Video - Egyptian Screenwriter Mohamed El Adl: The Religious Movement Is Stronger Than Al-Sisi.

In an interview with the Egyptian channel ON TV, screenwriter and film producer Mohamed El Adl criticized the recent arrests of liberal scholars in Egypt for blasphemy charges. El Adl said that the Islamic movement is stronger than President Al-Sisi, and that despite the president’s repeated statements about the required reforming of the religious discourse, Egypt is on its way to become a religious state. The interview was aired on February 22, 2016

Pakistan Religious Body Denounces new law that criminalizes violence against women as un-Islamic.

Pakistan Religious Body Denounces new law that criminalizes violence against women as un-Islamic. (ET).

Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) that advises the government on the compatibility of laws with Islam on Thursday declared a new law that criminalises violence against women to be “un-Islamic.”

The Women’s Protection Act, passed in Punjab Assembly last week, gives unprecedented legal protection to women from domestic, psychological and sexual violence. It also calls for the creation of a toll-free abuse reporting hot line and the establishment of women’s shelters.

But since its passage in the assembly, many conservative clerics and religious leaders have denounced the new law as being in conflict with the Quran, as well as the constitution.

“The whole law is wrong,” Muhammad Khan Sherani, the head of CII said at a news conference, citing verses from the Quran to point out that the law was “un-Islamic.”

The 54-year-old council is known for its controversial decisions. In the past it has ruled that DNA cannot be used as primary evidence in rape cases, and it supported a law that requires women alleging rape to get four male witnesses to testify in court before a case is heard.

The council’s decision this January to block a bill to impose harsher penalties for marrying off girls as young as eight or nine has angered human rights activists.

The new law establishes district-level panels to investigate reports of abuse, and mandates the use of GPS bracelets to keep track of offenders.

It also sets punishments of up to a year in jail for violators of court orders related to domestic violence, with that period rising to two years for repeat offenders.

Fazlur Rehman, the chief of one of Pakistan’s largest religious parties, the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam, said the law was in conflict with both Islam and the constitution of Pakistan.

“This law makes a man insecure,” he told journalists. “This law is an attempt to make Pakistan a Western colony again.” Hmmm.....Women human rights and Islam. Read the full story here.

Russia, Jewish Torah texts with "extremist content" confiscated from a school.

Source picture.

Russia, Jewish Torah texts with "extremist content" confiscated from a school. (AN).

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Yekaterinburg prosecutor's office, has confiscated a number of Jewish sacred texts (Tanakh), from a Jewish high school including the Torah, because deemed to contain extremist content.

Meduza news website reported the news, quoting a Jewish community activist who spoke with Kursor newspaper. The activist points out that the books were confiscated at the end of Mays and results of the investigation have yet to be released.

A year ago, the same school - linked to the Jewish 'Ohr Avner' center - had been under threat of closure, after an inspection launched by the local prosecutor together with Rosobrnadzor, the federal agency that monitors education.

The authorities then had registered a number of violations, including failure to comply with national education standards. Earlier, a court in Yekaterinburg had decided that the school had to pay for many years of rent arrears. The school maintains that they have the right to use the property for free because they had undertaken renovations of the building.

According to the Newsru website, the authorities have decided "turn from administrative violations to ideological issues", with the accusations of extremism.

"None of the books confiscated are on the federal list of books banned for extremism", denounced a school administrator to the site Politsovet, who believes the sacred texts are not under inspection rather some study manuals.

So far the Prosecutor of the Sverdlovsk region, which includes Ekaterinburg, has declined to comment on the reports.

In 2013, the Commission for Inter-Ethnic Relations and Freedom of Conscience at the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation discussed a proposal to be sent to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office to improve controls on extremist religious literature.

The same proposal also suggested "protecting" the sacred texts of traditional religions from such controls. Experts are concerned that, during inspections, there are no consultations with religious scholars and religious communities. As a result it is impossible to adequately assess, on the basis of language and of modern legal thought, texts written many years ago and with specific religious significance.

