore, fighting evil is the most basic form of self-preservation.

In fact, the Torah teaches us the imperative of fighting evil: “Let those who love the LORD hate evil (Psalm 97:10).” But the left does not hate evil, and it does not hate Hamas. If one does not understand the Israel/Palestinian conflict as a fight between good and evil, then one does not understand the conflict.

Many on the left refuse to make a moral distinction between the Palestinians and Israelis. The fact that Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists deliberately target innocent Jewish civilians, while Israel only targets Palestinian militants, does not matter to these leftists. The fact that Israel is the only thriving democracy in a sea of despotism is ostensibly of no consequence.

These young Jews have clearly been corrupted by the leftist ideas of moral relativism and class warfare, which have skewed their ability to tell right from wrong. Many liberal Jews do not view the Israeli/Palestinian conflict through the paradigm of right and wrong, but rather the occupied and the occupier; the rich and the poor; the haves and the have nots (the left has learned well from Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky). They sadly see Israel as the oppressor. This is because the left, in general, is more interested in equality than it is in truth or right and wrong. Again, the Torah teaches contrary to this type of thinking: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly (Leviticus 19:15).”

The state of the Jewish youth in America is not promising. However, there are some in America who are not dissatisfied with the state of Israel. Not all the young Jews in America have been corrupted by moral relativism and passivism.

As I’m writing this, student activist Gabriella Hoffman and other young people across the nation have been hosting pro-Israel rallies and viewing parties of Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Courage” rally in Jerusalem. These young Jews and non-Jews are following the lead of Glenn Beck, who has unquestionably been the most pro-Israel advocate in the media during the last year. Glenn Beck, and the countless other young people in America who are hosting rallies, should give hope to the rest of us. Even though it may seem like all the young people in America have been lost to the left, there still is a strong and determined constituency that understands the difference between right and wrong, and the importance of fighting evil.

 

Source:  http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/25/israel-and-the-youth/

More Than 20 Rockets From Gaza Hit Israel

From: JTA  |  JTA.org  |  August 25, 2011

 

 

Israeli security officers inspect a damaged house hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011. Israel’s rescue service says one Israeli was killed and about a dozen injured in barrage of Palestinian rockets from Gaza on southern Israel. Photo: AP

 

JERUSALEM -- Terrorists in Gaza renewed rocket attacks on Israel, ending a brief lull.

More than 20 rockets were fired at Israel overnight Wednesday through Thursday afternoon. A 9-month-old baby was wounded when a rocket hit a home near Ashkelon. One rocket was intercepted near Beersheba by the Iron Dome missile defense system, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Israel Air Force planes on Wednesday night struck several targets in Gaza, including a weapons storage facility, a smuggling tunnel and a weapons manufacturing site, the IDF said. At least four Palestinians were killed and 20 injured in the attacks, Palestinian sources told Israeli media.

The attacks followed a day of quiet that came after five days in which southern Israel was struck by more than 100 rockets and shells fired from Gaza. The outburst followed Israeli airstrikes that came in the wake of the terrorist attack a week ago near Eilat in which eight Israelis were killed.

 "The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, and will not hesitate to respond with strength and determination to any element that uses terror against the State of Israel, and until calm is restored," the IDF said in a statement.  

Source:  http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/08/25/3089119/lull-over-rockets-from-gaza-again-strike-israel

Ohio: Catholic School Won't Host Ramadan Dinner

by *Denise Smith Amos  |  News.Cincinnati.com  |  August 25, 2011

 

WESTWOOD, OH - Mother of Mercy, a Catholic girls high school, complied with a request from Archbishop Dennis Schnurr and backed out of hosting an interfaith Ramadan dinner at the school Friday night.

Instead, the dinner will be held in the Catholic Center at St. Monica-St. George Parish in University Heights, which is not a school.

Schnurr on Monday asked Mother of Mercy to cancel its plans to host an Iftar, an evening meal, with a local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

During the holy month of Ramadan, observant Muslims fast during the daylight hours and break their fast with a large meal at night. For some groups, the Iftar is a chance to share some aspects of their faith with non-Muslims and others in the community.

Mother of Mercy had planned to co-host an Iftar with CAIR’s local chapter since spring, when groups of Mercy students and students linked with CAIR performed community service together.

