"Interfaith for Dummies" - Most imams in France and Belgium forbid exchanging greetings at Christmas and New Year.

"Interfaith for Dummies" - Most imams in France and Belgium forbid exchanging greetings at Christmas and New Year. (AN).

Hocine Drouiche, a French imam in Nîmes and deputy chairman of the French Imam Conference, slams this attitude and all those who claim that Islam is a religion of peace, but deem season’s greetings as "an insult". The presence of “open-minded Muslims, who greet you with a big smile and wish you a Happy New Year” is important.

Most imams in France and Belgium forbid the faithful from celebrating Christmas and the New Year and call on Muslims not to extend holidays greetings. This is what French imam Hocine Drouiche wrote on his Facebook page.

He is one of the most open-minded French Muslim clerics opposed  to extremism. A tireless promoter and supporter of dialogue between different faiths, he condemns those who repeat the "mantra" that Islam  is a religion of peace but then consider expressing season’s greetings "as an insult" because "this is not our religion."

For him, the Islam professed by these imams, who are the majority in France, in Belgium, and in many other countries, "is not a true Islam of peace and shared life".

Qurʾānic schools in the West are places that extol political Islam based on jihad and hatred of the "enemies." Fortunately, there are also “open-minded Muslims, who greet you with a big smile and wish you a Happy New Year.”

The harsh rebuke of the position held by most imams on season’s greetings  (Christmas and New Year) is just the latest in a series of complaints made by the French Muslim cleric. In the aftermath of the attacks in Paris, in November 2015, he called on the faithful not to leave Islam "hostage in the hands” of extremists". At the same time, he urged Muslim communities to live dialogue and friendship with Europeans, without fear and arrogance.

He is not alone in denouncing the climate of hostility and loathing promoted by some European Muslims towards the culture, tradition and faith of Europe’s natives.

Recently, a former Islamic radical who was close to Salafist ideology for years, noted calls by imams and clerics to "hate Christians and Jews", not to imitate the "infidels" and not to participate "in their festivities and celebrations. " Imam Drouiche’s reflection follows. Translation by AsiaNews:
Sorry, I will not wish you Happy New Year because I am a “true Muslim"!

Almost all of the imams in France (and in neighbouring Belgium) forbid French Muslims from celebrating Christmas and New Year and wishing Happy Holidays to both Muslims and non-Muslims.

They keep on saying that Islam is a religion of peace, a mantra that is repeated in endless ways. Yet, today I saw with my own eyes the results of these incomprehensible and illogical formulations, meeting several devout Muslim who view best wishes for the New Year as an insult.

They are embarrassed, they look at you in a strange way, they answer: But this is not our religion! As if the new year belonged to a specific religion. Fortunately, there are also open-minded Muslims, who greet you with a big smile and wish you a Happy New Year.

The Islam of these imams is not a true Islam of peace and shared life. This is a Bedouin and archaic Islam. The French Interior Ministry, which funds the French Council of the Muslim Faith (Conseil français du culte musulman, CFCM), must review its programmes and collaborations.

For me, the Bataclans, Hyper Cachers and Nices stem from these hateful directives. If they refuse to change these inhumane fatwas, they certainly cannot say that Islam is not involved in “isolated" attacks because Islam is a religion of peace!

So, Happy New Year to all my Muslim, Jewish, Christian and atheist friends.

* Vice-President of the Conference of Imams of France-Paris, candidate for rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris

Should the UN play a leading role in regulating Freedom of expression in the media?

Should the UN play a leading role in regulating Freedom of expression  in the media? (Aawsat). By AmirTaheri

Geneva – “Should the United Nations play a leading role in countering hate speech and expressions of “violent extremism” in the media?”

This was the question debated by a special panel at the Palace of the Nations, the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva on Monday under the auspices of UNESCO’s liaison office.

Some fireworks were introduced into the debate by the panelist Amir Taheri who was the last to speak.

Recalling the 1970s and 1980s when “some powers” tried to use UNESCO as a vehicle for imposing control on the media across the globe, Taheri said he was “always deeply suspicious” of international organizations trying to legislate a one-size-fits-all scheme to regulate freedom of expression.

“In the bad old days, the move in that direction was called The New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO), a brainchild of the Soviet bloc in the context of the Cold War,” Taheri said.

“The architects of that scheme proposed to issue UNESCO media permits for journalists across the globe and impose rules binding on all member states. In other words they wanted to fence us in by pretending they were protecting us."

