How Saudi Arabia is distancing itself from the Islamic State

How Saudi Arabia is distancing itself from the Islamic State

Thirteen years after US President George W. Bush declared war on terrorism, the Middle East is no closer to victory. Instead, terrorism appears to have morphed into an even more dangerous beast in the form of the Islamic State (IS). Westerners, as expressed through the media, seem to be under the same impression as they were after Sept. 11, 2001 — namely, that the Sunni jihadist movement is linked to the Wahhabi brand of Islam emanating from Saudi Arabia. This has prompted renewed debate among Saudis about this supposed Wahhabist-jihadist connection.

After bombings in Riyadh by al-Qaeda in 2003, the relationship between terrorism and religious extremism was widely discussed in the kingdom, with the government establishing the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue that same year. During the dialogue's second meeting, Extremism and Moderation … A Comprehensive Methodological Vision, it was agreed that religious programs in Saudi Arabia were the primary force behind the spread of extremism in society. As a result of the dialogue, school curricula, the religious curriculum in particular, were modified by the Ministry of Education. Doubts remained, however, that religious education had been sufficiently modified given that radical Islamists were believed to dominate the education sector in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is today taking seriously the allegations in the international media that it is the ideological root of the current jihadist groups. Some have sought to defend the country's religious vision by trying to disassociate Sunni jihadist groups from their brand of Islam, instead castigating other groups, such as the Kharijites — an Islamic sect separate from Sunnis and Shiites that emerged from the first Islamic civil war in the seventh century between Ali Ibn Ali Talib and Muawiya Ibn Abi Sufyan following the killing of the third caliph, Uthman Ibn Affan.

Nawaf Obaid and Saud al-Sarhan presented this view in a Sept. 8 article in The New York Times. They argued that IS' discourse is different from that of Salafism and Wahhabism. They contended that IS ideologues are Kharijites who believe that those different from them are infidels and can therefore rightfully be killed, including en masse.

The main problem in suggesting an IS link to Kharijites is that the group has been distributing Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s books across the territory under its control in Iraq and Syria, suggesting that the group is explicitly declaring its affiliation with Wahhabism. Another issue is that the religious basis of Sunni jihadist movements is completely different from Kharijism, which eventually developed different schools of jurisprudence. One of the most prominent schools is Ibadism, the official confession in Oman, which is not linked to IS in any way.

In debates about terrorism and extremism in Saudi Arabia, extremism is repeatedly attributed to the era of Juhayman Ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaybi, who in 1979 led extremists to take over the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The government at the time met the radicals’ demands and allowed them to implement their brand of conservatism through the media, education and other forms of public life. This era in Saudi history is called the Awakening, and Wahhabism at the time was not described as a source of extremism. Today, however, because of IS, there are discussions on the connection between Sunni jihadist extremism and Wahhabism inside and outside Saudi Arabia. This might eventually change the way Saudis see themselves.

These discussions have always stirred political and religious sensitivities, as the kingdom has openly declared that it adopted the movement of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab. This is reflected in the religious activities funded by Saudi Arabia around the world and in the discourse of most of its religious scholars. The political sensitivities arise given that the first signs of the Saudi state emerged when Abd al-Wahhab joined forces with Imam Muhammad Bin Saud in the 18th century. This alliance holds symbolic importance to the religious and political union in Saudi history, as legitimacy was accorded by the religious movement to establish the modern-day state of Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom’s participation in the first airstrikes against IS in Syria on Sept. 23 demonstrates its seriousness in combating the radicals. This followed a recent shift in Saudi policy to focus on the threat posed by Sunni jihadist groups. King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz expressed disappointment toward the international community on Aug. 1 for not showing enthusiasm for the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), begun in 2011 with Saudi backing. He also donated $100 million to the center, while the grand mufti, Abdul Aziz Al al-Sheikh, proclaimed IS the No. 1 threat to Islam.

Some see the kingdom’s efforts to fight terrorism simply as a way to deflect criticism from Western governments. On Aug. 28 in the Washington Post, David Ignatiuswrote that Saudi support for the UNCCT and the identification of IS as the main enemy of Islam were done to avoid criticism being leveled against Saudi Arabia for backing Sunni extremism. This view, however, ignores that terrorism poses a direct threat to Saudi Arabia.

Despite attempts by some prominent Saudis to do so, it is difficult to link IS to Kharijites and separate the group from Wahhabism, as the group has explicitly adopted the ideas of Abd al-Wahab and is spreading and imposing them on the regions it controls. The current challenge is to prove that the ideas of Wahhabism are the primary reason for the creation and mobilization of jihadist organizations and is not a distraction from the political collapse of the region as the facilitator of the growth in extremism.