But recent emails and other contacts with school and Archdiocese officials changed their plans.

Mother of Mercy President Kirsten MacDougal said Schnurr has received complaints from people – she didn’t know how many. Most of the complaints were emails from people who do not live in this region but who follow the news and activities of CAIR’s national office, she said. 

The emails “were not hostile, they were not threatening, but they were emotionally charged,” she said.

Schnurr could not be reached for comment. Archdiocesan spokesman Dan Andriacco said that Schnurr received complaints – not threats – about CAIR’s involvement.

MacDougal said her school and the Archdiocese still support interfaith dialogue, especially with Muslim groups, but the closeness to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 plays a factor.

“The fact that Mercy was co-hosting this Ramadan meal with the Council on American-Islamic Relations specifically had become too great a distraction from the positive intent of building relationships and understanding with our Muslim neighbors,” MacDougal wrote in her letter to staff. 

“While the Archdiocese appreciates our good intentions, there is now some concern for the safety of those who would attend the meal due to the negative reaction this has garnered from some. As a result, the Archbishop has asked that we cancel our hosting the meal.”

Mother of Mercy’s parents and students Thursday disagreed about the school’s decision.

Some parents said they had read negative things about the national CAIR group and didn’t want Mercy associated with even the local group.

“I’m glad it’s canceled; it wasn’t a good thing,” said Kelly Jennings, a Mercy parent who lives in Bridgetown. “There were a lot of parents who were up in arms about it. … It would have really given Mercy a bad name.”

Casey Tegenkamp, a freshman from Miami Heights, was disappointed that the dinner won’t be held at the school, because she’d wanted to attend. She said she thinks it’s important for young people to understand other people’s faiths.

“We’ve got to know what other people’s religions are,” she said. “We need to know how other people think. If we don’t know, that might get us into trouble.”

Her father, Tom Tegenkamp, agreed, although he said he understands school administrators’ concerns with safety.

“It’s a shame this had to be canceled over security concerns,” he said. “I don’t know how we’re ever going to get to the point of tolerance in our society if we have to worry about these events.”

Andriacco said the complaints seemed mostly focused on CAIR’s national organization, which “has been the subject of U.S. government concern,” Andriacco said. “Archbishop Schnurr thought (it) had become a distraction from building relationships and understanding with our Muslim neighbors. … When you have a high emotional temperature surrounding an issue you start to worry about how the children might be affected by it.”

CAIR, based in Washington D.C., is the largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in the United States. Its stated mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam and build coalitions that promote mutual understanding.

Local chapters of CAIR operate independently, like franchises, raising funds and supporting causes based on local priorities.

The national CAIR group has been scrutinized for years as one of many Islamic groups on the radar of federal agencies investigating terrorism. 

Critics of CAIR say it supports an extremist agenda. They point out that at least five people with ties to the national group or its leadership have been convicted or deported because of links to terrorist groups.

The Washington, D.C.-based CAIR was among 275,000 nonprofits nationwide that the Internal Revenue Service stripped of tax-exempt status in June. None of the groups filed required tax returns, known as Form 990s, for three years, and any donations to them can be taxed, the IRS reported.

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said his group filed accurate, on-time returns but lost its tax-exempt status over an incorrect filing from several years ago. But employees couldn’t produce CAIR’s latest Form 990 and critics suggest the charity avoided filing to hide financial dealings from the public.

Local and national CAIR spokespeople said their groups are not involved in criminal cases and advocate against terrorism and violence.

Yet the Cincinnati FBI office, along with other FBI offices around the country, was told several years ago by top FBI officials to limit contact with CAIR. Local offices are not permitted to participate in an event sponsored by CAIR and are not allowed to invite CAIR leaders to sit on boards or community groups set up by the FBI, said Mike Brooks, the FBI’s spokesman in Cincinnati.

But local agents do talk to CAIR officials and have investigated claims of civil rights violations against Muslims, he said.

“They are not considered to be a terrorist organization or anything like that,” Brooks said. “If they want to talk, we will talk.”

The meal at Mercy had been planned as a potluck, with about 100 adult and student participants bringing dishes to reflect their culture to the school cafeteria, CAIR organizers said. MacDougal said she knew of only two families from her school who had confirmed they would attend.

