Sunday, May 16, 2021

BLACK LIVES LOOT AND MURDER - BLM Cofounder Patrisse Cullors Laments ‘White Supremacy’ in Housing Market

Conversely, DoJ and the FBI seem determined to whitewash, equivocate, and dismiss any concerns about Antifa and BLM, whose members have caused over two billion dollars in damage and destroyed countless businesses and lives.

BLM Cofounder Patrisse Cullors Laments ‘White Supremacy’ in Housing Market

Patrisse Cullors participates in the "Finding Justice" panel during the BET presentation at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour at The Langham Huntington on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP)
Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP
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Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors shared a post on Instagram lamenting “white supremacy” in the housing market, weeks after her multi-million housing portfolio was revealed.

In the Instagram post, Cullors shared an NPR article about black homeownership levels.

“Thank you @npr for highlighting the history of racism inside of the housing market and why Black homeownership has always been a way to disrupt white supremacy,” Cullors wrote.

The NPR story was part of a bigger documentary called We Hold These Truths, which investigated how blacks have been discriminated against by the real estate industry and government policy for decades.

The report highlighted the experiences of black people residing in Compton, California, revealing 41.8 percent of black households own their own homes.

That rate is nearly identical to the level of black homeownership 50 years ago in the early 1970s.

In 1970, which was shortly after the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968, the national homeownership rate for black households was 41.8 percent. In 2019, it increased slightly to 42.3 percent — marking a net increase of 1.2 percent from nearly 50 years ago.

Experts say the reasons for low homeownership rates stem from low wages, historic unemployment, and a recession-related foreclosure crisis that hit the black community especially hard.

Meanwhile, Cullors has not faced any issues in the housing market. She bought four homes since 2016, some in predominantly white neighborhoods of Los Angeles, amassing a real estate empire worth nearly $3 million.

Cullors claimed the four homes were purchased to provide for her extended family.

Nearly 30 People Shot Friday into Saturday Night in Chicago

lori lightfoot
Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File
2:00

Twenty-nine people were shot, five fatally, Friday into Saturday night in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago.

ABC 7 reported that the first fatality occurred just before midnight Friday. The death was discovered after officers saw a man “with a gunshot wound in his back” who was “running down the street with a rifle.”

Police apprehended the armed man and found a dead individual near the scene.

Early Saturday morning around 3 a.m., two people were killed and three others injured when shots were fired during a party in Gresham. The Chicago Sun-Times noted both fatalities were result of gunshot wounds to the head.
An unidentified male was found ” in the 400 block of South Kostner Avenue” with a gunshot wound around just after 4 a.m. Saturday. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

The fifth fatality of the Friday-into-Saturday-night time-frame occurred at 2:45 p.m. Saturday “in the 1300 block of East Marquette Road.”

The victim, a 21-year-old man, was shot multiple times. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Breitbart News pointed out 15 people were shot Tuesday through Wednesday in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago. The outlet also noted that at least 26 people were shot over Mother’s Day weekend alone.

The Mother’s Day Weekend victims included a 14-year-old boy who died from his wounds.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkinsa weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

Dr. Strawman, Or How I Learned To Stop Loving The FBI And Start Worrying

For those of you old enough to remember, one of ABC’s most popular television series of all time was The FBI, starring Efram Zimbalist, Jr., which showed 241 episodes from 1965 to 1974. Then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover served as a consultant to the series until his death in 1972. Hoover’s second-in-command Clyde Tolson vetted every draft episode of the series, and even vetted the actors playing FBI agents and other characters so that “no Communists, subversives or criminals” were associated with the show.

Millions of Americans sat riveted as Inspector Louis Erskine (Zimbalist) and his fellow FBI agents tracked down America’s most dangerous criminals and fugitives. At each episode’s end, Zimbalist hosted a “Most Wanted” bit, profiling actual FBI Most Wanted Criminals. The FBI even aired one on April 28, 1968, as the FBI investigated James Earl Ray following MLK’s assassination.

America’s love for our then-Knights in Shining Armor FBI extended beyond that TV series. Who in America does not know who the real Melvin Purvis, G-Man or fictional Clarice Starling are? I never considered a career in the FBI, but I read every book I could find on the subject.

I was especially intrigued by the technical methods the FBI incorporated to bring down John Gotti and former Boston Underboss Genarro “Gerry” Anguilo on RICO charges. The FBI used sophisticated bugging techniques that followed years of failure in trying to place surveillance devices in areas the mobs tightly controlled.

My respect for the FBI goes far beyond watching TV shows or reading about their successes. From 2012 to 2017, I worked for a major defense contractor that produced and serviced tactical communications systems and concealment devices for hundreds of federal, state, and local LEOS, including the FBI, DEA, ATF and the Secret Service.

My overarching point is that, until recently, I both revered and have been fascinated by the bravery, technical prowess, and clever talents for deception one sees in the rough men and women of the FBI who work tirelessly to capture the worst criminals in America and neutralize terrorist threats. That reverence is now dwindling at an accelerating pace given current events. Radical left-wing Democrats in the White House and Congress are rapidly steering the DoJ and FBI away from their core missions of law enforcement to conducting politically motivated investigations more worthy of the KGB and the Stasi, using the pretext of the Capitol riots as an American Reichstag Fire.

Don’t take my word for it. If you search for Antifa at the FBI’s website, you get one result! Now check out the MOST WANTED/CAPITOL VIOLENCE page header. It goes on endlessly. Page after page of images captured of anyone in the Capitol on January 6th. FBI Director Wray insists that the FBI did not use geotracking to locate anyone to the right of Mao who was in the Capitol that day. Having worked in Telecom for twenty years, and having been involved in the incorporation of the Enhanced 911 Systems that allow police to use cell towers and GPS to track emergency cellphone calls to their exact location, I know Wray is lying. How else did he get the information in any legal fashion?

I can stand politicians lying to me. I’ve witnessed that my entire life. But for the Director of the FBI to lie to the American people in such a low fashion, one more characteristic of John Brennan and James Clapper is a bridge too far. Add to that the embarrassing raid on Marylin Hueper in Alaska based on a selfie. That’s not an investigation unless they have evidence I don’t know about. It was a politically motivated botch that completely disrupted the lives of two innocent Americans. Conversely, DoJ and the FBI seem determined to whitewash, equivocate, and dismiss any concerns about Antifa and BLM, whose members have caused over two billion dollars in damage and destroyed countless businesses and lives.

Yet AG Merrick Garland stated on Wednesday that white supremacy is the top domestic terror threat. Not Islamic jihadism or left-wing mayhem and murder. White supremacists, in particular those involving racial bias and anti-government sentiment. AG Garland also stated that the definitions of said domestic terrorists must by its nature be overly broad, which indeed it must be since racialist “experts” go so far as to attribute the success of Asian college students to white supremacy. This is the same kind of broad national security canard the ChiComs are using to commit genocide of the Uighurs, and which Stalin had used to rid the Soviet Union of millions of counterrevolutionaries.

