Video - Canadian Leaders Debate: Ezra Levant explains why every Canadian should be worried

What was Behind Justin Trudeau's Secret Regina Mosque Visit?

What was Behind Justine Trudeau's Secret Regina Mosque Visit? By Tarek Fatah.(ME Forum).

Recently, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau met privately with a group of Islamic leaders inside a Regina mosque, an event from which the media were barred.

The Liberal party is keeping a tight lid on what transpired during the two-hour, closed-door session last Tuesday.

The gathering may well be one of the few election events of 2015 that will go unreported because as one correspondent assigned to cover the story told me: "Unfortunately I wasn't permitted inside."
It seems almost every time Trudeau steps inside a mosque, he walks into a minefield of controversy.
In March 2011 he visited a mosque in Montreal that a month later was classified by U.S. intelligence as an al-Qaida recruitment centre. Trudeau pleaded ignorance, arguing the mosque's link to al-Qaida came up only after he had visited it. In fact, as early as 2006, CBC's Radio Canada had done a lengthy investigative report on that mosque, identifying it as a well-known centre of radical anti-West rhetoric.

In 2013, Trudeau spent an evening at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Islamic centre west of Toronto during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The parent organization of ISNA in the U.S. has been listed by the U.S. Justice Department as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in a terror funding trial. ISNA was never charged with any crime, but prosecutors listed it as one of the "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood". (A federal judge later ruled the document should not have been released and ISNA said its inclusion was guilt by association.)
The Regina mosque where Trudeau held his closed-door meeting last week "recommends" the ISNA website to its members on its web page.

A Liberal press release made no mention of the event. When I pressed for an explanation, a Liberal staffer in Ottawa called me saying it was not Liberal policy to make visits to religious institutions open to the media.

But that's not accurate. Trudeau has been photographed praying alongside Muslims in a Surrey mosque.

Contrast the Liberals' secrecy with Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's visit to a Hindu temple in Toronto on Monday. It was an open event with no restrictions on the media while the Liberal one was shrouded in secrecy.

Trudeau owes an explanation to Canadians. What was discussed behind closed doors with Islamic leaders inside that mosque?Hmmmm........What did Trudeau discuss with Islamic leaders behind closed doors at a Regina mosque? Read the full story here.

Related: Flashback - Which CANADIAN political party is the true supporter of Israel?

The Liberal lovestory with Islamism

Flashback - Which CANADIAN political party is the true supporter of Israel?

Flashback - Which CANADIAN political party is the true supporter of Israel? HT: LandmarkReport.

In the 2008 federal election, brouhaha quickly erupted over Conservative campaign literature claiming they were more supportive of Israel than the Liberal Party. The topic has risen again, with feature stories in the National Post and Jewish Tribune, among others, parsing the vote of Israel supporters.

Columnist Zach Paikin weighed in recently, writing in the Prince Arthur Herald comparing the Liberal record on Israel with the Conservative record on Israel. He even said that in one political flier, the Conservatives alleged the Liberals to be anti-Semitic — a claim yet to be substantiated.

A real comparison at each Party’s historical stand on Israel (and Jews) may elucidate for some how Israel supporters are growing increasingly worried of the Liberal Party.

Defanging Hamas

Stephen Harper removed $30 million in funding of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government in one of his first acts as Prime Minister. Liberal leader Stephane Dion demanded that funding increase for the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority. No terrorists on terror list?

In 2001, Liberal Deputy Prime Minister John Manley opposed putting Hezbollah on the terrorism list, based on the flawed notion that it does some charity work. (That’s the “yes but Hitler built the autobahn” argument.)

Hansards on the topic show Conservatives pushing hard for the Government to act in condemning Hezbollah. Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, the associate foreign affairs critic, said that he favoured removing Hezbollah from Canada’s list of terrorist organizations. That same MP said he believed Israel indulged in “state terrorism” against Lebanon.

In December 2002, the Liberals finally got around to listing Hezbollah as a terror group. But it wasn’t truly voluntary. B’nai Brith was threatening the Liberal government with a lawsuit to do it, and Prime Minister Chretien and his caucus caved.

Liberal Naivete

When it came to Israeli-Arab negotiations, Chretien said, in April of 2000: “Palestinians should use the threat of a unilateral declaration of independence as a bargaining chip during peace talks.” In Beirut, in October 2002 Chretien met with Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah — a terrorist organization devoted to destroying Israel. When called on it, Chretien plead ignorance, saying: “I didn’t know who he was.” 

Biased Resolutions

On Jean Chretien’s watch, Canada voted in favour of countless biased U.N. resolutions slamming Israel. In May 1996, for instance, the Liberals strongly condemned of Israel for merely opening a door in a water tunnel that Jews built thousands of years ago. As if that weren’t enough to demonstrate where the Liberals positioned themselves, they bowed to anti-Israel resolutions at the La Francophonie conferences.

At the Francophonie Summits in 2006 and 2008, however, it was the Harper government that stopped the one-sided, anti-Israel resolution from being passed.

What was Paul Martin thinking?

In 2004, Paul Martin’s Liberals appointed Yvon Charbonneau, a former Quebec Liberal MP and radical Palestinian sympathizer, as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

After the appointment, Conservative Stockwell Day rose in the House of Commons to recall an incident in 1983 when Charbonneau directed teachers in schools and colleges to put up posters referring to the “genocidal war of the Israeli government” against Palestinians during the first Lebanon war. In that same year, Charbonneau supported a large demonstration in Montreal, protesting a visit by Ariel Sharon.