BADER AL-RASHED

Contributor, Gulf Pulse

Bader al-Rashed is a Saudi writer and journalist who has been published in a number of outlets, including Al-Riyadh, Al-Eqtisadiah and Al-Hayat. He was also an editor at Al-Ekhbariya TV and Qawafil magazine. On Twitter: @balrashed

Un juif français a donné 74 millions de shekels à l’Etat d’Israël

Entre Janvier et Septembre 2014, les juifs de diaspora ont donné à Israël 110 millions de shekels (23,5 millions d’euros), ce montant inclus la donation d’un Juif français, qui a donné , à lui seul, 74 millions de shekels (16 millions d’euros) à l’Etat juif sous la seule condition de rester anonyme, a rapporté le quotidien israelien Yediot Aharonot.

Ce n’est pas la plus grosse somme reçue par Israël. Il y a plusieurs années, l’Etat d’Israël a obtenu, auprès du Bureau de l’administrateur général,  de plus de 200 millions de shekels d’une personne, qui avait demandé de faire don de son argent à la création d’un hôpital spécialisé pour la rééducation des invalides de l’Armée israélienne. Ce généreux donateur était Ignace Hellenberg, un marchand d’art français mort en 2004.

Selon une décision du gouvernement de 1955, c’est le bureau de l’administrateur général qui est le seul autorisé à gérer les successions et les donations au profit de l’Etat et de ses institutions. L’administrateur général actuel d’Israël est le professeur David Hahn. Les successions et les donations sont attribuées aux différents organismes et institutions en fonction de la demande des bailleurs de fonds. Selon une décision du gouvernement de 1990, si le défunt n’a pas mentionné une quelconque institution, alors un comité public décidera de la question.

Un ancien administrateur général , Shlomo Shachar avait déclaré dans une interview de 2012 au Yediot Aharonot  : «Une personne que j’ai rencontré à Monaco voulait donner à Israël plusieurs millions de dollars, mais a demandé à savoir qui  était l’administrateur général. Il m’a dit qu’il avait eu deux enfants avec lesquels  il avait perdu le contact et n’avait pas l’intention de leurs laisser quoi que ce soit. Il nous a demandé de prendre soin de ses arrangements funéraires et de l’inhumer en Israël ».

« Le montant moyen reçu chaque année est d’environ 100-150 millions de shekels », a ajouté Shachar.

par Adèle Berg pour -Tel-Avivre -

Dumfries & Galloway Council discard anti-Israel motion.

On September 25, 2014 Dumfries and Galloway Council were presented a motion (above) calling for support of the anti-Semitic BDS of Israel.

 

After a discussion lasting approximately eight minutes, when the usual lies and distortions were regurgitated, the Council dismissed the motion in favour of an amendment simply voicing their humanitarian concerns, limiting the wording to the first six lines (ending at “lasting peace”). The voting was For the Motion 11, For the amendment 28.

 

An audio recording of the discussion (often poor quality) can be listened to at; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p44ZVnOwkGc&feature=youtu.be

Timed at 1h58m – 2h 05m (8 mins)

Aujourd'hui à Alger et Oran : Sit-in des familles de disparus

SOS Disparus annonce deux rassemblements des familles des disparus pour aujourd'hui à Alger et à Oran, respectivement à la Place 1er Mai et devant la Cour d'Oran. La date de ces deux rassemblements n'est pas fortuite. Elle coïncide avec le neuvième anniversaire du référendum sur la Charte pour la paix et la réconciliation nationale. Une charte que SOS Disparus assimile dans un communiqué diffusé hier à «un déni de justice !». SOS Disparus appelle ainsi le gouvernement à «respecter enfin les droits des victimes, en ouvrant des enquêtes pour faire la lumière sur le sort de toutes les personnes disparues et poursuivant et jugeant les responsables de ces violations». Dans ce même document, l'association de défense des familles de disparus en Algérie rappelle que cette charte avait été soumise à référendum le 29 septembre 2005 après une campagne qui «avait exclu toute voix discordante» en la présentant «comme étant la seule solution pour résoudre le dossier des disparus».

Or, ajoute SOS Disparus, «les neuf années qui ont suivi l'adoption de la charte ont signifié la consolidation du déni de vérité et de justice pour toutes les victimes». Aussi, lit-on dans le communiqué, «non seulement les textes d'application de la Charte ont imposé l'impunité des responsables des disparitions des 8.000 Algériens mais menacent de 3 à 5 ans d'emprisonnement quiconque qui, par ses déclarations ou écrits ou tout autre acte (…) ternit l'image de son pays au niveau international». De plus, estime SOS Disparus, ces textes d'application «infligent une véritable torture morale aux familles de disparus», notamment pour obtenir l'indemnisation proposée par la charte, pour laquelle «les familles doivent solliciter un jugement de décès auprès d'un tribunal sans qu'aucune enquête n'ait été menée pour élucider le sort qui a été réservé à leurs proches disparus».