The prosecution’s investigation of the Jewish community has also focused on the 'Hesed' center in Novgorod, where every Sunday members of the Jewish community of the city meet to study Hebrew.

On June 1, the participants in the meeting were forced to present their ID  to representatives of the public prosecutor, who arrived unannounced on-site and without explanations for an inspection. Hmmm....Next they'll say 9/11 was carried out by people shouting 'Mazzle Tov'?

U.S. State department approves massive $1.9 billion arms sale to Israel.

U.S. State department approves massive $1.9 billion arms sale to Israel.(ToI).

The US State Department indicated it will approve an arms sale to Israel worth nearly $1.9 billion, adding thousands of bombs, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles to Jerusalem’s armory for “self-defense” needs.

The details of the possible sale were sent for congressional review this week after being approved by the Pentagon, the US Department of Defense said in a statement Tuesday.

If the agreement is finalized, Israel will receive a supply of precision-guided munitions consisting of 750 bunker buster bombs, 3,000 Hellfire missiles, 250 medium-range air-to-air missiles and 4,100 glide bombs, in a deal worth $1.879 billion.

In addition, the package includes 14,500 missile guidance systems — known as tail kits for Joint Direct Attack Munitions — which convert unguided bombs into GPS guided missiles.

A report in Israeli media Tuesday indicated the US and Israel were discussing a so-called compensation package that would see Washington sell Jerusalem advanced weapons, including more F-35 jets, in exchange for the Netanyahu government’s quiet acceptance of the emerging nuclear deal with Iran.

A previous package of precision guided missiles worth $647 million was sent by the US to Israel in December 2012, according to Defense News. That deal however contained smaller quantities of munitions.

Israel receives $3 billion per year in US military aid, most of which must be spent on American-made arms. Read the full story here.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) ‘Outraged’ After Plaque Honoring Paris Murder Victim Desecrated.

Bagneux, 2 mai 2015. La stèle en mémoire d'Ilan Halimi brisée par des inconnus. Ignoble antisémitisme au quotidien. pic.twitter.com/RZRhnAvlS5

— Joëlle Alazard (@AlazardJ) May 2, 2015

American Jewish Committee (AJC) ‘Outraged’ After Plaque Honoring Paris Murder Victim Desecrated. (Algemeiner).

A major Jewish group expressed shock on Sunday after vandals in Paris desecrated a plague in memory of Ilan Halimi, a French Jew who was kidnapped in 2006, tortured and ultimately killed.

“Outrage!” the American Jewish Committee (AJC) wrote on Twitter, adding, “1st they tortured & killed Ilan Halimi, a French Jew, in ‘06. Now the plaque in his memory has been destroyed in a Paris suburb.”

The memorial plague was found smashed on Saturday night in Bagneux, a southern suburb of Paris, and has since been removed for repairs, according to French daily Le Figaro. The vandals have yet to be identified.

Bagneux mayor Marie-Hélène Amiable on Sunday said she was “extremely shocked” by the incident and described the vandalism as “outrageous” and “unacceptable.”

Halimi was kidnapped in Paris on January 21, 2006 by an antisemitic Muslim gang that called itself “The Barbarians.” 

He was lured into a trap from his cellphone store on Boulevard Voltaire by a 17-year-old female gang member. Halimi was held captive for 24 days in an apartment building where he was tortured while bound with his head entirely masked in duct tape except for a small opening for his mouth, Le Figaro reported. The gang demanded 50,000 Euros as ransom from his family.

Three weeks after his capture, Halimi was found handcuffed and tied to a tree. More than 80 percent of his body was burned with acid and gasoline. He died on the way to the hospital from the wounds he sustained.

Boulvard Voltaire in Paris’ 11 arrondissement was the site of another antisemitic attack on Friday, The Algemeiner reported. Two Jewish residents in their 20s were assaulted on the street by a gang of about 40 people. The attackers were associated with the anti-Israel groups Gaza Firm and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

The Algemeiner Journal

Video - Antisemitism in France - Israeli Reporter Harassed in Paris

Video - Antisemitism in France - Israeli Reporter Harassed in Paris. (INN).