In April 2002, following a month in which Palestinian suicide bombers murdered 79 Israelis, Charbonneau delivered a speech before the House of Commons, equating Palestinian terrorism with the “terror campaign waged by Israel” and accused Sharon’s centrist-Kadima government of “turning Israel into a rogue state.”

Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew defended the Government’s appointment of Charbonneau.

In yet another twist of the knife, Paul Martin instructed Mr. Pettigrew to lay a wreath at terrorist Yasser Arafat’s grave.

Still, unable to interpret terrorist – or Nazi

Once again, in an example of not-so-subtle support of terrorists, in August 2006, Liberal MP Denis Coderre attended a Montreal anti-Israel rally, where Hezbollah flags were proudly flown.

Some demonstrators were chanting support for the terrorist organization while the MP stayed silent on the matter. (Coderre, up until recent months, was Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff’s defense critic.)

In December 2006, Liberal leader Bill Graham during a parliamentary session, compared Conservatives to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. No apology was ever issued.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Harper, unwaveringly supported Israel’s right to defend itself in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Ignatieff’s backtracking

During the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Michael Ignatieff accused Israel of “war crimes,” whitewashing the terrorist attacks against the Jewish State. (Over a year later, when it was time to put in a leadership bid, he reconsidered his views.) For many Jews, it didn’t come as a surprise, given Ignatieff’s previously publicized beliefs.

In London’s Guardian, in 2002, Ignatieff compared Israel to “crusaders” and “an Apartheid state.” He also wrote that Israel is brutally repressive, adding that it is an “excellent idea” to swamp Israel with the “entire Palestinian population,” and accused Israel as being “extremist, and part of a death cult, like the terrorists.”

In 2006, Liberal MP Ken Dryden bumbled through a press conference when asked — twice — whether he agreed Israel committed war crimes in Lebanon. His filibustering non-answer was surprising, given his riding’s Jewish demographic. Security funding

The Liberals consistently refused to offer security funds for Jewish communities (except during the 2008 election, when they flip-flopped, pledging to outdo any spending on the Conservatives’ platform). Conservatives have offered $3-million through the Security Infrastructure Program to keep religious institutions and those who attend them, safe from attack.

St. Louis

Liberals repeatedly refused to redress the St. Louis incident, where 900 Jews fleeing the Nazis were sent back to Poland from Canada during the Holocaust.

As history, it was the head of immigration in Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s administration who played a key role in that incident, and, was responsible for Canada holding the record for the fewest accepted Holocaust-era Jewish immigrants of any Western country. “None is too many” is the known refrain of top aides in his administration. Of the millions of Jewish refugees struggling to flee Europe, only 5,000 were admitted into Canada from 1933 until 1945.

The Harper government, however, in 2009 pledged funds to memorialize the St. Louis, and today a memorial stands in Halifax harbour. Holocaust Task Force

The Liberals as far back as 1996 refused to join the International Holocaust Task Force. In 2009, however, Prime Minister Harper sent Jason Kenney to Prague to submit Canada’s participation. Walking out of Durban and the UN

The Conservative government boycotted the anti-Semitic “Durban II” UN conference in April of 2009 in Geneva. The Conservative government was also among the first to walk out of the UN when Iran’s dictator took to the podium in September, 2010. 

Jews honor Harper

Since becoming Prime Minister, Harper paid personal visits to the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, and the Mumbai Chabad House. Stephen Harper has won special recognition from the Simon Weisenthal Centre, B’nai Brith, Canadian Jewish Congress and Yad Vashem.

No other Prime Minister shares this distinction.

Liberals Omar Alghabra, Carolyn Parrish and Colleen Beaumier Current Liberal candidate and former MP Omar Alghabra had condemned CanWest newspapers for labelling groups like Hamas and Hizbollah “terrorist” groups; he supported an Arab conference on a Montreal campus whose stated mission was the elimination of Israel; and Alghabra has called for the total abolition of Canada’s anti-terrorism laws.

Notwithstanding, Stéphane Dion, Leader of the Official Opposition, placed Alghabra as Official Opposition Critic for Citizenship and Immigration.

In 2002, Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish went on a trip to the Palestinian territories, funded by Mississauga-based Palestine House. She said in the Arab press: “In Israel, they put them all in the army and they give them a machine gun and they tell them, ‘The Palestinians are to be harassed — they are less than human and they (the guards) can treat them like garbage,’” … “They [Jews] have no business being there, no business growing more settlements, and they’re on every hilltop around Jerusalem.” Liberal MP Colleen Beaumier joined Parrish. Arab press reports her as saying: “The acts of Sharon and the acts of the Israeli government are acts of terrorism.”

Summary The big worry for Israel supporters is the inconsistent values of a litany of politicians who represent the Liberal Party both in its past and presently.

This isn’t to say the Liberals have never supported Israel in some way. They have. All of the living Liberal Prime Ministers have spoken to Jewish groups about their love of Israel.

But no Conservative has ever spoken ill about Israel. Their platform, as well as politicians, have consistently supported Israel, with no exceptions. Hmmmm......And last but not least PM Stephen Harper is a 'Mensch'!

Hi @AHiddyCBC & @CBCSask, any reason y #CBC didn't cover @JustinTrudeau's meeting at a Regina Mosque on Aug 12? @ericandersonCBC @LeishaCBC

— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) August 17, 2015

Canada PM slams world leaders for not supporting Israel.