I don’t know where this is all going, but with each day that passes I am growing more deeply concerned that the FBI in general, and DoJ in particular, are abdicating their sworn duties to enforce the law in order to pursue purely political objectives. It’s very dangerous place to be, being perceived by a large swath of the population that federal LEO agencies are not only derelict in their duty to protect the public but are being directed against them personally for no good legal reason.

I conclude this opinion piece with a warning to the DoJ, FBI and all LEOs nationwide, most of whom I still respect and support with every fiber of my being. The warning is not from myself, but from American history. Most of you have seen the viral video of Plano, Texas, cops standing by while Antifa and BLM agitators block an intersection and disrupt civil order. The only man to be charged in that event was a rather large fellow who stepped out of his truck and confronted the Marxist morons like the cops should have. That is not justice, and it is only one similar incident of many.

What our history tells us in this regard is this: Where law enforcement leaves a void, criminality, and chaos fill it until vigilantism rears its ugly head. From the pre-Revolutionary War South Carolina backcountry to Gold Rush San Francisco to Bannack, Montana to Bernie Goetz, when citizens feel that law enforcement is abandoning them to the wolves, leaving them with no real avenues of redress for heinous wrongs committed against them, they take the law into their own hands. In those moments in history, what the marauding cutthroats discovered murderous vigilantes violently dispatched them from this life, is that the police are there not only to protect citizens from the criminals, but to protect criminals from the citizens.

Words to the wise. This sickening and infuriating injustice cannot and will not stand for long. Every social crisis of this nature reaches a breaking point. I say all of what I have said as a six-year Navy Veteran who has honorably served and deeply loves my country, my fellow Americans, and LEOs nationwide, many of whom I know personally and have supported materially and technically. The path this nation is going down in these respects will not end well, and I fear for those dedicated FBI agents and LEOs nationwide who would be on the front lines of such a bloody national Apocalypse Now.

BIDENomics - THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING AS BIDEN WORKS ON HIS OPEN BORDERS FOR MORE 'CHEAP' LABOR AGENDA - Running on Fumes: Gas Station Outages Soar as Crisis Spreads

 

Running on Fumes: Gas Station Outages Soar as Crisis Spreads

Gas pumps are seen out of service at a station in Annapolis, Maryland, on May 12, 2021. - Fears the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline because of a cyberattack would cause a gasoline shortage led to some panic buying and prompted US regulators on May 11, 2021 to temporarily suspend …
Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
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Gas stations across the South Eastern U.S. have run out of gasoline, according to data from GasBuddy.com.

Sixty-five percent of gas stations in North Carolina are out of gasoline, the data show, making it the hardest-hit state.

Here are the current outages reported by GasBuddy, as of 12:37 Eastern time.

  • Georgia – 42%
  • Alabama – 6%
  • Tennessee – 14%
  • South Carolina – 42%
  • North Carolina – 65%
  • Florida – 10%
  • Virginia – 42%
  • Maryland – 9%
  • Mississippi – 5%
  • West Virginia – 4%
  • Kentucky – 2%
  • Washington, D.C. – 8%

 

Mo Brooks: Biden Has ‘Worst 100 Days of Any President’ in U.S History

Mo Brooks
(Screenshot/YouTube)
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Congressman Mo Brooks (R-AL), a candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama, joined SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Saturday, where he discussed President Joe Biden’s agenda and policies, saying he has potentially had “the worst 100 days of any president in the history of the United States.”

On President Biden’s agenda and job performance, Brooks said the administration operates in an “alternate reality.”

“In a general sense, the Biden Administration is operating in an alternate reality,” Brooks said. “They are not in the same reality you and I are in, or that the rest of American citizens are in. It’s almost like Alice in Wonderland looking through the looking glass.”

“For example, on an economic level, the idea that paying people not to work would actually cause people not to work is one that American people understand infinitely,” Brooks stated. “But the Biden Administration is in this alternative economic reality, this fantasy land and they don’t get it. They persist on paying people not to work and then act surprised when the people don’t work…”

Brooks also slammed the “ugly inflation” stemming from Biden’s agenda and policies.

You’ve got unemployment going in the wrong direction, you’ve got people declining to work, businesses that are struggling to makes end meet to survive to create jobs and not being able to stay open because they can’t hire people because the federal government is paying people so much not work. You’ve got the inflation rate going up, you’ve got our debt to soon bust through the $30 trillion mark… on an energy level we’ve got gasoline stations that don’t have gas in major states like North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia…

Brooks said the shortage of gas in some states is a direct result of the Biden administration’s unwillingness to “engage in the cybersecurity that is necessary to protect Americans from being damaged by Russians who are engaged in cyberattacks on our systems.”

“To stop it, the Biden Administration is going to have to be far more aggressive than they have been,” Brooks said. “In my mind, these kind of attacks where a foreign entity has destroyed a major part of America’s infrastructure, at least shut it down for some period of time, subject to blackmail, subject to extortion, i.e. the $5 million that seems to have been paid, the Biden administration needs to treat this as an act of war and act in accordance.”

Brooks also insisted that Biden should “use the full force and power of the United States of America to protect Americans from this kind of attack that originates from a foreign entity,” adding that we cannot allow this to “become the tip of the iceberg.”

“We cannot allow what the Russians did to the Colonial Pipeline to become common place and we certainly shouldn’t be paying that kind of blackmail,” Brooks said.

“This may very well be the worst 100 days of any president in the history of the United States in terms of the adverse effects of the policies that this presidency has promulgated,” Brooks added. “They are increasing the risk of national insolvency and bankruptcy by spending trillions of dollars that we don’t have, have to borrow to get, and can’t afford to pay back.”

Brooks insisted that with “any new administration” there will be changes and threats to America’s democracy. However he said, “What you don’t expect is for that new administration to cower in their bunkers instead of doing what’s necessary to make sure that China, Russia, and terrorist organizations know that you do not mess with the United States of America.”

“Right now, aggressors around the world are seeing the Biden administration as weaklings and as long as that perception persists, then the dangers to the American people are going to escalate,” Brooks continued, saying he hopes Biden and his administration get some “courage to do what is necessary to protect the United States of America.”

Brooks also discussed a recent letter he and his Republican colleagues sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demanding the Capitol be open for the public to access without restriction following the latest set of guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for vaccinated Americans.

“The United States Capitol was paid for by the people of the United States of America,” Brooks told host Matthew Boyle. “The House of Representatives is the people’s house. It makes only sense that those people who purchased it, who built it, who own it, have the right to visit it.”

Brooks also stated that by reopening the Capitol, it gives “the citizens of America an opportunity, a better opportunity to meet with their elected representatives and the United States senators as they exercise their First Amendment rights that are guaranteed in the United States constitution.”