Roula Allouch, board president of the local CAIR group, said she was told Monday of Mother of Mercy’s decision to not host the dinner and she considered canceling it. 

She thanked the Franciscans Network, a local group of lay Catholics that sponsors events that bring together Christians and Muslims, for renting the St. Monica-St. George space, which isn’t a school. The center is at 328 W. McMillan St.

“It’s unfortunate for an event with the purpose of bringing together people of faith” was almost cancelled, Allouch said.

Bill Lonneman, the Franciscans Network’s advancement coordinator, said the Archdiocese didn’t want the gathering at a school, given the complaints and the 9/11 anniversary. 

“I think the Archdiocese was just being very cautious,” he said. “It’s a shame the Archdiocese bowed to some pressure from outsiders.”

MacDougal said the Archdiocese still plans to participate in other events that include Muslims, such as the upcoming community 9/11 anniversary gathering on 3 p.m. 
Sept. 11 at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

“I am sorry for any concern or sadness this may have caused, for Christian and Muslim alike,” she wrote in her letter. 

Mother of Mercy, a school of 500 girls, is run by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, a Catholic order of nuns whose national group is based in St. Louis. The school operates as an officially sanctioned Catholic school, implementing the Archdiocese’s policies and curriculum.

Each year, Mercy seniors in the Comparative Religion class tour the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati in West Chester. Shakila Ahmad, a trustee at the Islamic Center, said it is “very, very rare” for an interfaith event to be canceled or moved.

“I’m really sad because it was an opportunity for people to break bread and build understanding,” she said. “If you don’t have opportunities to talk to each other, how are we going to understand our differences and build respect?”

*Staff writer Dan Horn contributed.

Source:  http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110825/NEWS0102/308250094/Catholic-school-won-t-host-Ramadan-dinner?odyssey=nav|head

Whole Foods Company Denies Rumor of Boycott of Israeli Products

by Ryan Torok  |  JewishJournal.com  |  August 25, 2011

 

Whole Foods, Austin, Texas. Photo by That Other Paper photostream (Flickr)

 

For about a week, a rumor that the Whole Foods Market chain is boycotting Israeli products has been circulating in emails and on the blogosphere.  On Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for Whole Foods said that the rumor is completely false.

It’s “definitely not true,” company spokesperson Libba Letton said in a phone interview. “We have products from Israel; we have tons of kosher products.”
The company’s customer service team has received “at least a couple hundred” phone calls from people – many of them Jewish – asking whether the rumor is true, Letton said.

“For every person that calls us, there are nine more who don’t and just believe what they read, and it’s been frustrating,” she said.

Letton said she believes the rumor started with a blogpost by conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel late last month. On July 29, Schlussel wrote on her blog, DebbieSchlussel.com, that she had “received many reports from Whole Foods customers that Israeli olive oil and other products had been removed from the shelves of many Whole Foods.”

Letton firmly disputed Schlussel’s claim. “Some national brands you’ll find in our stores include Aviv, Yehuda, and Avvio,” she wrote The Journal in an email. “We also carry thousands of kosher items, as well as hundreds of kosher-for-Passover products.”

Source:  http://www.jewishjournal.com/food/article/whole_foods_company_denies_rumor_of_boycott_of_israeli_products_20110825/

The Hudna at Ground Zero: What do Muslims Really Want?

by Nancy Kobrin, PhD, Joan Lachkar, PhD  |  FamilySecurityMatters.org  |  August 25, 2011

 

The initial design of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero.

 

Protests against Ground Zero continue to rise. The consensus of people and sentiments of most people share that it is a moral violation to have a mosque/"cultural center" built so close to Ground Zero where more than 3,000 Americans were killed and blasted out of their buildings in the world's most famous capital buildings --the Twin Towers.

 

The builders and organizers are claiming this will be a "cultural center (our emphasis added) to include a culinary school, gym and basketball court, swimming pool, a Sept. 11th memorial and contemplation space, and a mosque, intended to be run separately from Park 51 but open to and accessible to all members, religions, visitors and the New York community." (Anne Barnard, August 1, 2011 Developers of Islamic Center Try a New Strategy.) This is the strategy of what is known as a hudna, the temporary cease fire to allow to regroup, reorganize, lay in waiting until they can turn the cultural center into the fourth holiest mosque in Islam, say ten years from now on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11.