Calling all Maserati Jews.

 With thanks: Hilary, Michelle and Lily

Calling all Maserati Jews.

Tomorrow night the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee (SPSC) will be telling the truth about you -  Jewish refugees from Arab countries. 

(Maserati Jews? That's how Annie Robbins, editor-at-large of the anti-Zionist blog Mondoweiss, in her infinite wisdom, calls Mizrahi Jews. Or does she mean  Masorti Jews? Or a combination of the two. Anyway, you know who you are. You' re not the Aston Martin and FerrariJews! Despite all your valiant attempts to keep up flashy appearances, you're the 'marginalised and invisible Jews of colour').

The SPSC is visibly rattled by an episode that took place last May and is striving to do something about it. According to (another SPSC activist) Mick Napier:

"Scottish Government Minister Humza Yousaf spoke to a meeting in Glasgow in May of this year. The Jewish Telegraphreported that Zionists 'informed' him that "Israel's War of Independence had created around 850,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries" and that "Mr Yousaf...admitted that he had been unaware that there were so many Jewish refugees in 1948". 

Napier goes on:

"The Zionist claim conceals what Ben Gurion called "cruel Zionism", the violent effort by the Zionist underground in Iraq and Egypt to force the exodus of Jews who were proving resistant to the lure of Zionism. Thirty five years after Marion Woolfson treated this subject, Zionists still make strenuous efforts to keep the history inaccessible. This will be one of the themes discussed in Glasgow on Wednesday night at the Commemoration of Marion Woolfson's life and work, dedicated to the debunking of perncious (sic) Zionist myths. Come along."




  Marion Woolfson, who died exactly two years ago, wrote a book called Prophets of Babylon: Jews in the Arab World.

Point of No Return sought a copy of Woolfson's magnum opus, but was not willing to shell out over £2,000 for the only new copy still available on this planet at Amazon.

We can guess the gist of it. In her book Woolfson blames Zionism itself for causing the mass exodus of Jews from Arab countries. Until Zionism brutally intervened, Jews were happily and peacefully coexisting with Muslims. 

Marion Woolfson is in good anti-Zionist company. In his book The Gun & the Olive Branch, David Hirst describes in detail covert Israeli operations to scare Iraqi and Egyptian Jews into fleeing their homes for the "sanctuary" of Israel. Wilbur Crane Eveland, a former CIA operative, wrote about the 'Zionist crimes' against Arab Jews in Iraq (Feuerlicht, The Fate of the Jews, 231).

Marion Woolfson

The writings of the disaffected Iraqi Jew Naeem Giladi are frequently invoked to support this myth.

The Egyptian bombs of 1954 were indeed the work of a pro-Zionist group, but there is no causal link with the exodus of 25,000 Jews two years later. In the Iraqi case no one will ever know for certain who planted bombs in 1950 -51, but three of the five episodes occurred after the vast majority of the Jews had already left or were leaving - and caused no casualties. The Israeli 'new' historian Tom Segev has produced evidence blaming the only fatal bombing on Iraqi nationalists. In his book Une si longue presence, Nathan Weinstock makes the point that only the Iraqi police possessed the no. 36 high potential grenades used in the bombings. Besides, the two Zionist 'culprits' executed in January 1952, whose confessions were extracted under torture, were never accused of the fatal bombing of 14 January 1951.

In any case undue focus on the 'bombs' distracts from the overwhelming evidence of official antisemitism in Arab countries, and does not explain the 'ethnic cleansing' of the Jews from Yemen, Syria, Libya and other countries.  

If any of you Maserati Jews happen to live in Glasgow, please attend the SPSC event tomorrow night. Don't make the history inaccessible. This is your chance to acquaint the audience with the truth. You might mention the Farhud, the 1941 pogrom in which almost 200 Iraqi Jews were murdered. You might utter the word dhimmi. You might refer to the Arab League plan to persecute their Jewish citizens before the establishment of Israel. Or you might direct your listeners to this blog....

http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/calling-all-maserati-jews.html?m=1

Tomorrow night the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee (SPSC) will be telling the truth about you -  Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

(With the never-ending assistance of their partner, Church of Scotland, Renfield Centre 260 Bath Street Glasgow)

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/marion-woolfson-rip-tickets-13272567607?aff=efbevent

Isis in Syria: Turkish hospitals open their doors to 300 Kurdish casualties from YPG/PKK they once regarded as terrorists

A Syrian Kurdish girl is rescued by a Red Crescent worker

By FREDERIKE GEERDINK

Sunday 28 September 2014

The broken pieces of Ronahi El Hamu's shoulder are held together by metal. She was hit a week ago by a bullet fired by Islamic State (Isis).