Follow Kyle on Twitter @RealKyleMorris and Facebook.

Christians Donate Portable Bomb Shelters to Israeli Communities

 

Christians Donate Portable Bomb Shelters to Israeli Communities

Portable Bomb Shelter
International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem
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Christians from around the globe have donated nine portable bomb shelters to Israeli communities near the Gaza border that have come under attack over the past few days.

The shelters will be delivered in the coming days, with six additional six shelters bound for the Israeli border with Lebanon.

The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ) led the effort.

“Christians around the world want to do something positive to help Israel now,” David Parsons, ICEJ vice president and senior international spokesman, told the Jerusalem Post.

“They are praying and standing up for Israel in their own countries but feel this is something that they can do to really make a contribution to the security and peace in Israel,” Parsons continued.

Most of the shelters have gone to daycare centers, schools, youth centers, and medical clinics — places that cannot run without decent bomb shelters.

ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler said the donations also send a message that Christians support Israel.

The Jerusalem Post also noted the volume of rockets that have targeted Israel:

Some 2,900 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel since the beginning of the operation dubbed by the military as “Guardians of the Walls,” of which some 450 fell inside the enclave. The Iron Dome intercepted some 1,150 rockets.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) also leveled a building this weekend that contained Hamas terror assets and offices for news outlets such as the Associated Press.

The IDF said in a statement that it gave civilians enough advance warning for them to evacuate the building.

The degree to which Muslim terrorists can feign remorse for their crimes and convincingly pretend to have reformed — while secretly despising and plotting to murder non-Muslims — was recently underscored.                                                                       RAYMOND IBRAHIM

The 'Repentant Jihadi' Scam

The degree to which Muslim terrorists can feign remorse for their crimes and convincingly pretend to have reformed — while secretly despising and plotting to murder non-Muslims — was recently underscored.

After his prison evaluators had determined that Usman Khan, who was serving time for terrorist-related activities, had reformed and repented of his ways, they freed him early, in December 2018.  Less than a year later he murdered two people, a man and woman, and injured three others at Fishmongers Hall near London Bridge.  

During a recent inquest, the Rev. Paul Foster, a prison chaplain, admitted that he was one of those to have been "conned" by the falsely "remorseful" Khan.

Foster said that "Khan had engaged positively with programmes looking at his offending and the impact of his crimes."  Khan, moreover, "had conversations with me about wanting to change and make a fresh start — to pay more attention to the ripple effect of his actions."

The April 24, 2021 report continues:

Mr Foster also said Khan had spoken "openly and emotionally" during a discussion session with a victim of crime.

He added: "We were being presented with a lot of positive things about his behavior — even some of the prisoners were telling me... in one instance a chap lost his son to a murder and Usman was the person at his door offering his condolences and asking if he could help."

The chaplain described one session with Khan in which he professed "some shame" about the impact his crime had on the Muslim community.

"He appeared to show remorse for what he had done," Mr Foster said.

In the end, it was all a charade.  During the inquest, Foster expressed shock on learning that, during the same time period that Khan was feigning repentance, so too was he the "main inmate for radicalising others and had been involved in 'forced conversations.'"

"[H]e was obviously presenting himself in a way that was likely to deceive the likes of myself and others," Foster concluded.  "I'm open to say I am wrong, and it is possible I have been conned."

Indeed, not only was he conned by Khan, but many other well-meaning prison employees and evaluators have been conned by many other "reformed" Muslim terrorists.  Worse, such cons appear to be the rule, not the exception.

According to a 2020 study published by Kings College London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) and titled "Prisons and Terrorism," "'[f]alse compliance' seems to have become more widespread, especially among jihadist prisoners, though its true extent is unknown.  This can be a major issue in relation to risk assessment and release arrangements."

The ICSR report documented several other examples beyond Khan of jihadi prisoners pretending to have reformed and "de-radicalized."  One of the two Muslims who beheaded 85‑year‑old Catholic priest Jacques Hamel in his church in France in 2016 had twice earlier been apprehended for trying to go to Syria and fight for the Islamic State.  All he had to do, however, was tell the judge what he wanted to hear: "I am a Muslim who believes in mercy, in doing good.  I'm not an extremist. ... I want to get back my life, see my friends, get married."  Based on these words, the judge released him, and soon thereafter, this "Muslim who believes in mercy" slaughtered the elderly priest.

Similarly, "many of the 40 female inmates in Fleury‑Mérogis prison in Paris have joked about how they tricked the judge or magistrate — by eating pork, for example, which is forbidden in Islam — to receive more lenient sentences."

Sadly, the only ones learning from the interaction between Muslim prisoners and European authorities are the terrorists themselves:

From their perspective, prison is also an opportunity to understand how the authorities operate, and — in a sign of their growing awareness of counterintelligence and countersurveillance — jihadists have actively looked to pass their time in prison without incident or arousing the suspicions of the authorities.

Relatedly, the incarcerated terrorists "see prison as a test of their commitment to the cause and a place to recover from Islamic State's battlefield losses and the wider upheaval in the jihadist scene."

The ICSR report goes on to invoke the word taqiyya — Islam's premiere doctrine of deceit:

[O]ffenders may try to 'game' a risk assessment if they are in contact with other inmates who have already participated in the process. Part of this involves knowing what to say to tick the right boxes. Much of this is seemingly the use of what is referred to as taqiyya, which is a (mostly) Shiite concept used to describe deception and dissimulation to hide one's true intentions. ... [T]he true scale of taqiyya may be greater than commonly understood. ...  Yet the assumption that jihadists are more willing to engage in deception than non‑terrorist prisoners can pose a conundrum, whereby anything less than admitting to holding jihadist ideas and intentions is thought of as a form of taqiyya.

It is, admittedly, somewhat surprising — refreshingly so — to see a normally politically correct Western think-tank even use the term taqiyya.  For example, after "Islam's Doctrines of Deception" — an article that Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst (a defense intelligence agency) had commissioned me to write on taqiyya — was published in September 26, 2008, its (since fired) editor called me in a panic: his superiors were outraged that he had allowed such an article to appear.  Part of their "damage control" was to publish another article refuting mine.

The great "crime" of my article was that it went against academic orthodoxy on taqiyya, which has long insisted that the doctrine permits Muslims to deceive others only when their lives are under threat.  My article argued what the ICSR report is now saying — well over a decade later: that the application of taqiyya, or deceit, is hardly limited to life-threatening situations and is often employed in any way that can be seen as helping Muslims against non-Muslims.

As for the typical (and wrong) caveat offered by the ICSR, that "taqiyya ... is a (mostly) Shiite concept," this is not true — as evidenced by the simple fact that the prison subjects in ICSR's own study are overwhelmingly if not entirely Sunni.  As Dr. Sami Nassib Makarem, the foremost authority on taqiyya, wrote in his seminal book, Al-Taqiyya fi'l Islam ("Taqiyya in Islam"):

Taqiyya is of fundamental importance in Islam. Practically every Islamic sect agrees to it and practices it. ... We can go so far as to say that the practice of taqiyya is mainstream in Islam, and that those few sects not practicing it diverge from the mainstream. ... Taqiyya is very prevalent in Islamic politics, especially in the modern era.