 

The hudna is not only a political strategy it is also a "psychological movement." It is a psychological movement in that a religious ideology and its adherents can act like a group of tribal people who are bonded at the core as one entity who have never psychologically separated and individuated, especially from the mother. In spite of her degradation, the group is symbiotically bonded to the devalued female Mother as she has never had the skills or the tools to help her children develop their own individuality. The hudna is tremendously cohesive for group dynamics, coming at the expense of the individual, further re-enforcing borderline behavior.

 

In many of Lachkar's early works, she describes Muslim terrorists as insatiable, that they can never conquer or have enough--give them an inch and they'll take a mile. If not a city, a country, the world!  In laymen's terms this is known as insatiable, almost like an obese person at a buffet table who can never get enough food. In psychological terms it is an omnipotent fantasy that has no boundaries or borders.  What do Muslims at Ground Zero really want?  Do they want peace?  Do they want a mosque were visitors can come and pray?  Again and again they want the world to become beholden to their God.  Allah is their God and everyone must be beholden to him.  The more mosques the merrier. 

 

In our analysis, they are not building a cultural center they are building more "cults."  Borderlines are not only insatiable, they are manipulative and destructive. They will do anything and everything to make others believe in their cause, their alleged altruistic aims, e.g. peace and honor. Even the subtitle of the New York Times article characterizes this hudna as a "quieter approach." Yet they present themselves as the poor victims, demanding attention and deserving fulfillment of their demands. But, who are they fooling as transparent as they are, whose peace and whose honor? 

 

Both authors agree their most prevalent dynamic is shame, a face saving culture that replaces creativity with aggression and destruction. They turn to others to pity them and to cave in to their constant demands and threats. In many of our earlier articles we have highlighted their idea of peace as something that can be achieved only when all infidels are killed and destroyed. Honor can be achieved when Muslims forfeit their lives, their children (such as child suicide bombers), their homes, their sons to fight for the destruction of anyone who does not adhere to the will of Allah.

 

We certainly support the protesters and in this special anniversary edition of Family Security Matters, we wish to offer our psychoanalytic tools to understand the dynamics of underpinnings of this alleged cultural center and delve behind the meaning of this very structure.

 

First of all who is to say it is cultural? So far the cultural center sounds more athletic (swimming//basketball).  Where is the Art? The Music? The Orchestra? Dance? Literature? What kind of cooking? French? Middle Eastern? We would certainly like to expand our knowledge as to what kind of culture are they talking about?

 

Secondly, what have the Muslims produced in the past century in terms of culture? Art? Music? Science? Certainly no Object Relations Theory or infant/human research and development. It seems too that whatever they have produced it has been devoid of non-Muslims. The role of the female in Islam is appalling. How can anyone venerate an alleged cultural center that grounds itself in a religion that oppresses women in Saudi Arabia? How can anyone believe and affirm a religion, which is so discriminatory that no other religions are permitted openly on its soil? And no non-Muslim is permitted to visit their holy cities Mecca and Medina? Is the New York cultural center a sham lure claiming that Islam is equal and peaceful for all? Boy, those who believe must really be terrified of change and to admitting how discriminatory Islam really is. It would be too embarrassing to admit and that is a shame/honor thing, never to admit that you are wrong. What an oxymoron the Islamic cultural center is!

 

Thirdly, what are the psychological ramifications? In many of our previous writings we have described revenge, retaliation (jihad and vengeance), false self, envy, jealousy, unresolved Oedipal issues, and most importantly distortion, magical thinking, manipulation and denial of reality as primitive defenses which facilitate and perpetuate the pervasive shame honor culture of Islam. While many would like to claim that shame honor is a function of the tribe, separating it out from the religion, we argue that that is impossible to do so and that is an artificial construct at best if not a means of allay one's anxiety of a religion built on instilling terror in their adherents.

Linda Rivera protesting a year ago against the proposed mosque.