Now Ms El Hamu is recovering in a state hospital in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, close to the Syrian border. "I want to get out of here," she said. "I want to go back to Kobane and fight, even with this metal in my shoulder."

She is a fighter for the People's Protection Units, known by its Kurdish acronym YPG. The group has been resisting heavy Isis attacks for two weeks on several fronts around Kobane, on the Turkish border.

Wounded YPG fighters are being brought to Turkish state hospitals, a development widely viewed as remarkable since the YPG is affiliated with the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has been at war with Turkey for 30 years and is branded a terror group in the West.

Heavily wounded fighters are taken to hospitals in Sanliurfa, the lightly wounded to doctors in Suruc, some six miles from the Syrian border. All fighters wear civilian clothes when they arrive.

Ethem Sahin, an experienced physician who volunteers at the Suruc hospital, said: "There is an understanding with the border police: don't come to Turkey wearing your YPG uniform. All wounded are first taken to a clinic in Kobane, for first aid such as pain killers and bandages. There, their combat outfit is changed for civilian clothes."

In the hospital system, the fighters are registered as "guests from Syria". Some give their real names, others use an alias. None of the fighters stay in the hospital one minute longer than absolutely necessary, said Ethem Sahin. "They are taken to private homes for further recovery. Then they disappear."

Disappear they might, but it is widely known they return to Kobane to resume fighting against Isis.

One of the fighters being treated in Suruc state hospital is Zelal, (not her real name), 19. Underneath the bandage on her arm is a deep wound, caused by shrapnel. She does not like being in a Turkish state hospital.

"Turkey suppresses Kurds," she said. "And now I receive their care. I hate it. But the physicians gave me no choice, I need treatment and this is the only place we can go."

In the Sanliurfa hospital, Ronahi El Hamu does not feel particularly comfortable in a Turkish state hospital bed either. "The Turkish authorities don't do much to stop Turks from joining Islamic State," she said. "So it's partly thanks to Turkey that we fight this war in the first place." Then she cleared her throat and started singing a Kurdish battle song.

The state appointed governor of Suruc, Adbullah Ciftci, admits that YPG fighters are coming to state hospitals. He estimates that in the past two months, some 300 YPG fighters were treated in Turkey. "In wartime the normal law doesn't apply," he explained. "We help people regardless of who they are."

Does that include wounded Isis fighters too, he was asked. It is claimed that the Islamists go to hospitals in the Akcakale area, around 45 miles to the east, where the border crossing is in the hands of Isis.

"I can't comment on that," Mr Ciftci said. "I am only responsible for this area."

Algérie : plusieurs voix accusent la France d’être derrière l’enlèvement d’Hervé Gourdel

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• Source : atlasinfo.fr

• Mots-clés : International

Louisa Hanoune (photo), la présidente du Parti des travailleurs algériens et soutien indéfectible du président algérien Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a lancé des accusations à peine voilées contre la France pour son supposé rôle dans l’enlèvement de l’otage français Hervé Gourdel et sa décapitation.

« Les responsables français exploitent l’assassinat de l’otage français pour faire diversion sur le grave crise économique, politique et sociale dans laquelle se débat la France. Cela ne nous étonne pas. Mais nous ne sommes pas dupes. Personne ne peut nous duper », a-t-elle dit.

« Cette opération d’enlèvement suscite beaucoup d’interrogations. Nous ne sommes ni des niais ni des dupes. Personne ne peut nous duper », s’est-elle encore écrié, avant de lancer : « Pourquoi l’Algérie ? Les Français sont bien éparpillés à travers le monde. Pourquoi on a choisi spécialement l’Algérie dont l’État refuse de participer à la coalition internationale et refuse d’intervenir militairement en Libye malgré les pressions françaises, américaines et européennes. » [...]

Cette thèse trouve écho après d’un autre algérien, Ali Zaoui, ancien militaire, qui a déclaré ne pas croire à la version donnée par les autorités françaises sur l’enlèvement du touriste français en Algérie.

Il avance que le rapt du ressortissant français Pierre Hervé Gourdel à Bouira est monté de toute pièce par les services secrets français afin d’entraîner l’Algérie dans la lutte contre Daesh.

Lire l’intégralité de l’article sur atlasinfo.fr

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Israeli-Jewish owned cosmetics stall, Jericho, at Braehead Shopping Centre Glasgow need your help

 

We would like to take this moment to thank all of you who, at some time or another, have supported our meagre efforts at Scottish Friends of Israel (SFI). Your own efforts and encouragement keeps us going.