Reporting from Paris , journalist Miri Michaeli of 10 Israeli TV channel found herself surrounded by a group of young people ( whose accent suggests that they are from immigrant background ) and harassed because she is Jewish and from Israel.

Israeli Channel 10's reporter in France, Miri Michaeli, used her Facebook page Thursday to publish video documentation of an anti-Semitic assault she experienced in central Paris.

The incident occurred just as she was about to report on camera about the Germanwings passenger jet disaster in the Alps three weeks ago.

"I did not mean to upload this video,” she wrote. “It is not possible to understand what exactly happened there, in that short scene, and I do not look too good there, either. But after the report yesterday, which presented worrisome statistics about anti-Semitism in Europe, I received some questions from viewers and friends who thought that the media (and I, as part of it) are painting an exaggerated picture of the situation.

"It's true that if you walk down the streets of Paris, you may feel nothing,” Michaeli explained. "But if you don a kippah, wear a Magen David necklace or hold a microphone that says 'News 10' in Hebrew, it is reasonable to assume that sooner or later, you will realize that the situation is worse than what the statistics indicate. These remarks do not enter the statistics, and are not reported. This happens here, every day, and in every place, and it happened to me, too.”

The videos show only the beginning of the incident, she added.

“The man whose face cannot be seen in the video identifies Hebrew on the microphone, passes the information on to his friends and starts to harass. What happened afterward was much worse. They surrounded me, four or five men, and began to curse me. The word Jew was repeated, too.”

"My hands shake, three weeks later, when I remember the things that they said. I was standing in the street, I was not bothering anyone, and I was cursed – with aggressive hand motions – and threatened. I looked around. The street was full of people who noted what was going on, they watched from the side, and someone even taped everything with a smartphone, but no one helped me.

"When I felt threatened, I ran off (yes, that is the right word) to the train station, where there were soldiers. Only then did they leave me alone... So no, we were not exaggerating. That is the reality. Now we must fight it.”

Video - French Imam: "people who eat pigs meat, will behave like them and become pigs'. (French).

Here is an excerpt from a sermon in French by Imam Mehdi Khabir . Posted on March 24, the video was recorded in the Mosque of Villetaneuse (Seine-Saint-Denis) - so not in an obscure Saudi mosque - during Friday prayers April 15, 2013. The late theologian - if one can call it declaims theology - very popular in some mosques in France, particularly says this:

"That's why the one who eats pork - Na'am [yes] - tends to have the behavior of a pig [...] And Allah or the Prophet informed that the time will come when Allah will transform certain beings humans into apes and pigs "...

'The people who eat pork, you find them among the dirtiest people around' 00.25 min.

'There will come a time when Allah will transform certain people in to pigs and monkeys. 00.58 min

'Certain people will get the heart , brain and the spirit of a monkey or pig.' 01.14 min

'It is forbidden to touch, cook , sell or transport pork.Our Muslim brothers should not work in restaurants, hotels, stores, markets where they trade and serve pork. This is forbidden and a great sin.'  03.13 min

Saudi Journalist: The Oppressive Saudi Rigidity Causes Young People To Seek Happiness With The Virgins Of Paradise

Saudi Journalist: The Oppressive Saudi Rigidity Causes Young People To Seek Happiness With The Virgins Of Paradise. HT: Memri.

In an article in the Saudi government daily Al-Watan, journalist Idris Al-Dris pondered why so many suicide bombers were of Saudi origin. He argued that the reason was the ultra-conservative Saudi lifestyle, including the strict segregation of the sexes and the excessive modesty of dress, which, he said, cause Saudis to believe that a full and satisfying relationship with a woman is possible only in Paradise. He argued further that the strict indoctrination pushes Saudis to reject the religious teachings, as evident from the fact that many Saudi women shed their modest garments the minute they leave the country.