“Today, anyone trying to revive that monster would be laughed out of the room,” Taheri said. “Nevertheless, we have to remain vigilant against any attempt at media control via the UN or UNESCO.

A majority of the members of the UN are states that cannot be regarded as lobbyists of press freedom, to say the least. To ask them to regulate the media with the pretext of controlling hate speech is to give them a license to intensify their system of censorship.”

Taheri claimed that the UN has not succeeded to define “peace” or “terrorism” after decades of debate and would not be able to define the word “hate” either and thus cannot pretend to regulate the media in the name of “combating hate speech.”


“Any talk of regulating freedom of speech puts us on a slippery slope that could lead to censorship curtailing freedom of expression which is a basic human right,” Taheri said. “My message to you on behalf of journalists everywhere is simple: don’t fence us in!”  Read the full story here.

Video - British Islamist 'Abu Haleema': I'd Rather Have Trump Who Tells Us He Hates Us Than a Snake Like Obama.

Shows again that Islamist respect strength .

2,500 French imams slam terrorists for destroying Islam’s future and call for action.

2,500 French imams slam terrorists for destroying Islam’s future and that of its children. (AN).

In the wake of the recent Paris attacks, the Council of Imams of France issued a "solemn declaration" that was made public during Friday prayers in 2,500 French mosques. This is an unprecedented step.

In its statement, the Council slams foreign imams who manipulate young Muslims and turn “our universal Islam into a hateful and sectarian religion”.

It calls on Muslim men and women to appreciate the freedoms they enjoy in Europe and monitor their children to prevent them from becoming prey of radical imams who turn them into "terrorist bombs".

For the Council, Muslims must not stick their heads in the sand; instead, they must work together to rid the Islamic religion of the ideas of hate. The fate of young people and Islam is at stake.

What follows is the declaration from the Council of Imams of France (translated from the French by AsiaNews).

Dear Muslim men, dear Muslim women,

Islam, the religion of peace, has become a hostage in the hands of extremists and ignorant people. Islam has existed in Europe for a century. It has always lived in harmony and coexistence with European societies until the coming of some Muslims whom you know, because they pray with us in our mosques. These are young people who were born in Europe, who not speak Arabic well, who have no diplomas in Islamic theology. We used imams imported from abroad who do not even speak the French language, and who do not know the real problems young French and European Muslims face in Western societies!

Dear Muslim men, dear Muslim women,

for years, it was said that Western-style Islam does not look like the Islam we knew. According to the ideology of these ignorant Islamists, the Islam of tolerance, humanism, openness and inter-faith dialogue has turned into treason and collaboration with the West, to the point that tolerant imams have been threatened within their mosques by extremists who chose inflexibility and hate against all those who are different, even if those who are different are Muslims.

Muslim officials in France are not up to the true values ​​of Islam nor to the values ​​of the Republic. They turned our universal Islam into a hateful and sectarian religion that does not accept openness and adaptation to European values ​​.These incompetent imams as well as the bankrupt leaders must leave their place to others who are more knowledgeable and open because they failed to reassure both Muslims and the French!

Dear Muslim men, dear Muslim women,

Waves of radicalisation will not stop without the cooperation of imams, religious preachers, and ordinary Muslims with the state, legislators, and civil society in the interest of society but especially in the interest and the future of the children of Muslims in Europe. This future is in danger more than even before!

Dear Muslim men, dear Muslim women,

Watch out for the people who seek to justify the unjustifiable alleging racism, marginalisation or the history of colonisation. These are but pretexts to cover up their hate and religious fanaticism done in the name of God who created us for love and brotherhood, not war and savagery.

Terrorists had parents! They had families! What did they learn? Are they powerless vis-à-vis the web and social networks?

Dear Muslim men, dear Muslim women,

condemning attacks is no longer enough; we cannot continue to be ostrich-like. We cannot stick our heads in the sand and repeated this wicked phrase, "It's not us, it's them!"

Each imam, each and every Muslim religious leader, must take on his share of responsibility since these criminal attacks were committed in the name of our religion.

Life is hard for Christians, Jews and atheists in the Muslim world. Building a church or synagogue is an impossible dream in Muslim countries unless the president of the republic intervenes! By contrast, Muslims live in freedom and dignity in France and Europe. They build mosques, Islamic centres and religious schools without any disruption or exclusion.