 

Many of you will already be aware of the on-going harassment of the Israeli-Jewish owned cosmetics stall, Jericho, at Braehead Shopping Centre Glasgow orchestrated by Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). All part of the Boycott Israel campaign. The stall, its staff and customers are under attack and if some things don’t change soon it may not survive. Two SPSC demonstrators, Mick Napier and Jim Watson, have already been arrested but the attacks continue. The stall owners, Nissam and Daniel, who are not getting the help and assistance due from the Centre management and Police, are appreciative of the current support they are getting from Scottish Friends of Israel but it needs more of us.

 

Now We need to call on Scottish Jews to come out once more.

 

Next Saturday, Oct 4, between 12 noon and 4pm, SPSC will be there again. We understand that there will be few, if any, Jewish supporters of the stall as that day is Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

 

We are calling on the non-Jewish pro Israel supporters to visit the Jericho stall, especially on that day, and show some support. No need to buy anything or counter-demonstrate, just stop and say hello! Just visiting is enough – for now!

 

If you can be of help on Oct 4, between 12 noon and 4pm, We would appreciate you letting Stanley Grossman know at; stanleygrossman@uwclub.net 

Renaud Sarda

SFI

 

Virgins? What virgins?

Sex in Islam 27 September 2014

By Ibn Warraq

In August, 2001, the American television channel CBS aired an interview with a Hamas activist Muhammad Abu Wardeh, who recruited terrorists for suicide bombings in Israel. Abu Wardeh was quoted as saying: "I described to him how God would compensate the martyr for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness." Wardeh was in fact shortchanging his recruits since the rewards in Paradise for martyrs was 72 virgins. But I am running ahead of things.

Since September 11, news stories have repeated the story of suicide bombers and their heavenly rewards, and equally Muslim scholars and Western apologists of Islam have repeated that suicide is forbidden in Islam. Suicide (qatlu nafsi-hi) is not referred to in the Koran but is indeed forbidden in the Traditions (Hadith in Arabic), which are the collected sayings and doings attributed to the Prophet and traced back to him through a series of putatively trustworthy witnesses. They include what was done in his presence that he did not forbid, and even the authoritative sayings and doings of his companions.

But the Hamas spokesman correctly uses the word martyr (shahid) and not suicide bomber, since those who blow themselves up almost daily in Israel and those who died on September 11 were dying in the noblest of all causes, Jihad, which is an incumbent religious duty, established in the Koran and in the Traditions as a divine institution, and enjoined for the purpose of advancing Islam. While suicide is forbidden, martyrdom is everywhere praised, welcomed, and urged: "By the Being in Whose Hand is my life, I love that I should be killed in the way of Allah; then I should be brought back to life and be killed again in His way..."; "The Prophet said, 'Nobody who enters Paradise will ever like to return to this world even if he were offered everything, except the martyr who will desire to return to this world and be killed 10 times for the sake of the great honour that has been bestowed upon him'." [Sahih Muslim, chapters 781, 782, The Merit of Jihad and the Merit of Martyrdom.] (continue reading...)

Qatar’s Support of Hamas and Jihadist Forces in the Middle East

Right Side News 27 September 2014

Qatar is unquestionably engaged in international terrorist financing. According to the U.S. Treasury’s division for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, "Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally, has for many years openly financed Hamas.”

Qatar aids Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Jabhat al Nusra, al-Qaeda affiliates, Libyan Islamists, and even ISIS.

The key Qatari link to the Muslim Brotherhood has been Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who broadcasts on Qatar’s al Jazeera. In 2002, his foundation was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

Through the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar has attempted to undermine Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family believe they are "worthy of challenging Riyadh [Saudi Arabia].”

During the third Gaza War, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge, there was one striking news report in the pan-Arab daily, al-Hayat, claiming that the Qatari government threatened to evict the head of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mashaal, in the event that his organization accepted the latest Egyptian proposal for a cease fire. Mashaal had resisted all diplomatic efforts up until that time to bring the conflict to an end since mid-July, even when many of the front line senior commanders of Hamas in Gaza preferred to reach a halt in the fighting.1

Whether the report in al-Hayat is accurate or not, it has been an open secret for a considerable period of time that Qatar has been engaged in terrorist financing through its assistance to Hamas. On March 4, 2014, David Cohen, the U.S. Under-Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, disclosed: "Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally, has for many years openly financed Hamas…”2

In addition, Qatar provided a base from which Khaled Mashaal could run Hamas operations. But now it had become clear that Qatar was not only providing a convenient sanctuary for the most hard-line part of the Hamas leadership, but it also took an active part in seeing that Mashaal maintained this position. Rather than help resolve the conflict, it appeared that Qatar wanted to prolong and even exacerbate it.
Qatar and Terrorist Financing

On the surface, the ties between Qatar and terrorist financing do not make sense. Most of the emirates along the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf are known to be politically conservative –and not revolutionary. In contrast to Iran, they are status-quo powers. Qatar, moreover, has developed close defense ties with the United States; since 2003, the forward headquarters of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has been located at the al-Udaid airbase in Qatar. Nevertheless, at the same time, Qatar has forged ties with some of the most problematic movements in the Middle East. In that sense, Qatar’s outreach to Hamas is not an isolated phenomenon, but part of a broader trend in Qatari foreign policy, which has serviced much of the jihadist network in the Middle East and not just Hamas.