Canada PM slams world leaders for not supporting Israel.(TOI).NEW YORK — Canada’s prime minister Stephen Harper expressed dismay Thursday at the growing lack of support for Israel across the world and criticized international leaders for failing to back the Jewish state.

“There’s nothing more shortsighted in Western capitals in our time than the softening of support we’ve seen for Israel around the globe,” he said, calling the country “the one stable, democratic ally in this part of the world.” Speaking during a visit to New York City, Harper also touched on Syria as he urged “extraordinary caution” on the idea of arming the opposition.

“We should not fool ourselves about what’s happening in Syria,” he said, saying there is “brutality and extremism on both sides.”

“To start talking about arming unnamed people whose objectives we don’t understand, I think, is extremely risky,” Harper said. Hmmm.....PM Harper the voice of sanity in a crazed world.Read the full story here.

Video - Pro-Israel Christian College Student Chloe Valdary Speaks Out!

HT: Israelvideonetwork

Video - Ezra Levant: Canada severes ties with Iran, lists it as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Canada closes Tehran embassy, vows to expel Iranian diplomats from Canada

Canada closes Tehran embassy, vows to expel Iranian diplomats from Canada.(AA). Canada closed its Tehran embassy and vowed to expel Iranian diplomats Friday, slamming Iran’s support for the Syrian regime and threats against Israel and expressing concern for the mission’s safety. “Canada’s position on the regime in Iran is well known. Canada views the Government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said, according to AFP. Baird cited Iran’s nuclear program, its hostility towards Israel and Iranian military assistance to the government of President Bashar al-Assad Syria, which is locked in civil war with rebels. “Under the circumstances, Canada can no longer maintain a diplomatic presence in Iran ... Diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran have been suspended,” Baird said in a statement, accusing Iran of showing blatant disregard for the safety of foreign diplomats, according to Reuters. Ottawa has long had poor relations with Iran, in part because of its enmity towards close Canadian ally Israel. The United States has not had a functioning embassy in Tehran since the hostage crisis of 1979. Britain’s embassy in Tehran has been closed since it was stormed by protesters last November. Meanwhile, Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague urged the European Union on Friday to impose new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, as Israel continues to threaten military action. He did not specify what form any new sanctions would take or whether the ministers would discuss the issue in detail. The EU implemented its latest round of sanctions on Iran in July, banning oil imports from the Islamic Republic. The United States is applying increasing diplomatic pressure around the world to isolate the Iranian economy.Hmmmm.....Hoooray for Canadian Leadership!Read the full story here.

As usual Canadian PM Harper outshines President Obama.

As usual Canadian PM Harper outshines President Obama.(IP).by Jerry Gordon, Iconoclast.Monday, was Canada’s National Holocaust Remembrance Day in Ottawa. According to a report in the Ottawa Citizen, Canada’s PM Stephen Harper gave a speech to an audience composed of the country’s Parliament MPs of all parties, Shoah survivors and Israel’s Ambassador to Canada and leaders of Canada’s Jewish community. A close friend, Rabbi Jonathan Hausman was in Canada for Israel Truth Week (ITW) and invited to attend yesterday’s ceremony in Ottawa. The venue for National Holocaust Remembrance Day was Canada’s National War Museum filled with WWII military equipment and memorabilia. Harper spoke and lit a memorial candle at the Yad VA Shem candelabra.

In his speech, Harper noted the anti-Semitic threats to Jewish citizens on Canada’s college campuses, annihilationist threats the Jewish state of Israel faces from nuclear Iran and Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood groups both domestically and in the Middle East:

It is an undertaking of a solemn responsibility to fight those threats.
We see it in the manifestos of organizations which deny the right of Israel as a Jewish state to exist.
We see it most profoundly and clearly in the ravings of a ruthless leader who threatens to wipe Israel off the map, while violating his country’s international obligations and pursuing the development of nuclear weapons.
We see it in the slaughter of Jewish children and other innocents, just last month, by a man born and raised in a tolerant, Western country.
And we see it here at home, every year on some university campuses, in the unconscionable slur that is the so-called Israeli Apartheid Week.
Ladies and gentlemen, while the Holocaust stands alone, it does not stand isolated.
It is but the most hellish chapter in the long and continuing history of anti-Semitism.
We must face this history unflinching.
Anti-Semitism is a sickness, a deadly moral sickness.
Anti-Semitism kills the lives and security of its victims, the consciences of its perpetrators, and the integrity of those who fail to speak out, of those who counsel a false peace, of those who seek refuge in moral equivalence.
As history and present controversies tell us all too well, anti-Semitism is a threat not only to the Jewish people.
It is a threat to us all – a sickness that quickly morphs into a hatred and a desire to destroy anyone – anyone who is different than its perpetrator.

Rabbi Hausman who attended yesterday’s commemoration in Ottawa had been as invited by the organizers of this past March’s ITW forum, to participate as a member of its delegation. ITW, organized by Canadian non-Jews to counteract Israel Apartheid Week activities on Canadian college campuses, had asked Rabbi Hausman to be a keynote speaker in March on Ontario campuses in Hamilton and London. Hausman returned this week to speak at an ITW event in Hamilton. According to Hausman, the chief organizer of ITW (Mark Vandermaas) was one of many honored with lighting a candle during the Ottawa Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies, yesterday, for his pro-Israel work.
Rabbi Hausman noted this about Canadian PM Harper’s performance and delivery of his speech:PM Stephen Harper’s Canadian Friends of Yad VaShem address was infused with emotion, historical particularity and lessons for the Jewish world, as well as Canadian-Israeli relations.He spoke about the existential threats that Israel faces from her enemies, however inspired. He did not dismiss Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and what that would portend for Israel and the free world…as Iran is motivated the theology of Jew-hatred.