Elsewhere we have stated that Islam is a political movement dressed in religious garb. We expand on that dichotomy between religion and politics, asserting that Islam's hudna makes it a "psychological movement" which poses as a religion. On account of this should Islam be downgraded from the venerated status of one of the Abrahamic monotheistic religions? Doesn't the strategy of the hudna demonstrate that it engages in group think? Yet we wish to give Muslims the benefit of the doubt and we endorse what Adrian Morgan and 

Andrew McCarthy recently wrote here at familysecuritymatters.org, that "Western culture can change, and Islamic culture can too."

We associate the cultural center at Ground Zero as reminiscent of the Emperor's New Clothes, masquerading as a cultural center with a stealth political agenda predicated on dawah, which dupes and manipulates others on the road to Islam parading as a charade where everyone can join in peace and harmony. 

 

On a more precautionary note Allah has forbidden us to ever invade or intrude into the sacred space of Muslim unity or solidarity, a closed system where no outside interlopers are allowed. Arab Muslim unity and Arab nationalism uber alles! Not a far cry from a primitive mental state where mother and baby are one, where no one is allowed to enter and is perceived as destroying the ultimate state of symbiosis in order to maintain this symbolic/symbiotic fantasy of bliss. From our point of view, Islam's hudna makes it a psychological movement under the guise of religion. The mosque can present itself as an allegedly "benign" cultural center. Lachkar has referred to such maneuvering in many of her publications "the false self," where the collective group self belies the true self's agenda. This is nothing more than the strategic psychological ploy to make us believe that they are one of us but in reality they will never allow us in! To conclude we send our tribute to those loved ones and relatives who lost their lives on 9/11 and we send our reminder. "We must never forget!"

 

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributor Dr. Nancy Kobrin, a psychoanalyst with a Ph.D. in romance and semitic languages, specializes in Aljamía and Old Spanish in Arabic script. She is an expert on the Minnesota Somali diaspora and a graduate of the Human Terrain System program at Leavenworth Kansas. Her new book is The Banality of Suicide Terrorism: The Naked Truth About the Psychology of Islamic Suicide Bombing. 

 

FamilySecurityMatters.org 

Contributor Dr. Joanie Jutta Lachkar is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist in private practice in Brentwood and Tarzana, California, who teaches psychoanalysis and is the author of The Narcissistic/Borderline Couple: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Marital Treatment (1992, The Many Faces of Abuse: Treating the Emotional Abuse of High -Functioning Women (1998), The V-Spot, How to Talk to a Narcissist, How to Talk to a Borderline and a recent  paper, “The Psychopathology of Terrorism”  presented at the Rand Corporation and  the International Psychohistorical Association. She is also an affiliate member of the New Center for Psychoanalysis.

 

Source:  http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.10239/pub_detail.asp

The Truth About Libyan 'Rebels'

by Diana West  |  WND.com  |  August 25, 2011

 

Here are three things Americans need to know about the Libyan "rebels" the U.S. government isn't telling us.

One: The inspiration of the Libyan war is as much anti-Western as it is anti-Gadhafi.

The "Day of Rage" that kick-started the Libyan war on Feb. 17 marked the fifth anniversary of violent protests in Benghazi, which included an assault on the Italian consulate during which at least 11 were killed. The 2006 mayhem, as John Rosenthal has reported, during which consulate staff was evacuated after 1,000 to several thousand men tried to storm and burn the building, may be linked to the Italian TV appearance two days earlier of Italian minister Roberto Calderoli. It was then that Calderoli, in defiance of worldwide Islamic rioting against cartoons of Muhammad in a tiny Danish newspaper, revealed he was wearing an undershirt decorated with such a cartoon. In remarks widely reported in Arab media, Calderoli explained that "the gesture was a matter of a 'battle for freedom.'" The minister said: "When they (the cartoon rioters) recognize our rights, I'll take off the shirt."

Unfortunately – and not just for the Italian minister – Calderoli's boss, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, didn't recognize those rights. One day after the Benghazi rioting ("We feared for our lives," the consul general's wife told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera), Calderoli resigned, a political collapse indicative of Western tendencies to renounce rights that conflict with Islamic law (Shariah).

Two: The anti-Gadhafi, anti-Western forces that NATO power has brought to apparent victory through an air war and not-so-secret deployment of special forces (so far costing U.S. taxpayers $1 billion) include jihadist forces the U.S. and NATO allies have been fighting for the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Captured al-Qaida documents analyzed at West Point reveal that not only did Libya send far more recruits per capita to fight with al-Qaida in Iraq than any other nation (including Saudi Arabia), but also that the "rebel" stronghold of Darnah sent more recruits per capita than any other city. Bonus info: 85 percent of Libyan recruits in Iraq listed their "work" as "suicide bombers."