For example, in June 2013, the Taliban were permitted to open a quasi-diplomatic office in Qatar. In December 2013, the US Department of the Treasury announced a prominent Qatari was backing al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and Iraq. The charity official, Abd al-Rahman bin Umayr al-Nu’aymi, was a professor at Qatar University and had served as an adviser to government-backed charities in Qatar. But he was also a conduit for Qatari-based donors and the al-Qaeda network.3 Another Qatari charity has been mentioned by Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate fighting in Syria, as a preferred vehicle for funding. Another Middle Eastern source has stated that Qatar shares in the responsibility for Jabhat al-Nusra having "money and weapons and everything they need.”4

The Qatari role in terrorist financing keeps emerging in many locations. The UN Security Council approved the addition of six individuals to the al-Qaeda sanctions list on August 15, 2014, including Hamid Hamad al-Ali, who, it maintained, had participated in financing the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).5 Al-Ali actively solicited contributions in a video appeal filmed in Qatar.

Qatar was also active in North Africa. The French press carried repeated reports that Qatar was financing jihadist elements in Northern Mali, including MUJAO (the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa), Ansar Dine (affiliated with al-Qaeda), and even secularist Tuareg separatists belonging to the MNLA (National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad). There were also reports quoting the French Directorate of Intelligence (DRM) claiming that Qatar was financing AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb). Prior to the French intervention in Mali, its northern region was emerging as an African Afghanistan. Notably, the Qatari Red Crescent was the only humanitarian organization operating in Northern Mali after the Islamist takeover.

Qatar also has extensive ties to Islamist elements fighting in Libya since Qaddafi’s overthrow.6 Sheikh Ali al-Salabi was a Libyan Islamist with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood who took refuge in Qatar in 1999 but later returned to Libya, where he served as a conduit for Qatari-supplied arms to Islamist forces. Indeed, after Qaddafi’s fall, Libya’s transitional prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, complained that Qatar was still arming extremist groups in Libya opposed to his leadership.7 (continue reading...)

"Jihad en famille" sur M6: itinéraire d'un couple français et leur enfant partis en Syrie

Albaraka News/AFP/Archives

Photo d'archive, diffusée sur le compte Twitter du média jihadiste Al-Baraka le 11 juin 2014, montrant des militants du groupe Etat islamique à la frontière syro-irakienne

Le documentaire "Le jihad en famille", diffusé dimanche à 17H15 sur M6, montre l'itinéraire d'un couple de Français et leur fils de trois ans partis mi-septembre rejoindre le groupe Etat islamique en Syrie, des apprentis jihadistes qui menaient auparavant "une vie comme tout le monde". 

"Vous êtes conscients du danger pour votre fils?" interroge le journaliste Marc Garmirian. "Oui, on est conscients, mais tôt ou tard, on reviendra vers Allah, quel meilleur endroit pour mourir que le sentier d'Allah?" répondent les parents.

Le reportage de 26 minutes, tourné entre le 14 et le 23 septembre, raconte le périple d'Antony et Sabrina, 28 et 23 ans, partis de France et de passage en Turquie, pour rejoindre en Syrie les combattants du Daesh, l'organisation jihadiste Etat islamique.

Rencontré par le journaliste en Turquie, le couple se confie volontiers, à visage découvert pour Antony, mais flouté pour Sabrina "pour des raisons religieuses", explique-t-on à la production. 

Ils ne parlent ni arabe, ni turc et voyagent comme de simples touristes, sac au dos. Interpellés par la police turque une première fois lorsqu'ils tentent de passer la frontière, ils finiront par réussir à rejoindre la Syrie.

Le couple a "tout laissé, appart, famille, boulot pour aller dans le sentier d'Allah". Ils expliquent qu'ils avaient "une vie normale, comme tout le monde", mais qu'ils ont "choisi une vie meilleure" pour eux et leur fils: "On sera dans un quartier où on pourra l'éduquer normalement, sans contraintes, sans bourrage de crâne."

"Au collège, il pourrait draguer les filles, ça c'est interdit par le Coran", s'inquiète le père. 