Turkey’s President Erdogan Claims Europe an ‘Open-Air Prison’ for Muslims

Turkish President and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during a meeting of members of the AK Party at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara, on February 24, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via …
ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that Muslims in Europe live in what amounts to an “open-air prison” and that Islamophobia was as dangerous as the Wuhan coronavirus.

The Turkish leader made his statements earlier this week during a television broadcast in which he criticised European countries for “Islamophobia”, saying: “The Islamophobia virus, as dangerous as coronavirus, is spreading rapidly, especially in European countries.”

According to a report from the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, President Erdogan went on to add: “Europe, where 35 million Muslims live today, including six million Turks, is increasingly turning into an open-air prison for our brothers and sisters.”

“In many Western countries, especially in France, being a Muslim, living in a Muslim way, is enough to be discriminated against. Women wearing headscarves, in particular, are the biggest victims of this growing wave of hatred in Europe,” Erdogan said.

The Turkish president also claimed that “racist fascists” were attacking Muslims in the streets, on public transport, and in other areas “almost every day”.

He also referred to a debate between French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and populist National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, who Erdogan called “the leader of a racist party”, and stated the debate was “embarrassing”.

The February debate shocked many observers as Darmanin accused Le Pen of being “soft” on Islam.

“You are starting to show softness, you need to take vitamins again. You are not ready to legislate on religion and you say that Islam is not even a problem,” Darmanin said.

Erdogan’s comments come after months of tensions between him and French President Emmanuel Macron after the latter decided to crack down on political Islam and Islamist groups in the wake of the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty.

Erdogan even accused Macron of being mentally unstable in October after the French president defended free speech, just days after Paty was beheaded in the street by a Chechen refugee for showing cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed to his class.

“What’s the problem of the individual called Macron with Islam and with the Muslims?” Erdogan had said, adding: “Macron needs treatment on a mental level.”

In March of this year, President Macron warned that Erdogan and his government would likely make attempts to interfere in next year’s French presidential elections, saying: “Obviously, there will be attempts at interference for the next election. They’re written, and the threats are not veiled.”

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com

London / EuropePoliticsEmmanuel MacronEuropeFranceIslamIslamisation of EuropeIslamophobiaRecep Tayyip ErdoganTurke


Last week, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) head Morton Klein slammed several far-left Democrats, including Omar and Tlaib, after the Democrats lambasted Israel and called to cut all U.S. aid to the Jewish State.


PICS: French Riot Police Fire Tear Gas, Use Water Cannons During Violent Anti-Israel Protests in Paris

A protester throws a metal bar during a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinians called over the ongoing conflict with Israel in Paris on May 15, 2021. - Police officers used tear gas and water cannon in Paris to try and disperse a pro-Palestinian rally held despite a ban by …
GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images
2:02

Police fired tear gas and used water cannons in clashes with violent pro-Palestinian protesters on Saturday in Paris.

Around 22,000 people took part in protests across France related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas on Saturday, including between 2,500 to 3,500 people demonstrating in Paris, despite a ban.

Smoke fills the air during a pro-Palestinian rally called against Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, in Paris on May 15, 2021. – Police officers used tear gas and water cannon in Paris to try and disperse a pro-Palestinian rally held despite a ban by authorities, who fear a flare-up of anti-Semitic violence during the worst fighting between Israel and Hamas in years. Thousands of people converged in the heavily immigrant Barbes neighbourhood in the north of the capital, defying orders issued by loudspeakers that the march was illegal. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

Violence was seen during the protests in Paris, where 44 of the 51 nationwide arrests were made. Le Monde reported that 15 people in the capital were in police custody by the early evening for charges including “participation in a group intent on violence” and “violence against the police ”.

A fire burns on a street as French riot police walk towards a pro-Palestinian rally called against Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, in Paris on May 15, 2021. – Police officers used tear gas and water cannon in Paris to try and disperse a pro-Palestinian rally held despite a ban by authorities, who fear a flare-up of anti-Semitic violence during the worst fighting between Israel and Hamas in years. Thousands of people converged in the heavily immigrant Barbes neighbourhood in the north of the capital, defying orders issued by loudspeakers that the march was illegal. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

Across France, two officers said to have suffered “light injuries” — one officer in Nice and the other in the French capital.

The Associated Press reported that Paris’s Police Chief Didier Lallement had ordered 4,200 security officers onto the streets due to fears of violence after the ban was imposed. French officials had noted that a ban on a July 2014 anti-Israel protest had also resulted in violence.

Protesters, surrounded by tear gas, face French riot mobile gendarmes during a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinians called over the ongoing conflict with Israel, in Paris on May 15, 2021. – Police officers used tear gas and water cannon in Paris to try and disperse a pro-Palestinian rally held despite a ban by authorities, who fear a flare-up of anti-Semitic violence during the worst fighting between Israel and Hamas in years. Thousands of people converged in the heavily immigrant Barbes neighbourhood in the north of the capital, defying orders issued by loudspeakers that the march was illegal. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said: “We do not want there to be scenes of violence, we do not want to import a conflict on French soil, we do not want a hate crisis in the streets of the French Republic.”

French police used water cannons and tear gas on the protesters in Paris, with a Monde journalist at the scene describing several hours of tense, at times close proximity, interactions between rioters and officers.

Protesters set a fire during a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinians called over the ongoing conflict with Israel in Paris on May 15, 2021. – Police officers used tear gas and water cannon in Paris to try and disperse a pro-Palestinian rally held despite a ban by authorities, who fear a flare-up of anti-Semitic violence during the worst fighting between Israel and Hamas in years. Thousands of people converged in the heavily immigrant Barbes neighbourhood in the north of the capital, defying orders issued by loudspeakers that the march was illegal. (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP) (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images)

The newspaper reports that Palestinian flags were waved while protesters shouted “Israel murderer”, “Free Palestine”, and “Palestine will live. Palestine will win.”

French police officers stands nearby a fire during a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinians called over the ongoing conflict with Israel, in Paris on May 15, 2021. – Police officers used tear gas and water cannon in Paris to try and disperse a pro-Palestinian rally held despite a ban by authorities, who fear a flare-up of anti-Semitic violence during the worst fighting between Israel and Hamas in years. Thousands of people converged in the heavily immigrant Barbes neighbourhood in the north of the capital, defying orders issued by loudspeakers that the march was illegal. (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP) (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images)

The rally’s 30 organising groups are said to include the Association of Palestinians in Ile-de-France, the New Anticapitalist Party, and the Paris-Banlieue Antifascist Action.