The following are translated excerpts from the article:[1]

"I have long been asking myself why Saudis form the largest portion of those who sacrifice their lives for the 'Virgins of Paradise'... Perhaps the main reason for this is our conservative reality, which possibly involves over-strict gender segregation, [due to] the dominance of custom and traditions that are enforced without thought in the guise of religion...

"Our young children, both girls and boys, grow up naturally and become fond [of each other] as neighbors or relatives. And then, suddenly, a young boy finds himself completely excluded [from the presence of girls], to an extent that exceeds the requirements of religion, [for] the prevailing custom and tradition are at odds with religion. Women thus become [sacred] icons and objects of fear, with whom a normal, ongoing and full life [is possible] only in Paradise.

"Perhaps I am wrong, but I find that this fear is less prevalent among others [i.e., non-Saudis], since their social life is compatible with human nature. I am not calling for men and women to mix in ways that lead to transgressions, God forbid. I am only searching for something that can make us more moderate in our behavior, which presently tends to either one extreme or the other.

"The women's dress-code in this country usually reflects traditions and customs that have passed down from generation to generation. If you want to know how popular [the traditional dress-code] is, just look at how our women dress when abroad. [The destinations themselves] teach us something about the tourism preferences of some of our families: while conservative families choose to travel to Malasia or Austria, and in particular [to the Austrian town of] Zell am See [a resort popular with religious Muslims], liberal families usually travel to Switzerland, France and Spain.

Both kinds [of families] travel to London. [While abroad,] some of the conservative families overdo their conservative [behavior] and dress, to the extent that they attract attention. Conversely, some of the liberal families overdo their openness... They attract the attention of us Saudis and puzzle us with their revealing clothes, which contrast with Islamic-style clothes that cover [the body]. 

I feel that the conservative among our women exaggerate their modesty when abroad, out of a desire to defy [the West] and emphasize that they are good Muslims, while the most liberal among our women go too far in rebelling against the oppression they experience [in Saudi Arabia].

"The openness exhibited by some of our girls [when abroad?], and their very Western way of dressing, remind me of Iranian women who wear a chador under pressure from the clerics, but fling it away along with their other modest garments the minute they leave Tehran.

Women on flights leaving and entering our homeland present a very similar spectacle. The look of the passengers changes dramatically as they shed their veils and cloaks during outgoing flight and put them on again during the return flight.

"This phenomenon always embarrasses me. Perhaps the persuasion [methods] of the religious [authorities] are inadequate. Perhaps they use coercive and inflexible methods instead of causing people to like [the religion] and thereby prompting them [to observe it], which are the shortest and easiest ways to achieve a goal.

"I am not [trying to] issue a fatwa permitting or forbidding anything. I am not qualified to do so. But I am always embarrassed by our two-facedness and by the mental hypocrisy of the [Saudi] citizen, compared to others.

I raise [this issue] here just to [encourage] us to have a solid identity that does not change depending on the patron [overseeing us], who here [in Saudi Arabia] is the father, the sheikh or the religious police."

Endnotes:
[1] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), August 25, 2014.
=A9 1998-2014, The Middle East Media Research Institute All Rights Reserved Materials may only be cited with proper attribution.

'Poor Terrorist myth busted" - ‘Jihad Tourism’ Gaining Popularity With European Middle Class.

'Poor Terrorist myth busted" - ‘Jihad Tourism’ Gaining Popularity With European Middle Class. (RN).

Russia has raised questions in the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) over the growing popularity of so-called “jihad tourism” among the European middle class, Ilya Rogachev, director of the department of new challenges and threats at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told RIA Novosti.

"There has been a unifying factor recently – jihad tourism. People from various countries of the world that would seem not to be involved in the conflict situation go somewhere to fight a war, and most of them believe it is 'in the name of faith.' Often, those are not the miserable and desperate, but the middle class, educated people that have families, work, stable income, homes," Rogachev said.

The popularity of jihad tourism became apparent during the Syrian conflict.

"In the case of Syria, this phenomenon gained an unprecedented scale. Hundreds and hundreds of people from various regions, including Europe, headed to Syria and the neighboring countries swept in conflicts to train," the Russian diplomat said.