En France, le journaliste a rencontré les proches de Sabrina. Entre le désespoir des parents ("on sait qu'on ne la reverra jamais"), les larmes de son petit frère ou la stupéfaction de sa meilleure amie, le public découvre une famille accablée par la nouvelle.

Marié religieusement, mais surtout pas devant le maire - "il ne faut pas se marier devant des mécréants" - , le couple dit avoir eu une révélation récemment et estime que ceux qu'on appelle "terroristes" sont des "héros sur terre".

Lorsque Sabrina finit par appeler sa mère pour l'informer qu'elle a passé la frontière, elle raconte que son mari est parti "en formation de moudjahidine". Sa mère l'avertit qu'elle ne pourra pas revenir en France. "C'est ce que je veux", dit Sabrina. "On ne peut pas voir le petit!" regrette sa mère "Il faut que tu me rejoignes!" répond la fille, avant d'éclater de rire. 

Le documentaire, réalisé par Capa pour l'émission "66 minutes", révèle le manque de préparation et la naïveté de ces deux aspirants jihadistes, qui parviennent toutefois à se rendre en Syrie sans être inquiétés.

'Goyish food' now dominates at Scotland's Jewish golf club

www.timesofisrael.com/goyish-food-now-dominates-at-scotlands-jewish-golf-club/#ixzz3EXjVuGZ3  

EAGLESHAM, Scotland (JTA) — As teenagers in the 1960s, Lewis Geneen and Colin Black liked to spend their summer Sundays playing rounds at the Bonnyton Golf Club course, breaking only for a lunch of fish and borscht. Sitting atop a hill on the outskirts of Glasgow, Bonnyton was then a social hub of the local Jewish community. Teenage boys would hang out on the links while older men rested from the course by playing cards in an upstairs room, sometimes gathering for a Mourner’s Kaddish to save a member a trip to the synagogue.

On Saturday nights, families who had congregated earlier in the day in synagogue would come to Bonnyton for what Geneen calls “a proper meal, an upmarket meal.”

Now in their 60s, Geneen and Black are still members of Bonnyton. But 50 years later the membership has changed, and with it the club’s character. Once almost exclusively Jewish, today only about 30 percent of the club’s approximately 700 members are Jewish.

The change is felt even on the clubhouse menu.

‘It’s more pies and mince and, you know, goyish food’

“It’s more pies and mince and, you know, goyish food,” said Geneen, 66. “You wouldn’t be able to have borscht and chopped fish. There’s no point in having it on the menu.”

It was in 1951 that a group of Jews began raising money for a private golf course; six years later they bought Bonnyton. At the time, Scottish clubs accepted members based on religion, and even Catholics and Protestants mostly played on different courses.

Excluded from both, Glasgow’s Jewish golfers were left to play their country’s national pastime at public courses, where they would hold an annual tournament to benefit the local Hebrew school.

Harvey Livingston, one of the club’s first teenage junior members, said Jewish golfers wanted the club as much for its course as for the high-class social life it offered.

‘Everybody knew that the other local clubs wouldn’t accept Jewish members’

“A private club is a better type of club, and you can socialize a lot more because there were so many people,” Livingston said. “Everybody knew that the other local clubs wouldn’t accept Jewish members.”

Bonnyton lies just beyond a sprawling suburb of Glasgow, at the end of a narrow, mile-long road flanked by grazing sheep and cows. A blue and white sign — nothing to do with Israel, the club’s chairman says — welcomes members to a clubhouse that was all but empty on a warm Tuesday morning. One club member, dressed in a blazer and slacks, sat in an armchair by a window looking out on a rolling course lined with evergreens. At the members-only restaurant, a lone server waited for golfers soon to return from a morning round.

The names on the trophies and plaques — Goldberg, Shenkin and Caplan mixed with Haggerty, McFarlane and Gilchrist — are the only clear hints of the club’s Jewish roots. Howard Beach, Bonnyton’s chairman, says the club’s location is what attracts members.

“It always was a local club,” Beach said. “There’s a very harmonious arrangement between Jews and non-Jews.”

Bonnyton Golf Club near Glasglow was once a hub of Jewish social life. (Ben Sales/JTA)

In recent years, the club has had trouble attracting members of any kind. After the United Kingdom prohibited discrimination in club membership in the 1960s and ’70s, options widened for Jewish golfers, many of whom opted to play in clubs on the coast where the weather is better. Meanwhile, the wider Jewish population has been shrinking — by nearly 10 percent between 2001 and 2011, according to official government figures – a contraction also felt in Scotland’s synagogues and other community organizations.

But Bonnyton has been hit as well by a wider decline in golf club membership in Scotland. Since 2004, total membership at Scotland’s nearly 600 golf clubs has dropped by 17.5 percent, according to the Scottish Golf Union, a predicament the union blames on a bad economy and recent inclement summer weather.