This Libyan surge, the report explains, may have been due to the "increasingly cooperative relationship" with al-Qaida of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). What is the LIFG? Designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 2004, the LIFG is a prominent faction among anti-Gadhafi forces today. Little wonder the Los Angeles Times discovered there are "at least 20 former Islamic militant leaders in battlefield roles" in Libya (while what the paper called "hundreds of Islamists" are either "participating or watching from the sidelines").

These include LIFG leader Abdelhakim Belhaj, described in recent days as the rebel commander in Tripoli. Another rebel leader and LIFG member, Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda bin Qumu, is also an ex-Gitmo detainee, as the New York Times has pointed out. And another rebel leader, Abdul Hakim al-Hasadi, as John Rosenthal has reported, admitted to Italian media earlier this year not only to "fighting against U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but also to recruiting Libyans to fight against American forces in Iraq." Some of those same recruits "have come back and today are on the front at Ajdabiya," al-Hasadi explained, referring to a northeastern Libyan town. "They are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists. The members of al-Qaida are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader," al-Hasadi added.

Three: The draft constitution of the anti-Gadhafi forces cites "Shariah" as the "principal source of legislation."

Shariah is Islamic law, the basis of conquest or control of non-Muslims, conscience, speech and other Western-style liberties. Not too surprisingly, rebel spokesman Mustafa Abdul Jalil, former Libyan justice minister, sports a "zabibah," the forehead bruise of fanatical adherence to Islamic law. He also has animus toward Israel on the brain. WikiLeaks tells us, as Andrew Bostom has reported: "In the course of the discussion of the Criminal Code (with U.S. Ambassador Gene A. Cretz in 2010), Abdul Jalil abruptly changed the subject from freedom of speech to the 'Libyan people's concern about the U.S. government's support for Israel.'" In 1998, Abdul Jalil grotesquely sentenced six Bulgarian nurses to death in a notorious show trial.

Such is the man touted as one of the powers-to-be in post-Gadhafi Libya, which U.S. government officials, such as Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, promise will be "moderate," "modern" and "secular." But don't laugh too hard. The joke is on us.

 

Source:  http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=337905

Persecution Based on Koran ‘Alive and Kicking,’ Professor Says

by Joanne Hill  |  JewishTribune.ca  |  August 24, 2011

 

Qur'an 5:59

"Say: 'People of the Book! Do you disapprove of us for no other reason than that we believe in Allah, and the revelation that has come to us and that which came before?' Say: 'Shall I point out to you something much worse than this by the treatment it received from Allah? Those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom He transformed into apes and swine."

JERUSALEM – Antisemitism based on the Koran is “alive and kicking” today because of the Islamic doctrine of abrogation, in which later verses replace earlier verses they would otherwise contradict, according to Raphael Israeli, professor, Islamic, Chinese and Middle Eastern History at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

Israeli addressed a small group of Canadian journalists at Yad Vashem recently on the topic of Antisemitism in the Arab/Muslim World Today as part of a media visit sponsored by the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem and the Adelson Family Charitable Foundation.

Israeli said he listens every Friday to broadcasts of sermons given in mosques and “it’s harrowing stuff.” Israeli added that multitudes of Muslims around the world, many illiterate, listen to these weekly sermons in which antisemitic verses are often repeated. “Those old stereotypes against the Jews that are mentioned in the Koran are relevant: they are alive. It’s not that they were said and then forgotten: they were not.” 

There is “a long and sorry history” of persecution of Jews, Israeli said, which has its origins in Mohammed’s anger at the Jewish community for rejecting his calls to convert to Islam.  The relationship between the ancient people of Israel and the leader of the new religion of Islam didn’t start out that way.