A demonstrator walks on an Israeli flag during a banned protest in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Saturday, May, 15, 2021 in Paris. Marches in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were being held Saturday in a dozen French cities, but the focus was on Paris, where riot police got ready as organizers said they would defy a ban on the protest. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Texas: Muslim Who Helped His Father Evade Capture After Murdering His Sister Gets Ten Years

But no one is facing up to the reality of Islamic honor killing in the U.S.

 

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In Fort Worth, Texas on Tuesday, a 32-year-old Muslim named Islam Said was sentenced to ten years in prison for spending the last thirteen years helping his father, Yaser Said, one of the FBI’s Most Wanted criminals, evade capture. Yaser Said was wanted for murdering his two daughters, Islam Said’s sisters, Amina and Sarah Said. What kind of man would know that his father had murdered his two sisters and then help his father avoid justice, rather than turning him in? The answer to that question is far too uncomfortable and inconvenient for law enforcement officials to face honestly.

Islam Said was arrested along with Yaser last August. Apparently he was in hiding with his father, although he doesn’t seem to have had anything to do with the killings. And according to the Dallas Morning News, Islam Said denies that the killings were honor murders or had anything to do with Islam. “It’s something else. Religion has nothing to do with it.”

Yet that raises the question of why Islam Said was with his father at all. If these weren’t honor killings, why would Islam Said go on the run with Yaser and help him hide for all these years? Why wouldn’t he have the normal human reaction of thinking that what his father had done in murdering his sisters was abhorrent, and turn his father in to authorities? Did Islam Said’s commitment to the religion of Islam override that natural human reaction and make him think that what his father had done was good and praiseworthy?

For despite media denial and obfuscation of the fact, honor killing is something that many Muslims believe to be good and in accord with their faith. According to Islamic law, “retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right.” However, “not subject to retaliation” is “a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring’s offspring.” (Reliance of the Traveller o1.1-2). In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law. In this case the victim was the murderer’s daughter, a victim to the culture of violence and intimidation that such laws help create.

That is why Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. The Palestinian Authority gives pardons or suspended sentences for honor murders. Iraqi women have asked for tougher sentences for Islamic honor murderers, who get off lightly now. Syria in 2009 scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but “the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour ‘provided he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.’” And in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that “Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values.”

Also connected to the Islamic aspect of the story, and evidence that these were honor killings, is the fact that Yaser Said was enraged that Amina and Sarah had non-Muslim boyfriends. The Dallas Morning News reported at the time of the arrests last August that “Sarah said her father had threatened her older sister when he learned that she had a boyfriend, saying he’d put a bullet through Amina’s head.”

Thirteen years ago, however, the Dallas Morning News was more courageous and honest. Back in January 2008, it reported that the girls’ mother Patricia had said (regarding Amina) that “since they are Muslim that the daughter was only allowed to date other Muslims. Yaser had found out she went on a date with a non-Muslim and became very angry and threatened her with bodily harm.”

Yet now Patricia is now playing dumb: “She had no idea where Said was, and, despite public speculation about a motive, she doesn’t know why the sisters were killed.” We can only hope that police will not take her claim at face value, and thoroughly investigate whether Patricia had any role in Yaser being able to evade capture for twelve years. For note this: Patricia “divorced Said in 2009 and had converted to Islam after her daughters’ deaths, said in 2011 that she didn’t know why Said had killed Amina and Sarah but that he thought they were overly Westernized.”

This is a woman who admitted in 2008 — after her husband had killed their two daughters — that her husband had threatened to kill one of her daughters for dating a non-Muslim. Then, after that, she converted to Islam. What kind of a mindset could Patricia Owens Said possibly have had that would have induced her to join the religion that seems to have played a role in leading her husband to murder their daughters? Could it have been because she was in touch with Yaser and was signaling her acquiescence to and approval of his act? Will investigators look into this possibility, or would that be “Islamophobic”?

Probably the latter. Irving police Chief Jeff Spivey says “This man brutally murdered — shot to death — his two daughters in his taxi cab. What led him to do that, I think at this point to us, is irrelevant.”

No, sir. It isn’t irrelevant at all. It could shed important light on the behavior of Islam Said, and on the question of whether or not Patricia Owens Said were involved in his twelve years as a fugitive. Also, knowing exactly what happened in this case could help authorities prevent such honor killings in the future. Yet Chief Spivey seemed cheerfully willing to allow political correctness and fear of the leftist mob to curtail and deform his investigation. And so it is virtually certain that this isn’t the last such case we will see in the United States.

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 21 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest book is Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins―Revised and Expanded Edition. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.

Hamas Terrorist Leader: Buy Cheap Knives, ‘Behead Jews’

Hamas politburo member Fathi Hammad speaks during a press conference at his home in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, on September 17, 2016. A senior Hamas official designated by Washington as a "global terrorist" accused the United States on September 17, 2016 of "total bias" in favour of …
MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images
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Hamas political leader and designated terrorist Fathi Hammad called on Palestinians in Jerusalem on Friday to buy cheap knives in order to behead Jews. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to cozy up to the Gaza terror group while condemning Israel for responding to attacks against it and calling to end or condition aid to the Jewish state.

In public remarks during an address which aired on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV on Friday, Hammad called for the beheading of Jews.

“People of Jerusalem, we want you to cut off the heads of the Jews with knives,” he said, clarifying to “cut their [carotid] artery” as he demonstrated doing so with his hand. 

The Hamas leader then bragged that the act could be accomplished with little cost. 

“Buy a knife, sharpen it, put it here [against the neck], and just cut off [their heads],” he said. “It costs just five shekels [roughly $1.50].”

“With those five shekels you will humiliate the Jewish state,” he added.

Explicitly noting that “Jews” are the enemy, and not merely “Israelis” or “Zionists” — which have become euphemisms to avoid charges of antisemitism, Hammad quoted the Islamic Quran in claiming that Jews are most hostile.

“You shall find the strongest in enmity towards the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists,” he said.   

Hammad added that Jews are guilty of other evils and that their demise is at hand.

“The Jews have spread corruption and have acted with arrogance, and their moment of reckoning has come,” he said. “The moment of [their] destruction at your hands has arrived.”

In September 2016, Hammad was designated as a terrorist by the U.S. State Department.

In July 2019, Hammad urged the millions of Palestinians worldwide to kill Jews wherever they are.

“Oh, you seven million Palestinians abroad, enough warming up!” he said. “There are Jews everywhere! We must attack every Jew on planet earth. We must slaughter and kill them, with Allah’s help.”

Many viewed the rhetoric from Hamas as perfectly in line with the terror group’s regular stances.

“If you want to understand why 30 years after Oslo [Peace Accords] and 16 years after Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza there still isn’t peace, this here is a good starting point,” wrote Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute (TAI).