We are Muslim French before we are French Muslims because it is France that brings us all together. Hence, religion must stay in its private space – because it can be a factor of peace and brotherhood so long as we interpret the religious texts in a positive and constructive manner.

Dear Muslim men, dear Muslim women,

many of our youth suffer from a religious, cultural and identity trauma. We must implement the best methods to fight hateful ideas within our religion as well as address the fragility of our Muslim youth vis-à-vis the pseudo Syrio-Hollywoodian Islam that uses images and propaganda to manipulate and radicalise as many young people as possible, in order to turn them into terrorist bombs who want to destroy the values ​​of Western countries. In reality, they will just just destroy the image and future of Islam in Europe and France, a country that has offered us benefits and advantages that we could not find in our country, and this despite all the hardship that are specific to our neighbourhoods and districts.

Dear Muslim men, dear Muslim women,

the future of your religion and the fate of your children are at stake. The decision to act or not to act falls upon us Muslims.


Long live the true values ​​of Islam; long live the true values ​​of the Republic.

Hmmm.........There is hope after all.

Related:

@haaretzcom @IsraelMatzav An Islam adapted to the needs of an individual country won't work, what is needed is a reformed #ISLAM period.

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) November 23, 2015

'Islamist' Turkey a textbook definition of a country that uses hate speech in the media.

'Islamist' Turkey a textbook definition of a country that uses hate speech in the media.. (TZ).

On Tuesday morning, a national newspaper with pro-government values, the Vahdet daily, hit the stands, declaring on its front page that 300 leaders of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) are crypto-Armenians and claimed that they were baptized in churches.

The overall accusatory tone of the article is what can be considered a prime example of hate speech, a problem that runs prevalent in the Turkish press, in which the term “Armenian” is used as a curse word.

Vahdet, along with several other newspapers in Turkey, is often a perpetrator of dangerous hate speech. According to the Media Watch on Hate Speech & Discriminatory Language project of the Hrant Dink Foundation -- run since 2009 with the aim of combating racism -- which monitored local and national newspapers in Turkey from May to August 2014, hate plays a large role in Turkish print media.

Its report presented four different categories of hateful discourse: exaggeration/attribution/distortion; blasphemy/insult/degradation; enmity/war discourse; and use of inherent identity as an element of hate or humiliation/symbolization. Vahdet's example from Tuesday would fall into the fourth category.

According to the report, “othering” groups of people propagates hostility between demographics, often ethnic and religious groups.

The report shared that in the time period analyzed, “hate speech [in print media in Turkey] primarily targeted Jews, with 130 items.” The second most targeted group are the Armenians, with a significant drop to 60 items detected.

The report also shared that the leaders in hate speech generated were the Yeni Akit daily, with 39 issues counted with offenses, the Milli daily with 23 issues and then Milat, with 12 issues.

Panelist Dr. Susan Benesch, who founded the Dangerous Speech Project and is a professor of international human rights at the American University in Washington, D.C., was able to paint a picture of what constitutes hate speech. What one can gather from Benesch's presentation is that Turkey is a textbook definition of a country that uses hate speech in the media.

“There is no consensus or clear universal definition of hate speech. It is a term that is used more and more widely but in general, hate speech means speech that attacks or denigrates a person or people because they are members of some kind of group,” explained Benesch.

Naturally, a newspaper falls under the category of holding the capability of influencing people, but this factor runs beyond just media and also includes Turkey's leading politicians.

When examining the rhetoric of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), one can see that its leaders often use a strategy of attack in their politics. Hmmmm.....isn't 'Islamist' Turkey screaming loudest about 'Islamophobia'? Luke 6:42. Read the full story here.

Video - Shocking anti-Semitism on streets of BRITAIN as Jewish journalist 'Walks as a Jew'

Video - Shocking anti-Semitism on streets of BRITAIN as Jewish journalist 'Walks as a Jew' (DailyMail).

• Journalist donned traditional Jewish head covering 'kippah' to test reaction 

• It took one minute for first abuse to be hurled on Britain's streets 

• Spat at in Manchester and boy walking with father called out 'Jew' 

• 'Stalked' by a man in Bradford for five minutes as he took photos 

• Same test in Copenhagen saw a similar taunts to 'Jewish man' 

• But Stockholm and Berlin walkabouts went without any incident

Read the full story here.

Video - 10 Hours of Walking the gauntlet in Paris as a Jew.

Video - 10 Hours of Walking the gauntlet in Paris as a Jew.