In contradistinction to Bob Simon’s report on 60 Minutes on Christians in the Holy Land delegitimizing Israel, Harper praised Israel as a beacon of freedom and tolerance in the Middle East, a country in which everyone’s rights are protected, a country with growing and thriving minority communities, be they Arab, Muslim or Christian.
Harper did not read a teleprompted speech. He spoke from some notes in English and French with passion, conviction, friendship and empathy. Miriam Ziv, Israel’s Ambassador to Canada expressed her sincere appreciation.

Hausman contrasted Harper’s speech with that of President Obama’s, yesterday, at another Holocaust commemoration in Washington at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Hausman said:”the actions of Obama belie his words.”
The President’s speech was criticized by Washington Post blogger, Jennifer Rubin as “disingenuous”. The President was accompanied by Holocaust Survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel as he lit a memorial candle at a Buchenwald niche, a reference to an American uncle on his mother’s side whose US Army unit participated in the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Papua New Guinea 5.2 - 5.1!More info here.

• Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Here.

• Soviet scientists helped Iran build nuke;’ Ahmadinejad denies nuclear bomb.(AlArabiya).Iran received assistance from foreign scientists in order to develop the capability for building a nuclear weapon, the Washington Post reported late Sunday.Citing anonymous Western diplomats and nuclear experts familiar with new intelligence to be released to the United Nations, the newspaper said a former Soviet weapons scientist had allegedly tutored Iranians on building “high-precision detonators” that can be used to “trigger a nuclear chain reaction.”The comments come days before a crucial report is expected to be published by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, which is expected to release findings on the Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, heightening international suspicions of the Iranian relationship with the West and fuelling Middle East tension.In response to the upcoming report, Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami warned the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday not to become “an instrument without will in the hands of the United States” against Iran.The hardline cleric hit out at IAEA director general Yukiya Amano in an address during communal prayers in Tehran marking the Muslim Eid al-Adha feast.“If Mr Amano acts like an instrument without will in the hands of the United States and publishes lies by presenting them as documents, the IAEA will lose the little credibility it has left,” said Khatami, an influential cleric who often leads Friday prayers in Tehran.The newspaper noted that a key breakthrough that had not been publicly described was Iran’s success in obtaining design information for a device known as a R265 generator. The device is a hemispherical aluminum shell that is lined with pellets of high explosives and electrically wired so the detonations occur in split-second precision, the report said. The explosions compress a small sphere of enriched uranium or plutonium to trigger a nuclear chain reaction.Creating such a device is a formidable technical challenge, and Iran needed outside assistance in designing the generator and testing its performance, the paper said.According to the intelligence provided to the IAEA, key assistance in both areas was provided by Vyacheslav Danilenko, a former Soviet nuclear scientist who was contracted in the mid-1990s by Iran’s Physics Research Center, the paper said. Danilenko offered assistance to the Iranians over at least five years, giving lectures and sharing research papers on developing and testing an explosives package that the Iranians apparently incorporated into their warhead design, said The Post, citing two officials with access to the IAEA’s confidential files.Early on Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated that Iran does not own a nuclear bomb, but said Israel’s end was inevitable, in comments carried by an Egyptian newspaper.“It is Israel that has about 300 nuclear warheads. Iran is only keen to have nuclear capability for peaceful means,” he said, accusing Washington of lumping Iran with Syria, the Islamist Hamas movement that rules Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.The U.S. portrays those four as “the Axis of Evil to save the Zionist entity. But the Zionists are bound to go out of existence,” he said.Ahmadinejad also talked of Iran’s growing military power, which has fueled fear from the United States that Iran is now able to compete with Israel and the West, he said. “Yes, we have military capabilities that are different from any other country in the region,” Egyptian daily al-Akhbar cited Ahmadinejad as saying. “Iran is increasing in capability and advancement and therefore we are able to compete with Israel and the West and especially the United States.”“The U.S. fears Iran’s capability,” he told the paper. “Iran will not permit anyone making a move against it.”He accused Washington of inventing conspiracies to discredit Iran and sowing discord with its near neighbor Saudi Arabia, referring to the alleged assassination plot of the Saudi ambassador to Washington.“Iran is farthest from thinking of carrying out such crimes, but the U.S. is always inventing conspiracies against Iran,” Ahmadinejad said.“The U.S. fears any friendship between us and Saudi Arabia and therefore incites disagreements,” he said. “To stop the U.S. in its tracks we must deepen the elements of friendship ... We are ready for this and the relation between Saudi and Iran already exists and has not been cut off.”Russia warned on Monday that a possible military strike against Iran would be a “very serious mistake” that leads to further conflict and civilian casualties.“It would be a very serious mistake fraught with unpredictable consequences,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a warning by Israeli President Shimon Peres that an attack was increasingly likely.“Military intervention only leads to a multiple rise in casualties and human suffering,” said Lavrov.“There can be no military solution to the Iranian nuclear problem, just like there can be none for any other problem in the modern world.”Russia’s warning came ahead of this week’s expected presentation on a new report from the UN nuclear watchdog on Iran’s nuclear drive.Russia has urged Iran to improve its nuclear program transparency while trying to shield its Soviet-era ally from the most damaging sanctions and possible threat of war.Lavrov said current military campaigns such as the one being waged by NATO in Afghanistan proved the dangers of foreign involvement.“The use of force is only possible under two circumstances envisioned by the U.N. Charter,” said Lavrov.“Either through self defense, when you come under armed attack, or through a decision by the U.N. Security Council.”Read the full story here.