“Hamas is: a Palestinian terrorist organization committed to destroying Israel; bankrolled & armed by Iran; using the people of Gaza as human shields for hiding & firing weapons,” wrote the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

“This is what Hamas (who is funded by Iran) does every single day,” wrote Bryan Leib, the executive director of Iranian Americans for Liberty. “They incite violence and encourage their supporters to murder Jews.”

“Hamas is not a government. They are a terrorist organization,” he added.

“Here’s what a #Hamas politburo member had to say about Jerusalem and ‘the Jews,’ on Hamas TV during the day on Friday…,” wrote the Anti-Defamation League’s Washington Director for International Affairs David Weinberg.

“Same Fathi Hammas of Hamas who said in 2008: ‘For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry. We desire death like you desire life,’” wrote international human rights lawyer and political analyst Arsen Ostrovsky, adding a link to the 2008 speech.

“Let’s say there truly are ‘two sides’ in the ‘Israeli-Palestinian’ conflict,” suggested former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D).

“You get to choose between the side that calls for ‘cutting off the heads of Jews’ and the side that doesn’t call for anyone to be decapitated,” he continued. “Choose wisely, and reap what you sow…”

“Peaceful protesters,” mocked political commentator Ian Miles Cheong. 

Many, sharing the clip of Hammad calling for attacks on Jews, also noted the support the Hamas terror group receives from progressive Democrats.

“This is who @RashidaTlaib @IlhanMN @AOC and many Democrats support,” wrote political pundit and writer Carmine Sabia. “Terrorist Hamas.”

“Friend of Bernie, Warren, Tlaib, Cortez, Harris Biden…,” wrote conservative writer David Horowitz.

“Democrats are supporting Islamic Nazis who express goal is a second Holocaust of the Jews,” he added.

Avoiding condemnation for Hamas attacks, several Democratic lawmakers blasted Israeli reprisals against Hamas terror in recent days. 

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D), while declining to meaningfully condemn Hamas attacks on Israel, slammed Israeli reprisals as an “act of terrorism.”

In response, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote that Omar is “acting as the press secretary for Hamas.”

On Monday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) called to end all aid to Israel. “Enough is enough,” she wrote.

Last week, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) head Morton Klein slammed several far-left Democrats, including Omar and Tlaib, after the Democrats lambasted Israel and called to cut all U.S. aid to the Jewish State.

In an exclusive statement made to Breitbart News, the ZOA, the nation’s oldest pro-Israel organization, called out the Democrats for their “absurd” depictions of Israel.

“Anti-Israel Jew-hating Reps. Omar, Tlaib and some others, have disgracefully not only supported boycotting America’s closest ally Israel but absurdly called Israel ‘evil,’ ‘racist,’ and an ‘apartheid state,’” Klein wrote.

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.


The New Terror Campaign Against Israel Coincidences With Biden's New Pro-Terror Policies

 

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The Islamic terror campaigns against Israel follow clear and reliable patterns.

1. They usually happen in the spring/summer period. 

2. They usually follow some 'inciting incident' meant to lure Israel into an exchange of fire. 

3. They take place during some effort by a US administration or the EU to appease the terrorists.

It's no coincidence that this latest assault by Hamas and Fatah follows a series of pro-terrorist measures by the Biden administration, including the restoration of funding to the terrorists, and a series of covert concessions to Iran.

Or that Iran is responding to those concessions with increased confrontations, including escalations against US naval vessels, and now the rocket attacks on Israel. This is a region where any weakness is exploited through a series of tests to see just how much 'give' there is. The usual useful idiots are only happy to reboot the same old anti-Israel rhetoric, clamoring about apartheid and holding up atrocity photos. And the Biden admin is equally happy to play the game of positioning itself halfway between AOC and the remaining (at least on paper) pro-Israel Democrats, which is to say being anti-Israel while wearing the facade of being pro-Israel by defining the new center as being between the extreme and the mainstream.

That means demanding that Israel stop bombing Hamas, start making concessions, and stop following the land of its own land.

That's exactly the outcome that Hamas and Fatah, and Iran, expected, and you can bet that they'll get it too if the history of the Obama administration is any guide. 

Turkey’s Erdogan Tells Putin: Israel Needs a ‘Strong and Deterrent Lesson’

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) listens to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the 23rd World Energy Congress on October 10, 2016 in Istanbul. Putin visits Turkey on October 10 for talks with counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pushing forward ambitious joint energy projects as the two sides try to overcome …
OZAN KOSE / AFP
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday told Russian President Vladimir Putin the international community should “give Israel a strong and deterrent lesson” as punishment for responding so strongly to deadly Palestinian terror rocket attacks.

AP reports the Turkish Presidential Communications Directorate said the two leaders talked by phone about the escalating conflict with Erdogan calling for an international strike back against Israel.

The statement said Erdogan stressed the need for “the international community to give Israel a strong and deterrent lesson” and pressed for the United Nations Security Council to rapidly intervene with “determined and clear messages” to Israel.

The statement said Erdogan suggested to Putin that an international protection force to “shield the Palestinians” should be considered even as Israel itself was being battered by Hamas rocket fire.

Meanwhile, thousands of people in Istanbul defied a nationwide coronavirus curfew late Tuesday to demonstrate against Israel’s response to the random rocket attacks.

A large convoy of cars drove toward the Israeli Consulate, waving Turkish and Palestinian flags. An image of the Palestinian and Turkish flags was projected onto the Israeli building.

Pakistan has also condemned Israel’s actions and called for Muslim nations to stand by the Palestinians, with Prime Minister Imran Khan takinf to Twitter, saying: “We stand with Gaza and Palestine.”

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi meanwhile urged Muslim nations to unite over Israel’s strikes on Palestinian civilian areas.

Protesters are expected to hold a small anti-Israel rally later today in the southern city of Karachi.

'

The Dark Face of Palestinian Terror

A death cult reignites its terror against Israeli civilians.

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The "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" is spinning out of control toward another possible all-out war. Blame should, of course, fall on the Palestinian terrorists operating from Gaza, who have once again fired hundreds of rockets inside Israel against civilian targets. This time, the terrorists deliberately escalated what began as a local fracas over the possible eviction of Palestinians from homes they have been occupying in an area of East Jerusalem known as Sheikh Jarrah. Israeli Jews claim that this land belongs to them. After a barrage of rocket attacks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck back. The Palestinians are complaining. Here we go again.

The pattern is very familiar by now. Palestinians use a pretext to start a riot. The Israeli police and security forces respond proportionately. The Palestinians up the ante, prompting a further Israeli response. Then Palestinian terrorists in Gaza use the territory they control to launch rocket attacks into Israel against civilian targets. Israel warns the terrorists to stop the rocket fire, which the terrorists ignore. After the Israeli military retaliates proportionately in an effort to target the terrorists responsible for the rocket attacks and their facilities, Palestinian government leaders cry foul. They point to unintended Palestinian civilian casualties, which are often caused by the Palestinian terrorists putting the civilians, including women and children, in harm’s way. Then, with their usual crocodile tears, Palestinian diplomats run to the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and other globalist forums to reprise their false narrative of victimhood at the hands of the “oppressor,” “murderous,” “apartheid” Israeli regime. The Palestinians can count on leftist support for their cause in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere.