Read the full story at HT: TruthRevolt.

Canadian imam held in Philippines under suspicion of recruiting people to commit terrorism

Canadian imam held in Philippines under suspicion of recruiting people to commit terrorism. (SunNewsNetwork).

A Canadian Islamic preacher banned from several countries due to his views has been detained in the Philippines under suspicion he incited and recruited people to commit terrorism.

Bilal Philips, a Jamaican-born preacher who grew up in Toronto and is a Canadian citizen, will be deported within days, according to Siegfred Mison, the head of the Philippines immigration bureau.

"Based on various sources of information, he was supposed to be inciting and recruiting people to conduct terrorist activities," Mison told reporters, but gave no details of the sources.

Germany expelled Philips in 2011 for reportedly giving a speech in Frankfurt claiming homosexuals should be killed. Britain, Australia and the United States have also reportedly banned Philips.

However, two Toronto-based friends of Philips told QMI Agency Wednesday that despite his controversial interpretations of Islamic teaching, they never heard Philips incite or condone terrorism.
"It's utterly ridiculous, preposterous," said Ibrahim Downey, president of a Toronto-based company that offers "inspirational counselling" who said he is Philips' family friend and has known him for years.

"I've never seen anything (violent) from him," Downey said. "He explains the (texts from the Qur'an) as they are supposed to be understood, does that make him Conservative? What's that got to do with terrorism?"

Downey heard about Philips' detention Sunday night and Philips' family said the preacher was on a speaking tour in the Philippines.

Philips is an internationally known imam. He founded an online, free Islamic studies university and has written scores of books on Islam.

Mubin Shaikh, a former undercover police agent who said he's known Philips for more than 20 years, said he was surprised by Philips' detention.Shaikh said he never heard Philips incite violence or condone terrorist activity.

However, Shaikh admitted that Philips was controversial."He's a strict conservative," Shaikh said. "He ran into trouble for stating the traditional Islamic position on homosexuality. But he's never had any connection to (inciting terrorism).

While Philips is reportedly currently based in Doha, Qatar, it is unclear to what country he will be deported. Hmmmm....Purely coincidentally he's based in Qatar the Muslim Brotherhood Den.

The Netherlands: Jew attacked during interview about 'Non existent' antisemitism.

The Netherlands 'example' of antisemitic graffiti, Source picture.

The Netherlands: Jew attacked during interview about 'Non existent' antisemitism.HT: AntisemitismEurope.

Fabrice Schomberg, a Jewish resident of the Hague, was attacked while being interviewed about previous antisemitic incidents.

He tells his story here:

Yesterday the EO 3onderzoekt program on NED3 filmed me walking from my home in Schilderswijk, Den Haag to the Haagse Markt to buy groceries for the Kiddush, the evening Shabbat meal.

It has been a while since I have been walking around with a kippah in the neighbourhood, since in the past I have been pestered a few times and I am no longer as religious as I was so I don’t wear it in the street anymore.

However the television crew interviewed a few people that said that there is no problem in the neighbourhood and I said that I can get harassed if I walk with a Kippah, so to prove my point, the television crew wanted me to walk with my kipa on to the Market, so I did,

a few seconds after walking out of the hofje of which I live in we hear kankerjood (cancer Jew) [ed: f**king Jew] from a group of youngsters,

it seems they followed us to another square on the way to the market and shouted more things like this and one guy drove his scooter on the pavement and tried to run me down and kick me, I had to move away from him and it was filmed by the television crew, so when I came back I called the police, they came over and today I'll be filing a complaint.

Update:  Images and vid of the 'event' can be seen here.

Study: 'ONLY' 1.09 billion anti-Semitic people in the world, and where are the most?

Study: 'ONLY' 1.09 billion anti-Semitic people in the world, and where are the most? HT: IsraelFlash. [Google Translate].

The ADL has conducted the survey for a year in 100 countries, it is a quarter of adults have anti-Semitic prejudices or are downright, 70 years after the Holocaust, the world is a sick and criminal fixing 0.19 % of the world population.