• IAF to Host Greek, Italian airforce for Joint Exercises.(INN).The Israeli Air Force will host Greece’s Air Force for joint exercises in two weeks’ time.Last year, the IAF was in Greece for joint exercises, and a security official said on Thursday that the reciprocal visit from Greece is very significant.In addition the IAF will host the Italian Air Force next month for a training session at the Uvda Airport in the Negev. This will be the second time that the Italian air force will train in Israel.“The Israeli Air Force sees the Italian and Greek air forces’ visits as a step up in strategic cooperation,” a security source said on Thursday.The announcement on the joint exercises with Italy and Greece came one day after an IAF delegation returned from Sardinia following a week-long joint training exercise with the Italian Air Force.The delegation included pilots from the “Knights of the North” and “First Jet” squadrons operating the F-16C air superiority fighter, along with pilots from the "Valley" squadron, who operate the F-16D.The fighter pilots were accompanied by a crew from the “Dakota” control squadron, flying a Gulfstream 5 G-550 radar plane.The Italian Air Force used its advanced “Eurofighter Typhoon” fighters during the exercise, in which two Israeli pilots were granted exclusive backseat rides.The exercises, planned months ago, concluded amid a storm of speculation from Israel’s media that leaders in Jerusalem are planning a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.The stated goals of the joint exercises were to strengthen ties with the Italian Air Force, learn from NATO's combat doctrine, and practice combat abilities in unknown, vast lands and to leave a positive impression for both sides. A similar exercise took place last year.Israel has conducted numerous joint air force exercises with NATO members. Israel, while not a NATO member itself, is expected to open a liaison office with the alliance in the near future.Hmmmm........."I'll Stand By You"?Read the full story here.

• Israeli army, intelligence websites down after hacker threat?(AlArabiya).The websites of Israel’s military and its intelligence services were down Sunday, two days after a hacker group appeared to threaten the Jewish state over its interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla.The websites of the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency and the Mossad foreign intelligence service were all unavailable through the day and into the evening.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, whose website was functioning, said that the outage was caused by a technical glitch rather than by hackers.“Israeli government websites crashed today because of a server malfunction, not as a result of a cyber attack,” Ofir Gendelman, a Netanyahu spokesman, wrote in a posting on Twitter.The website problems came two days after a video apparently from “hacktivist” group Anonymous was posted on YouTube, threatening the Israeli government with retaliation over its interception of two Gaza-bound ships.The boats carrying 27 activists, crew and journalists were intercepted in international waters before they could breach Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian territory.It was the second time activists had tried to run the blockade since May 2010, when Israeli commandos raided a Turkish-led group of ships, killing nine Turkish activists and sparking a diplomatic crisis with Ankara.The video, entitled “An open letter from Anonymous to the Government of Israel,” accuses the Jewish state of “piracy on the high seas.”“If you continue blocking humanitarian vessels to Gaza or repeat the dreadful actions of May 31st, 2010 against any Gaza Freedom Flotillas then you will leave us no choice but to strike back,” the video warns.It was not immediately possible to confirm whether the video was posted by the hacker group, which has claimed involvement in various hacker activity, including most recently exposing details of individuals who visited child porn sites.Anonymous has been involved in scores of hacking exploits including the defacing of a website of Syria’s defense ministry to protest a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters.Last year, the shadowy group launched retaliatory attacks on companies perceived to be enemies of the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.On Tuesday, a day after the Palestinians won full membership of UNESCO, over U.S. and Israeli objections, hackers from around the world attacked Palestinian servers, cutting Internet service across the West Bank and Gaza.Hmmm.....Tit for Tat?Read the full story here.

• Former Navy SEAL Commander Reveals Details of How Bin Laden Raid Went Down.(Telegraph) — US NAVY Seals have revealed for the first time that they killed Osama Bin Laden within 90 seconds of entering his fortress-like home in Pakistan.The men who killed the al-Qaeda chief have decided to speak out because they are tired of their “shabby treatment” by politicians who claim they were on a “kill mission”.They insisted there was no lengthy gun-fight in the compound and claimed they would have captured Bin Laden if he had surrendered, The Sunday Times in the UK reports (behind a paywall).They were not on a “kill mission”, they said, and fired only 12 bullets in the entire operation.The details of the mission, which was codenamed Operation Neptune’s Spear, are revealed in a book by the Seals’ former commander, Chuck Pfarrer.“I’ve been a Seal for 30 years and I never heard the words ‘kill mission’. It’s a fantasy word. If it was a kill mission you don’t need Seal Team 6; you need a box of hand grenades.”He said the men were angry with President Barack Obama for announcing Bin Laden’s death on TV just hours after they completed the mission on May 1.“There isn’t a politician in the world who could resist trying to take credit for getting Bin Laden but it devalued the ‘intel’ and gave time for every other Al-Qaeda leader to scurry to another bolthole,” he said.“The men who did this and their valorous act deserve better. It’s a pretty shabby way to treat these guys.”Pfarrer’s books also reveals that the Seals’ nickname for Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri were Bert and Ernie, after the two Muppets in Sesame Street.When they were first told they were going to Pakistan to pick up a high-value person who was holed up in high-walled compound, they asked: “So is this Bert or Ernie?”Pfarrer said the squad’s nickname was Jedi.His account of the mission makes for terrifying reading. Here is an extract from The Sunday Times report, detailing the death of Bin Laden:Bin Laden’s bedroom was along a short hall. The door opened; he popped out and then slammed the door shut. “Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo,” radioed one Seal, meaning “eyes on target”.Two Seals kicked in Bin Laden’s door. The room, they later recalled, “smelt like old clothing, like a guest bedroom in a grandmother’s house”. Inside was the al-Qaeda leader and his youngest wife, Amal, who was screaming as he pushed her in front of him.“No, no, don’t do this!” she shouted as her husband reached across the king-size bed for his AK-47 assault rifle. The Seals reacted instantly, firing in the same second. One round thudded into the mattress. The other, aimed at Bin Laden’s head, grazed Amal in the calf. As his hand reached for the gun, they each fired again: one shot hit his breastbone, the other his skull, killing him instantly and blowing out the back of his head.Read the full story here.