In short, Palestinian militants provoke violence to which Israel responds. Palestinian terrorists target innocent civilians deliberately. Israel targets the terrorists and their facilities, with policies and practices in place to minimize civilian casualties. And like the youth who kills his parents and then asks the judge for mercy because he’s an orphan, the Palestinians ask the so-called “international community” to rally around them.

The Israeli Supreme Court had not even ruled yet on the Sheikh Jarrah dispute before Palestinian agitators exploited the situation. They used the dispute, together with a peaceful Jerusalem Day parade celebrating Israel’s reunification of Jerusalem following Israel’s victory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, as an excuse to riot. Israeli police responded, leading to an outbreak of violence in and around the Temple Mount.

Then Hamas and Islamic Jihad entered the fray by firing hundreds of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel and several rockets into the Jerusalem area. Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, said it had launched “a rocket strike against the enemy in the occupied Jerusalem in response to their crimes and aggression against the holy city and its aggression against our people in Sheikh Jarrah and Al-Aqsa mosque.” This was the first time since the 2014 Gaza War that Hamas has aimed its rockets at Jerusalem.

While Israel’s Iron Dome defense system managed to intercept some of the rockets, others got through and killed at least two Israeli civilians, injured scores of other Israelis, and destroyed homes.

On Tuesday evening, as reported by the Jerusalem Post, Palestinian terrorists launched rockets reaching the Tel Aviv region. One of the rockets hit a bus, causing several injuries, including to a 5-year-old girl.   

"The terrorist organizations in Gaza have crossed a red line," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "Whoever attacks us will pay a heavy price," he added, warning that the fighting could "continue for some time." As usual, the Palestinian terrorists did not listen.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) made good on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s threat. The IDF responded to the Palestinian terrorist attacks by striking Palestinian terrorists and their facilities in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s airstrikes were deadly to be sure but aimed squarely at killing the terrorists, such as the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s special rocket unit, Samah Abed al-Mamluk, and other senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives. The IDF also targeted Hamas military installations, a Hamas tunnel, and rocket launchers.

Israeli forces try to provide warnings where possible to give Palestinian non-combatants, if any, the opportunity to leave before a building believed to be used by terrorists is destroyed. Any Palestinian civilian casualties are the collateral consequences of the decision by Palestinian terrorists to operate or hide among the civilian population. Also, some of the Palestinian civilian deaths reported by the Gaza health ministry could well have been caused by rockets the terrorists launched that landed in Gaza.

The dispute in Sheikh Jarrah, which helped ignite the current conflagration, involves land that two Jewish trusts bought from Arab landowners in 1876. After Jordan captured the area and illegally occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, the Jordanians seized the Jewish-owned lands to build homes for Palestinians. Following Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, Israel returned ownership of the Sheikh Jarrah homes to the Jewish trusts, which later sold them to Jewish settlers who are trying to evict the Palestinians now living there. The Palestinian residents who signed an agreement in 1982 accepting Jewish ownership of the land in return for which they were allowed to live in the homes there as protected tenants may have had a decent case to remain, except for one thing. They repudiated the agreement, thereby forfeiting their protected status. This protected status does not suddenly return if other Palestinians move in as squatters. In any event, the issue is up to Israel’s Supreme Court to resolve.

Leftwing Democrats have added their own fuel to the fire by reflexively taking the Palestinians’ side rather than waiting for the judicial process to take its course. Democratic-Socialist Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, for example, wrote last week that “We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. Israeli forces are forcing families from their homes during Ramadan and inflicting violence. It is inhumane and the US must show leadership in safeguarding the human rights of Palestinians.” (Emphasis added)

The ”we” includes Senator Elizabeth Warren. The progressive senator said that “the forced removal of long-time Palestinian residents in Sheikh Jarrah is abhorrent and unacceptable. The Administration should make clear to the Israeli government that these evictions are illegal and must stop immediately.” The Israeli government should make clear to Senator Warren that she lacks any understanding of the background of the dispute and should mind her own business.

The Biden administration has reportedly expressed its displeasure to Israeli authorities over the possible Sheikh Jarrah evictions, as well as Israel’s construction plans in other parts of East Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is said to have dismissed the objections. His position is that “Jerusalem is not a settlement, but the capital of Israel.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu no doubt wishes that Donald Trump was still in the White House. President Biden’s attempt to go back to the so-called even-handedness approach of the Obama-Biden administration and to put some distance between the United States and its closest ally in the Middle East has enabled much of what is now happening. Biden's recent decision to restore millions of dollars of funding to the Palestinians has also encouraged the Palestinians to become more aggressive against Israel without fearing a Trump-style response.

The Biden State Department has at least condemned the Palestinian terrorist rocket attacks as “an unacceptable escalation.” The State Department spokesman, Ned Price, called on “all sides” to show restraint, but acknowledged “Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself.”

That’s helpful, but it's just words. What will the Biden administration do if another one-sided, anti-Israel resolution pushed by the Palestinians and their friends comes before the UN Security Council? The Security Council has already met behind closed doors to discuss the current crisis.

Will the Biden administration abstain like the Obama-Biden administration did in 2016, allowing the infamous Security Council Resolution 2334 to pass?  Probably it will, under pressure to go along with the globalist "consensus." Resolution 2334 declared that Israel’s establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, “has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law…” The Biden administration would have no problem allowing another resolution to pass that reaffirms Resolution 2334's proclamation and declares that any Israeli evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem are also illegal under international law. 

As usual, the current crisis should not be considered in a vacuum. Palestinian leaders are hoping that the escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza puts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back on the front pages. They are hoping that Israel’s forceful response to the terrorists’ rocket attacks will create a major split between Israel and the Arab countries seeking better relations with the Jewish state.

This strategy may be succeeding. The back-and-forth of terrorist rocket attacks and Israeli retaliatory airstrikes is dominating the news. An Arab League meeting of foreign ministers was convened to discuss the situation, resulting in a statement that placed the blame for the violence solely on Israel.

Reuters has reported that at the conclusion of the Arab League meeting, the foreign ministers issued a statement holding Israel "fully responsible for whatever follows due to its crimes, which constitute glaring violations of U.N. decrees, international law and human rights law." The statement called on international organizations including the UN Security Council to "immediately stop the Israeli aggression and provide the necessary protection for the Palestinian people and uphold their right to worship freely and safely."

The Palestinian terrorists’ current escalation also reflects in part the ongoing power struggle within Palestinian leadership ranks. Hamas wants to show Palestinians that it is best equipped to look after their interests after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided to postpone indefinitely the first Palestinian elections in 15 years, scheduled for May 22nd. Abbas reportedly feared that Hamas would not only hold onto its power in Gaza but would also fare better than the Fatah Party factions still supporting him would in the West Bank. Hamas called the election postponement a “coup.” It is trying to force Abbas’s hand by showing him up as an ineffectual, out-of-touch bureaucrat.