Total adult population of the countries studied

4161578905

Total number of adults infected by anti-Semitism

1090000000

OR 1/4 ADULT

Antisemitism in the world

Judea, Samaria and Gaza

Index Score  93%

IRAQ

Index Score  92%

YEMEN

Index Score  88%

ALGERIA

Index Score  87%

LIBYA

Index Score  87%

TUNISIA

Index Score  86%

KUWAIT

Index Score  82%

BAHRAIN

Index Score  81%

JORDAN

Index Score  81%

MOROCCO

Index Score  80%

QATAR

Index Score  80%

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Index Score  80%

LEBANON

Index Score  78%

OMAN

Index Score  76%

EGYPT

Index Score  75%

SAUDI ARABIA

Index Score  74%

TURKEY

Index Score  69%

IRAN

Index Score  56%

WESTERN EUROPE

CANADA

Index Score  14% 

Index Score  14%

USA

Index Score  9%

GREECE

Index Score  69%

FRANCE

Index Score  37%

SPAIN

Index Score  29%

AUSTRIA

Index Score  28%

BELGIUM

Index Score  27%

GERMANY

Index Score  27%

SWITZERLAND

Index Score  26%

PORTUGAL

Index Score  21%

IRELAND

Index Score  20%

ITALY

Index Score  20%

ICELAND

Index Score  16%

FINLAND

Index Score  15%

NORWAY

Index Score  15%

DENMARK

Index Score  9%

UNITED KINGDOM

Index Score  8%

NETHERLANDS

Index Score  5%

SWEDEN

Index Score  4% 

EASTERN EUROPE

POLAND

Index Score  45%

BULGARIA

Index Score  44%

SERBIA

Index Score  42%

HUNGARY

Index Score  41%

BELARUS

Index Score  38%

UKRAINE

Index Score  38%

LITHUANIA

Index Score  36%

ROMANIA

Index Score  35%

CROATIA

Index Score  33%

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Index Score  32%

MOLDOVA

Index Score  30%

RUSSIA

Index Score  30%

MONTENEGRO

Index Score  29%

LATVIA

Index Score  28%

SLOVENIA

Index Score  27%

ESTONIA

Index Score  22%

CZECH REPUBLIC

Index Score  13%  

source -  HERE  I invite you to visit

source -A quarter of people in the world are "deeply infected" with anti-Semitism, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.

The survey, the most comprehensive ever conducted on the subject within the Institute in New York, is final and indicates that negative attitudes toward Jews are "persistent and pervasive" worldwide.

Eleven statements on which 50,000 people have spoken in 102 countries each show antisemitic stereotypes:

1) Jews are more loyal to Israel than the country / countries where they live.

2) Jews have too much power in the business world.

3) Jews have too much power in international financial markets.

4) The Jews do not care what happens to others, but only their own fate.

5) Jews have too much control over world affairs.

6) People hate Jews because of how Jews behave.

7) The Jews think they are better than others.

8) Jews have too much control over the government of the United States.

9) Jews have too much control over the international media.

10) Jews still talk too much about what happened to them during the Holocaust.

11) the Jews are responsible for most of the wars in the world.

According to the results, less than half of respondents have heard of the Holocaust and two-thirds of respondents said they did not believe the official number of victims.

The national director of the ADL, Abe Foxman said that the people who responded positively to at least 6 of these were found to be anti-Semitic stereotypes.

He said he had deliberately set a high bar for "underestimate" rather than "overestimate" the magnitude, indicating that 28% of respondents had validated all stereotypes.

According to the survey, the most dominant bias is that concerning the loyalty of Jews to Israel, since 41% of respondents have said true.

In the second position, we find that the Jews "have too much power in the business world" as it collects 35% of affirmative responses.

According to the study, which established a classification by region, the least anti-Semitic country in the world is Laos (0.2%) and Tanzania (12%) and Thailand (13%).

93% of the "Arab-Palestinians" considered anti-Semitic

Conversely, the region most affected by anti-Semitism is the Middle East and especially Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

"Anti-Semitism is pervasive in Palestinian society," says the ADL with a rate of 93%.

Furthermore, the survey shows that a quarter of respondents who admitted he had never met a Jew were considered anti-Semitic, according to the criteria adopted by the Institute.

The world Jewish population was also largely overestimated by respondents as 18% were measured at more than one tenth of the world population while it is only 0.19%.

This survey allows for "a real sense of the pervasiveness and persistence of anti-Semitism in the world today," said Foxman, explaining that this approach goes beyond the usual reports of anti-Semitic incidents.

On the other hand, if the Middle East and North Africa are the most affected regions, Eastern Europe and Western Europe arrive just behind with figures also high.

So surprised that Arab Muslims are the most anti-Semitic, especially those who live in the ancient Jewish homeland and the Gaza Strip?