Moscow has been trying to bring the issue to the attention of international organizations, including the UN and the OSCE, Rogachev said, adding that some of them approached the issue politically.

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution confirming the UN’s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, approved in 2006, and addressed the issue of jihad tourism, Rogachev said.

"But we still have to overcome some resistance: the Westerners prefer to solve these issues among themselves. At the same time, they don't want to talk to Syrian authorities. And how, in this case, do we fight jihadists that go to Syria and come back to their countries from Syria? We try to serve as 'fair brokers' and maintain a nonpolitical international dialogue," Rogachev said.

Syria has been torn by civil war for more than three years. One of the gravest humanitarian crises in modern times, the conflict has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Video - Golden temple massacre anniversary: Twelve injured in sword fight between Sikhs

Twelve people were wounded on Friday as members of a Sikh group brandishing swords and wooden sticks clashed with guards at the Sikhs' holiest shrine in India

The clash occurred during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the storming of the shrine by the Indian army in June 1984 in the northern city of Amritsar, said a Golden Temple management spokesperson.

The spokesperson said supporters of the Shiromani Akali Dal, led by Simranjeet Singh Mann, turned violent and then were chased away by temple guards.

They were shouting slogans for an independent homeland for the Sikhs.

The 1984 Indian army operation to establish control over the shrine was one of the most contentious episodes in India's battle against Sikh separatists in the 1980s.

The attack outraged Sikhs and led to a catastrophic breakdown in communal relations. More here.

U.S. Military Lists Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism, and Islamophobia as Forms of Religious Extremism Alongside Terrorist Groups.

U.S. Military Lists Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism, and Islamophobia as Forms of Religious Extremism Alongside Terrorist Groups.(Fox).By Todd Starnes.

The U.S. Army listed Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of religious extremism along with Al Qaeda and Hamas during a briefing with an Army Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania, Fox News has learned.

“We find this offensive to have Evangelical Christians and the Catholic Church to be listed among known terrorist groups,” said Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of wrongheaded characterization.”

The incident occurred during an Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief on extremism. Topping the list is Evangelical Christianity. Other organizations listed included Catholicism, Al Qaeda, Hamas, the Ku Klux Klan, Sunni Muslims, and Nation of Islam.

The military also listed “Islamophobia” as a form of religious extremism.

Army spokesman George Wright told Fox News that this was an “isolated incident not condoned by the Dept. of the Army.”

“This slide was not produced by the Army and certainly does not reflect our policy or doctrine,” he said. “It was produced by an individual without anyone in the chain of command’s knowledge or permission.”

Wright said after the complaint was lodged, the presenter deleted the slide, and apologized.“We consider the matter closed,” he said.

The Archdiocese for the Military Services was shocked to learn that the Army considered Catholicism to be an example of extremism.

“The Archdiocese is astounded that Catholics were listed alongside groups that are, by their very mission and nature, violent and extremist,” the Archdiocese said in a statement.

They want the Dept. of Defense to “ensure that taxpayer funds are never again used to present blatantly anti-religious material to the men and women in uniform.”

“In the notes it was clearly stated that the presenter was not a subject matter expert, and produced the material after conducting Internet research,” Wright said.

So if the presenter was not an expert, what were they doing presenting the material, Crews asked.

He said he had a chance to speak with the officer who conducted the briefing and she told him that she got her information from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“Why is there such dependence upon the work of the SPLC to determine hate groups and extremist groups,” Crews said. “It appears that some military entities are using definitions of ‘hate’ and ‘extreme’ from the lists of anti-Christian political organizations. That violates the apolitical stance appropriate for the military.”

But Mark Potok, a spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, told Fox News they did not provide the military with any list about religious extremism.“It’s emphatically – 100 percent false,” Potok said.Hmmmmmm.......So WHO 'created' this slide and who 'approved' it?Reminds me of: "The future does not belong to those that slander the Prophet".Read the full story here.