• Bosnian Islamic leader slams radicals as ‘renegades’.(AlArabiya).Bosnia’s top Muslim cleric on Sunday condemned a recent gun attack on the US embassy in Sarajevo, calling radical Muslims who resort to violence “renegades.”“Those who secede from the (Islamic) community are led by Satan,” Mustafa Ceric was quoted as saying by the FENA news agency during Eid al-Adha prayers held at Sarajevo’s main mosque.Mevlid Jasarevic, who was shot by Bosnian police as he fired on the embassy late last month, is believed to have joined Bosnia’s Wahhabi movement, a strict and ultra-conservative branch of Islam which is dominant in Saudi Arabia.Citing the gun attack, Ceric said Jasarevic was “one of the renegades of the Islamic community” and warned that followers of the Wahhabi school were “breaking apart Muslim unity.”Bosnia’s Muslims, who make up around 40 percent of the country’s population of some 3.8 million, are mainly followers of a moderate form of Islam.But the Balkan country is also home to a small minority of Wahhabi followers and local authorities have been cracking down on the movement’s members.Read the full story here.

• Million Man Worldwide 'Caravan' Set to 'Liberate Jerusalem'.(DocsTalk).By David Lev.Israeli security officials are keeping a wary eye out on several groups that are planning mass marches on Jerusalem. One march is scheduled for November 25, and is being organized by the group that tried to conduct a mass march to Jerusalem last September. This time, however, organizers – and Israeli security officials – believe that the group may attract larger numbers. The group is set out from three locations – Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon – on November 25, with the objective of reaching Jerusalem on November 29, the anniversary of the adoption of the UN partition plan for Mandatory Palestine. Officials said that the group was encouraged by the recent attempt – and temporary success – of Syrian Druze who “invaded” the Golan Heights for several hours, tearing down a border fence to enter the country. Several sources claimed that some of the Syrian Druze were able to enter the interior of Israel, with several claiming to have reached Tel Aviv.But even more worrisome is another march is scheduled for March 2012, Israeli officials said. That march is being organized by Indian activist Feroze Mithiborwala, who said in a recent press conference in Pakistan that the march will unite people from all over the world, and of all faiths - including Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Jews - "to participate in the march towards the Jerusalem and liberate it from the Zionists.” The march would be in the form of a “caravan” which would start from three directions – Asia, Europe, and Africa, originating in India, Turkey and Morocco respectively. The caravans would stop in all the countries on the way and pick up more participants. The objective is to gather hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people at the borders of Israel who would simply push their way through, reaching Jerusalem and “liberating” it.A group helping to organize the March event, the International Committee of the Global March towards Al-Quds, said in a statement this week that “since the Zionist occupation of 78% of Palestine in 1948, and the subsequent occupation of Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine in 1967, we have witnessed growing efforts to Judaize Jerusalem and colonize Palestine. These crimes against humanity are done under the political protection and full support of successive American administrations and enforced by its veto at the United Nations.“Jerusalem and all of Palestine need to be liberated, redeemed and restored as a land of freedom and coexistence by people of the world from all religious and cultural backgrounds. As part of this movement and at the invitation of Palestinians, we decided to organize a Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) aimed at raising awareness of the mortal threat to Jerusalem and all of Palestine by the hands of Zionists and helping us move closer to the day of freedom.”Mithiborwala is the head of Indian radical political group Awami Bharat, which bills itself as conducting “an international struggle against imperialism, Zionism, and Brahmanism.”Hmmmm.......Who's going to do the catering for those 'million'?Read the full story here.