Meanwhile, the wider Jewish population has been shrinking — by nearly 10 percent between 2001 and 2011

In an interview last year with The Scotsman, the union’s chief executive, Hamish Grey, acknowledged that “consumer behavior is changing.” Golfers today are more likely to bounce among courses than become members of any one club.

Beach has tried to bring golfers into Bonnyton by offering discounted memberships and promotions. He has extended the junior membership up to age 30 and recently tried to attract members with an online coupon. But there’s only so much he can do.

“You have to be careful not to cheapen the offering,” Beach said. “If you don’t want to play on a good golf course, there are plenty of mediocre courses available to you.”

Confident in the course’s quality, Beach expects the club to weather its membership challenges even as other Scottish clubs may shutter. But even if it does persevere, what made Bonnyton a fixture of local Jewish life is unlikely to remain.

“You had to wander about playing golf in other people’s golf courses,” member Max Gold, 83, recalled. “This became our own golf club.”

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Will Britain lead by example?

 

In his speech at the Labour Party conference on Monday 22nd September the Shadowy Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander stated that if Labour formed the next British government it would force Israel to remove its blockade of Gaza and its border controls to allow free and unfettered passage of people and goods.

 (As a demonstration of Labour's balanced approach to the problems in the region, he did make some passing reference to doing something about the rockets that get fired into Israel but that was lower in his list of priorities.)

 

We have become accustomed to British governments trying to impose their will on other sovereign states and, in most cases, failing.  Perhaps a different approach is required.

 

Perhaps if a Labour government is going to demand the dismantling of Israel's border controls it could lead by example and dismantle the UK's border controls to allow free and unfettered passage of people and goods into and out of the UK.

 (Think of the financial saving  -  no immigration staff,  no Customs staff, no border control and security staff etc  -  and what could be done with that money.)

 

Or is this simply yet another example of Labour's double standards  -  do what I say, not what I do  -  it's anti-Israel position as exemplified by Ed Miliband's call for an embargo on arms for Israel, and a desperate attempt to capture the votes of the Muslim community in the UK?

 

You decide.

Scottish Friends of Israel

Arabs are being targeted in the Middle East.

n't it shocking the disproportionate way Arabs are being targeted in the Middle East. These poor Muslims killed by colonial western powers.

 

Mass destruction missiles are raining down on the Arabs causing huge civilian casualties including women and children fatally injured. These war criminals have hit electricity supplies and power stations that are now out of commission.

 

The civilians have nowhere to go, their neighbours are blockading them, its criminal. Meanwhile these colonialists are invading a sovereign territory which nations in the region are calling an illegal intervention, it’s illegal occupation by any other name.

 

The wholesale devastation of infrastructure in the region is calamitous to the local Muslim population where tens of thousands have been made refugees and forced to flee.  British nationals are among the dead

 

Yes Glasgow, Edinburgh and W Dunbartonshire councillors, youre right, it’s time for boycotts, for censorial motions, for raising the flag......of Palestine? No no no. Of ISIS of course!

 

Islamic terrorists being bombed to smithereens by America, no different indeed than the Islamic terrorists Hamas eh Councillors, whose flag you so quickly raised as you besmirched the good name of the people of your constituency in your recent charades.

 

Renaud Sarda, 

Elliot David

Scottish Friends of Israel

Otage français en Algérie : "Aucune discussion, aucune négociation" avec les ravisseurs (Valls)

La France n'aura "aucune discussion, aucune négociation" avec les ravisseurs de l'otage français retenu depuis dimanche en Algérie, a affirmé mardi le Premier ministre français, Manuel Valls, à la radio privée Europe 1.

Paris ne cédera "jamais (...) au chantage". "C'est toute la perfidie du terrorisme que d'avoir recours au chantage, à la mort, de menacer. Si on cède, si on recule d'un pouce, on lui donne cette victoire", a-t-il ajouté. Les ravisseurs ont menacé de tuer leur otage si la France ne renonce pas à ses frappes aériennes en Irak contre les jihadistes du groupe Etat islamique.

WATCH JNTV: ‘After Gaza – The New Anti-Semitism’

September 19, 2014

Anti-Semitic incidents in the UK hit an all-time high in the wake of the Gaza conflict. A total of 302 were reported to the Community Security Trust in July, the highest monthly total since records began in 1984.

In this latest JNTV documentary, ‘After Gaza – The New Anti-Semitism’, producer and director Ben Burman interviews the CST’s Mark Gardner, Reform Judaism’s Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner and other leading voices about the widespread abuse and threats to Jewish organisations, Jews in public places and on social media during the summer and its impact on the community.

* MORE JNTV: Loud, Proud & Jewish – Attitudes towards LGBT issues within the Jewish community click here to view