When Mohammed left his home in Mecca to become the ruler of Medina in 622 CE, his first mission was to convert the inhabitants of Medina to Islam. To this end, he told members of Medina’s four Jewish tribes that, rather than starting a new faith, he was reviving the old faith of their common ancestor, Abraham.  To further “lure” them, he made Yom Kippur a day of compulsory fasting for Muslims and instructed his followers to pray facing Jerusalem.  The verses in the Koran which are positive toward the Jewish people were “revealed” to Mohammed during this period. After it became clear to him that the Jews of Medina would not accept Islam voluntarily, the divine revelations he claimed to receive about Jews were “horrible.”  

“Therefore, you find two parts of the Koran…. The Prophet Mohammed realized that he could not convince those Jews to follow him, yet they remained a challenge to his authority because they were very powerful economically and politically, so he had to fight them. But on what authority? How could he convince (the local Arabs) to rise and harass, exterminate or expel the Jews with whom they had lived in good neighbourly relations for 500 years? The only authority he could (invoke) was divine inspiration: ‘G-d told me so,’” Israeli said.

One of the new revelations, which Mohammed claimed he was given by G-d, was that Jews are “the descendants of pigs and monkeys” and this verse is still repeated in sermons around the world.

Source:  http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4676&Itemid=53

The Weekly Schmooze: Howard Stern vs. anti-Semites

by Lahav Harkov  |  JPost.com  |  August 25, 2011

 

A JPost column wrapping up Jewish culture news worldwide: UK's Kosher cooking star; Katy Perry slammed for pro-Israel tweet.

A few weeks ago, the Schmooze pointed out a trend in which Jewish comedians come up with creative Middle East peace initiatives. This week, it seems that the new comedy trend is anti-Semitism. In a New York Times article about Chris Tucker's career revival,Rush Hour director Brett Ratner reveals that Tucker calls him "Jew Boy," adding "he can call me whatever he wants, because we're friends." 

Next,  a quiz. Who did comedian Andy Dick call a "money-grubbing Jew" with "a big fat hook nose" in a radio interview last week?

A) David Letterman
B) Howard Stern
C) Jon Stewart

The correct answer is B, Howard Stern. Dick accused the shock jock of not paying him for hosting a show on Stern's digital radio channel, Howard 101. Stern, classy as always, said to Dick: "You're not getting paid a dime because your show sucks…Stop looking for handouts and waiting for the Jew to give you a job."

Singer Katy Perry was bombarded with anti-Israel tweets on Tuesday, after she wrote "Shalom" to an Israeli fan and said that she was praying for Israel.  One twitter user wrote "aren't they killing Palestinian babies at this moment?" Another tweeted: "I hope your private jet crash lands in Palestine so they stamp on you like the whore you are. See if Israel will help you." Perry later defended her tweet, writing "a kid asked me to pray for him, and I did. I don't support any side of violence in any place for any reason."

It looks like the Funny or Die's hit "Black and Jewish" video was more influential than expected. Two of the artists mentioned in the song – Drake and Lenny Kravitz – have collaborated on a new track, "Sunflower," for Kravitz's upcoming album Black and White in America.

 

On the other side of the pond, a Jewish mother from Manchester may be on the way to becoming the UK's new favorite TV cook. Bernette Clarke has become very popular ever since she was seen cooking in a televised documentary about the northern England Jewish community called Strictly Kosher. Now, the Jewish Chronicle reports that Clarke has traveled to London for a screen test, to see if she can reveal her recipes on a morning talk show. "I'm lively enough and I've got enough recipes to keep them going every single week for a year," Clarke said. Nigella, watch out!

The American football season is set to begin in two weeks, and JCCs of North America want in on the action. The umbrella organization for Jewish community centers has started an online fantasy football league with weekly prizes, with ESPN fantasy league expert Matthew Berry serving as league commissioner. Registration is at www.discoverjcc.com. Good luck!

A rock 'n' roll legend passed away this Monday. Jerry Leiber, who penned classic songs like "Hound Dog," "Love Potion No. 9," and "Stand By Me" with his writing partnerMike Stoller died at age 78. Leiber and Stoller ushered in a new era of teen-targeted music in the late 1950s, and continued to churn out hits for decades. Here's one of the duo's biggest hits, Elvis's "Jailhouse Rock."

 

The Weekly Schmooze collects the hottest Jewish culture news from around the world. Ranging from celebrities to philanthropy to quirky communities, we're here to schmooze about Jews. If you have any news to share with The Weekly Schmooze, write to: [email protected]

 

Source:  http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=235359