• Poll: 81.1% Greeks “Yes” to EURO, 41.7% “Early Elections”(KeepTalkingGreece).“Return to Drahma” is no option for the vast majority of Greeks. They prefer the Euro… In a public survey concluded by the MARC company for news paper ETHNOS, 81.1% of the Greeks favor the Euro, while only 12.9% would like a return to “Drachma”. The poll was conducted among 1,004 households between November 2-3 2011, the days when the referendum issue was up. Inthe same poll, 45% of the asked favor a broader ‘national salvation government (no coalition government hehe!) and 41.7% favor Early Elections.The vast majority of the asked does not the current government (PASOK/Socialists)to concluded its time in power. Only 10.3% want.In case of elections: only 14.8% favor a one-part government; 44% favor a coalition of PASOK and Nea Dimokratia. 54.8% do not believe the new government would have any option to do a different policy than the current one. 37.7% believe, the new government would perform a different policy.In the preference of the asked, the political parties get:

1. Nea Dimokratia (conservative/Samaras) 22.2%.
2. PASOK 15.1%.
3. KKE (Communists) 8.2%.
4. LAOS (far-right) 5.8%.
5. Kouvelis (left-wing) 5.5%.
6. SYRIZA (left-wing) 5.2%.
7. Don’t Know: 26.6%

According to these results: PASOK-ND get together 37.3%; Communists and Left parties get together 18.9%.Read the full story here.

• In Act of Desperation, G20 Asks Germany to Pledge its Gold for EFSF Rescue Fund, Surprise!.... Bundesbank Refuses.(GEA).By Mike "Mish" Shedlock.The gall and arrogance of the G20 and Euro-nanny finance minister clowns is staggering.German newspapers report that the G20 discussed asking Germany to pledge its gold to bail out Greece and the Piigs, and to fund the EFSF.The Bundesbank, Germany's central bank said "We know this plan and we reject it."One might think that would be enough to stop such idiotic talk, but one would be wrong. In spite of Bundesbank opposition, euro zone finance ministers will discuss the idea next week.Please consider Bundesbank: central bank reserves will not help fund EFSFThe Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) reported that Bundesbank reserves -- including foreign currency and gold -- would be used to increase Germany's contribution to the crisis fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) by more than 15 billion euros ($20 billion).The European Central Bank (ECB) would own the reserves, according to the paper, citing sources at the G20 meeting held in Cannes this week.The Welt am Sonntag newspaper, citing similar plans, said 15 billion euros would come from special drawing rights (SDR) that the Bundesbank holds.G20 leaders in Cannes discussed the idea that the European System of Central Banks could pawn their total foreign exchange reserves of 50-60 billion euros to a trust of the European crisis fund in the form of special drawing rights from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the newspapers said."We know this plan and we reject it," a Bundesbank spokesman said.The newspapers had said the issue was taken off the agenda at the G20 following Bundesbank opposition but that it would be debated on Monday at a Eurogroup meeting of euro zone finance ministers.In spite of the stupidity of discussing something that is not going to happen, here are three reasons to be grateful they did.

1. The proposal highlights the desperation, blatant arrogance, and sheer pig-headedness of the G20 and Eurozone finance ministers.
2. The proposal shows that gold is money.
3. Sooner or later, one of these asinine proposals will will cause Germany to realize the EMU is a lost cause. The sooner Germany realizes that, the better off everyone will be.

ZeroHedge addresses the question "why will this be debated?"Why will it be debated? Because when at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Germany may be crossed off the list, but here is who is next in order of appearance. Sooner or later, Europe will stumble on that one "leader" whose gold is less valuable than their political stability.If France and Italy want to expand the EFSF, why don't they pledge their own gold rather than asking Germany to pledge its gold?One possible answer is that any country dumb enough to pledge its gold will very quickly lose its AAA rating. However, the Euro-nanny finance minister clowns are probably not bright enough to figure that out. Read and see the full story here.

• Filipino Jihadi: "There Is No Way to Restore the Islamic Caliphate... and Liberate Our Lands from the Infidel Scum other than the Way of Jihad and of Swords Drawn for the Sake of Allah"(Memri).On November 7, 2011, the jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam published a three-minute video clip originally posted on Youtube under the title "A Message from the Brother Abu Jihad the Filipino." The clip shows a masked man, apparently a Filipino, who calls himself Abu Jihad Al-Luzuni. Reading in Arabic from a page in his hand, he calls on all Muslims to join jihad against the enemies of Islam in order to liberate the Muslims from the state of humiliation they are in today, and in order to reinstate the Islamic caliphate.Read the full story here.