Hamas may also be trying to destabilize Israel politically as Israel tries to put together a working governing coalition. However, the terrorists’ attacks are more likely to have the opposite effect.

If the past is prologue, some combination of Egypt, Qatar and UN officials will try to mediate a ceasefire in return for which Israel will have to make one or more concessions. The Palestinians may get to stay put in homes on land they do not own without the owners’ consent after all. 

The 'Repentant Jihadi' Scam

The degree to which Muslim terrorists can feign remorse for their crimes and convincingly pretend to have reformed — while secretly despising and plotting to murder non-Muslims — was recently underscored.

After his prison evaluators had determined that Usman Khan, who was serving time for terrorist-related activities, had reformed and repented of his ways, they freed him early, in December 2018.  Less than a year later he murdered two people, a man and woman, and injured three others at Fishmongers Hall near London Bridge.  

During a recent inquest, the Rev. Paul Foster, a prison chaplain, admitted that he was one of those to have been "conned" by the falsely "remorseful" Khan.

Foster said that "Khan had engaged positively with programmes looking at his offending and the impact of his crimes."  Khan, moreover, "had conversations with me about wanting to change and make a fresh start — to pay more attention to the ripple effect of his actions."

The April 24, 2021 report continues:

Mr Foster also said Khan had spoken "openly and emotionally" during a discussion session with a victim of crime.

He added: "We were being presented with a lot of positive things about his behavior — even some of the prisoners were telling me... in one instance a chap lost his son to a murder and Usman was the person at his door offering his condolences and asking if he could help."

The chaplain described one session with Khan in which he professed "some shame" about the impact his crime had on the Muslim community.

"He appeared to show remorse for what he had done," Mr Foster said.

In the end, it was all a charade.  During the inquest, Foster expressed shock on learning that, during the same time period that Khan was feigning repentance, so too was he the "main inmate for radicalising others and had been involved in 'forced conversations.'"

"[H]e was obviously presenting himself in a way that was likely to deceive the likes of myself and others," Foster concluded.  "I'm open to say I am wrong, and it is possible I have been conned."

Indeed, not only was he conned by Khan, but many other well-meaning prison employees and evaluators have been conned by many other "reformed" Muslim terrorists.  Worse, such cons appear to be the rule, not the exception.

According to a 2020 study published by Kings College London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) and titled "Prisons and Terrorism," "'[f]alse compliance' seems to have become more widespread, especially among jihadist prisoners, though its true extent is unknown.  This can be a major issue in relation to risk assessment and release arrangements."

The ICSR report documented several other examples beyond Khan of jihadi prisoners pretending to have reformed and "de-radicalized."  One of the two Muslims who beheaded 85‑year‑old Catholic priest Jacques Hamel in his church in France in 2016 had twice earlier been apprehended for trying to go to Syria and fight for the Islamic State.  All he had to do, however, was tell the judge what he wanted to hear: "I am a Muslim who believes in mercy, in doing good.  I'm not an extremist. ... I want to get back my life, see my friends, get married."  Based on these words, the judge released him, and soon thereafter, this "Muslim who believes in mercy" slaughtered the elderly priest.

Similarly, "many of the 40 female inmates in Fleury‑Mérogis prison in Paris have joked about how they tricked the judge or magistrate — by eating pork, for example, which is forbidden in Islam — to receive more lenient sentences."

Sadly, the only ones learning from the interaction between Muslim prisoners and European authorities are the terrorists themselves:

From their perspective, prison is also an opportunity to understand how the authorities operate, and — in a sign of their growing awareness of counterintelligence and countersurveillance — jihadists have actively looked to pass their time in prison without incident or arousing the suspicions of the authorities.

Relatedly, the incarcerated terrorists "see prison as a test of their commitment to the cause and a place to recover from Islamic State's battlefield losses and the wider upheaval in the jihadist scene."

The ICSR report goes on to invoke the word taqiyya — Islam's premiere doctrine of deceit:

[O]ffenders may try to 'game' a risk assessment if they are in contact with other inmates who have already participated in the process. Part of this involves knowing what to say to tick the right boxes. Much of this is seemingly the use of what is referred to as taqiyya, which is a (mostly) Shiite concept used to describe deception and dissimulation to hide one's true intentions. ... [T]he true scale of taqiyya may be greater than commonly understood. ...  Yet the assumption that jihadists are more willing to engage in deception than non‑terrorist prisoners can pose a conundrum, whereby anything less than admitting to holding jihadist ideas and intentions is thought of as a form of taqiyya.

It is, admittedly, somewhat surprising — refreshingly so — to see a normally politically correct Western think-tank even use the term taqiyya.  For example, after "Islam's Doctrines of Deception" — an article that Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst (a defense intelligence agency) had commissioned me to write on taqiyya — was published in September 26, 2008, its (since fired) editor called me in a panic: his superiors were outraged that he had allowed such an article to appear.  Part of their "damage control" was to publish another article refuting mine.

The great "crime" of my article was that it went against academic orthodoxy on taqiyya, which has long insisted that the doctrine permits Muslims to deceive others only when their lives are under threat.  My article argued what the ICSR report is now saying — well over a decade later: that the application of taqiyya, or deceit, is hardly limited to life-threatening situations and is often employed in any way that can be seen as helping Muslims against non-Muslims.

As for the typical (and wrong) caveat offered by the ICSR, that "taqiyya ... is a (mostly) Shiite concept," this is not true — as evidenced by the simple fact that the prison subjects in ICSR's own study are overwhelmingly if not entirely Sunni.  As Dr. Sami Nassib Makarem, the foremost authority on taqiyya, wrote in his seminal book, Al-Taqiyya fi'l Islam ("Taqiyya in Islam"):

Taqiyya is of fundamental importance in Islam. Practically every Islamic sect agrees to it and practices it. ... We can go so far as to say that the practice of taqiyya is mainstream in Islam, and that those few sects not practicing it diverge from the mainstream. ... Taqiyya is very prevalent in Islamic politics, especially in the modern era.

Taqiyya was associated with Shiites because, historically, they had more reason to employ it, being minorities surrounded by hostile Sunni majorities.  Today, however, Sunnis in the West are the primary Muslim minorities surrounded by their historic enemies — non-Muslims, "infidels" — and thus they, no less than Shia, employ taqiyya.  (For those interested in more detailed expositions on Islam's doctrines of deceit, see herehere, and here.)

So long as the West fails to appreciate the significance and widespread nature of taqiyya, so long will it continue to be duped by its practitioners — often, as highlighted by Usman Khan's example, with fatal consequences.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Sword and Scimitar, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Image: CreaPark via PixabayPixabay License.