• Holocaust Remembrance Conference in Morocco.(Memri).In late September 2011, Morocco's Al-Akhawayn University (AU), based in Ifrane in the Middle Atlas region, held a three-day conference commemorating the Holocaust. The event, titled "Mohammed V, Righteous among the Nations", was dedicated to learning about the Jewish Holocaust and to honoring Morocco's late King Mohammed V, who refused to hand over Morocco's Jewish population to the French Vichy regime, which occupied Morocco at the time. The conference comprised seminars on the late monarch and on Moroccan Jewry, sessions devoted to testimonies by Holocaust survivors from Europe, and a tour of the Moroccan Jewish Museum in Casablanca given by the museum's Muslim curator Zhor Rhihel. There was also a performance by Moroccan-Jewish music by renowned singer Maxime Kartouchi, and kosher meals were offered.The conference was organized by the university's Mimouna Club, a student organization founded in 2007, dedicated to promoting Moroccan Jewish heritage. The club aims to educate the Moroccan public, and especially the youth, on the diversity of Moroccan culture, with focus on Moroccan Jewry as a model of coexistence between Jews and Muslims in the Arab World. It has already organized several events on Moroccan Jewish heritage, with the participation of Israelis, and also offers Hebrew classes. The founder and president of the Mimouna Club is political science student Elmehdi Boudra (age 24). Himself a Muslim, Boudra is deeply interested in Moroccan-Jewish culture and is a staunch advocate of intercultural dialogue. His interest in Jews and in Muslim-Jewish relations grew out of his family history; his grandmother's experiences growing up in Casablanca's Jewish quarter, and his grandfather's contacts with his Jewish neighbors, instilled in him a curiosity about Judaism. To learn more, he studied with Simon Levy, one of the directors of the Museum of Moroccan Jewry in Casablanca, and read about the Holocaust. Boudra's partner in founding the Mimouna Club was Ghassan Essalehi (age 23), a Muslim from Rabat, who has a BA in international studies & communication, and is now completing his master's degree in diplomacy. The conference participants included Holocaust scholars and survivors (among them Elisabeth Citron, a Hungarian survivor of Auschwitz), leaders of Morocco's Jewish community, as well as Jewish and Muslim students from Morocco and the U.S.A key speaker was André Azoulay, a Moroccan Jewish intellectual and an advisor to the king. He said that when Europe was in the grip of Nazi barbarism, Morocco provided a light of hope, and added: "By standing up against Vichy's racist laws, King Mohammed V provided each of us with the capacity and legitimacy to wield the values of courage, freedom, humaneness and modernity that many of us seek to establish in Moroccan society". He also noted that in the new Moroccan constitution, the present king, Mohammed VI, included a lengthy introduction focusing on the richness and diversity of the spiritual and cultural elements that make up contemporary Moroccan society. Addressing the organizers of the conference, he said: "You Muslim students decided to be identified with our liberation. It's not something usual."Serge Berdugo, ambassador-at-large for the King of Morocco and secretary-general of the Jewish community in the country, said that thanks to the protection of Mohammad V, no Moroccan Jew was arrested or sent to the concentration camps. He mentioned that the king showed his respect for his Jewish subjects by inviting all the Jewish dignitaries to the 1941 Feast of the Throne and seating them beside the French and German officers. Berdugo also related a story that has been told about the king: that when French general Noguès informed him that 200,000 yellow stars had been prepared for Morocco's Jews, the king answered that he would need 50 more – for himself and his family. According to Berdugo, the king said to the press at the time: "I do not approve of these new laws against Jews at all and I refuse to be associated with a measure that I disapprove of. As in the past, Israelites remain under my protection and I refuse to make any distinction among my subjects." The event, which was the first conference commemorating the Holocaust to be held in an Arab country, was positively received by the media in Morocco and abroad. It continues the policy of Morocco's current king, who has spoken out against Holocaust denial. In a 2009 speech, King Mohammed VI said: "Amnesia has no bearing on my understanding of the Holocaust, or that of my people... Together we must endeavor to reassert reason and the values that underpin the legitimacy of a space of coexistence where the words of dignity, justice and freedom will express themselves in the same way and will coexist with the same requirements, regardless of our [citizens'] origins, cultures or spirituality. This is our Moroccan interpretation, of the duty of remembrance dictated by the Shoah.Hmmmm.....And just when you're about to give up hope, you meet a 'Mensch'.Read the full story here.

• Antwerp: Muslims boycott stunning of Eid al-Adha sacrifice.(IIE).Via GvA, De Wereld Morgen (Dutch):The Antwerp Muslim community is boycotting the option of stunning the Eid al-Adha holiday sacrifice before slaughter. The city of Antwerp is offering both slaughter alternatives this year.The Muslim community is dissatisfied with the new measures. Last week representatives of the Union of Mosques and Islamic Associations in Antwerp Province (UMIVPA) returned brochures prepared by the city on the topic back to the municipality house.The union fears the new slaughterhouse will serve as a precedent, and that it could lead to unilateral federal legislation on stunning in ritual slaughter.Spokesperson Ibrahimi Jamel: "Year in and year out we come to Eid al-Adha with a fearful feeling and uncertainly over what awaits us. Instead of a day of festivity and joy Muslims in Antwerp experience this day as a day of unrest." He says this is due to lack of permanent regulations set in law and which are acceptable by the Muslim community.They are also unhappy with the way the city conducted its consultations with the mosques, and say that the city does not take into account the contribution of the Antwerp Muslim community.Posters have been put up in various places calling for a boycott of the alternative slaughterhouse. The posters were prepared by the UMIVPA and are signed by chairperson Abdelouahab Tuani. The union represents 28 mosques, most of whom are Moroccan, 18 of which are in the city Antwerp.Hmmm........As usual the problem is 'cattle mentality' Queen Rania of jordan is a strong defender of stunning animals before slaughter.Education and the political will to make a stand is the only thing that can change 'things' like this.Quote:"After emailing footage of a bull being brutally slaughtered to Queen Rania of Jordan, White was contacted by the King's sister, Princess Alia bint al Hussein. Within 24 hours, she had closed the abattoir; a month later, it was razed. The two became friends, and White now acts as chief adviser to the Princess Alia Foundation, formed to prevent animal cruelty in the Middle East."Read the full story here.

• Another Burning Chevy Volt Destroys NC House.(CBullit).That’s right, this is the second Volt so far to consume itself–that we know of. No one was hurt, and the problem may lie with the Siemens charging station installed in the house–because Scumsucking, Rentseeking SCOAMF-fellating Duke Energy is now warning customers not to install them. This is the same Duke Energy that’s inflating customer bills with power occasionally generated by Batshredders and sunbeams.I wonder how this will affect those EV sales stats Daily Bayonet is keeping. If I were Nissan, I’d use it.Hmmm......Chevy Volt you see sparks flying?Read the full story here.