American Lamentations

Ramadan 2011: A time for peace or war?

2011-07-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

For years, as the US and the so called coalition of the willing carried out mass murders of Muslim people and destruction of the Muslim lands, Muslims have waited for our turn to engage and to fight back. Unfortunately the Muslim leadership lacked faith in God and became impressed by the show of might demonstrated in the invasions and killings and the war crimes that have taken place over the past ten years, and so they never called Muslims to the fight and gave no hope of Muslim survival, or the survival of Islam. Instead they attempted to accelerate immigration to the West and assimilation, thinking wrongly that the solution to the war on terrorism crime was to be for it, rather than against it. Rather than to address the issues that plague the lives of Muslims in the Muslim world, they struggled for more accommodating immigration laws in the West, so they could encourage escape, to the glorious west, where they thought we would all be free.

Along with their repeated condemnations of terrorism, which in fact gave the wrong impression that there was something unique about Islam as a religion that engendered terrorism, they almost daily handed down verbal chastisement of Muslims who would not shut up and accept defeat gracefully. Such Muslims were called extremists and radicals and even worse, conspiracy theorists and terrorists. They were isolated, laughed at, and shut out of the inner Muslim circles where our government was lining the pockets of our intellectuals with cash, a reward their help with secularizing the mosques, and demonizing jihad.

Ten years into the illegal war and it has become clear that the war on terrorism has been lost. Not to Muslims, but to time. Ten years of mass murder and destruction in the Muslim world has only led to moral and financial bankruptcy in the West, while its effects on Muslims has been quite different than what was hoped for and imagined. We are not broken and we are not defeated. We are not frightened and we are not angry. In this ten years God has kept His promise to the Believers, and even though He has taken millions of martyr witnesses from among our ranks, he has blessed us with satisfaction and a taste for jihad. We are no longer interested in immigration and assimilation. We have seen the under belly of the so called great democracies of the West and we see that not only are they soft, they are full of corruption, hypocrisy, demonism and immoral disease. As Satan drove the forces of the arrogant West to more and worse crimes against humanity, God opened the eyes of the believers and asked us to choose. We choose the jihad.

We are freeing our own countries through revolutions, and still Satan will not leave us alone. The Arab puppet governments are also killing the Muslim people, while they attempt in every way to stall our revolutions and to criminalize the revolutionaries, and stay in power. God will take martyrs from among us in great numbers, yet we will have the victory. Allah has called us to beautiful patience, and so we must persist in our revolutions against all odds. Ramadan is the time for completion of the revolutions. They will spread, become more violent and then we will be granted the final victory and the black flags will fly over Jerusalem and throughout the Muslim lands. And our people, our tired, weary and battered and humiliated, heart broken and tired but victorious people, will return home, and together, insha Allah, we will build and create the Muslim world of our dreams.

For now, Satan has organized and prepared his forces for the great battle. We must do the same. As strange as it sounds, considering all of the military equipment, advanced military technology and money that we don’t have, we expect the victory because Allah said in the Qur’an, “Indeed we have granted you (Muhammad) a manifest victory.” Ten years of mass murder and death has immunized us against the pain of watching as our children’s bodies are mutilated, as our women are raped, our men tortured and sodomized, and our parents humiliated and killed. We can only win, because you took our fear.

This Ramadan will not be a time for peace. It will be a time for war. Our enemy is desperate for victory. They cannot walk away from the battlefields where they lost their souls and treasure without one last desperate attempt to finally eliminate Islam, and to kill off the remnant of its adherents, and the descendants of prophets. They are under the spells of Kabbalists, false prophecies and delusion that will drive them to their destruction.

Let the Muslims rejoice in the bargain that we have made. God has purchased our lives and properties and in return He has given us two glorious possibilities, victory or martyrdom, and one certainty; eternal life in paradise. If they incline towards peace, we will also incline towards peace, but if they are firm for war, we will destroy them.

Libya’s competing revolutions as a backdrop for a war on terrorism victory in Libya

2011-04-22T00:53:00.000-07:00

By Anisa Abd el Fattah

There are two revolutions vying for power in Libya. One is the historic green revolution of Moammar Qaddafi, the leader of Libya who came to power through a bloodless coup in 1962, and the other is the popular revolution which began in February 2011 as a call by the people of Libya for political reforms, that resulted in a call for regime change.

The competition between the two is complicated by the US and Europe’s desire to capitalize on the present unrest in Libya and to use it as an opportunity to possibly occupy Libya with the hope of owning and controlling Libya’s oil. A UN resolution, calling for a no fly zone over Libya, unleashed Western allied troops to initiate what almost immediately turned into an all-out war on Qaddafi’s army of mercenaries, and equipment such as tanks and fighter jets. The mercenaries had been provided by other Arab and African governments who united behind Qaddafi to put down the popular Libyan revolution with brutal violence, resulting in the armed conflict we see today.
Following Hosni Mubarak’s removal from office in Egypt, many in the world wondered which Muslim majority Arab country would be next to experience a popular revolution. People suspected that there would be other revolutions in the region, since it had been made clear by protesters that their actions were based upon a common situation, shared by many of the citizens of the Arab Muslim world. It didn’t seem possible that only one group or population of people would throw of the shackles of repressive and violent governments, while others in close proximity would resign themselves to the status quo. Also, since both Egypt and Tunisia had accomplished regime change without taking up arms against their government, it made it that much easier for the average person to imagine that they could do the same.'

Shortly after the people of Libya began their peaceful protest, they came under attack by the Qaddafi regime. It was reported that those attacking the Libyan people were mercenaries from African countries, who had been recruited and facilitated by countries such as Algeria and even Syria. In one incident, a Libyan plane was shot down by revolutionaries and the pilot was carrying Syrian identification.

After several military and diplomatic defections, the Libyan people who are now referred to as the rebels, made many gains against the regime, capturing the eastern provinces, and moving towards the capital Tripoli with the intent to perhaps pressure Qaddafi into surrendering power and going into exile, thereby ending the initial stage of the revolution, which is to force the presiding regime from power. There were several moves taken by Qaddafi that stalled this process and put Libya on track for not only regime change, but also for possible invasion by a NATO led coalition of western powers, including France, the US, Britain, Canada and some countries from the Netherlands.

As the revolutionaries began to gain control over more and more of Libya’s villages in route to Tripoli, it was reported that Moammar Qaddafi’s son Saif Al Islam, sent an emissary to Israel to ask for assistance. Reportedly, Israel agreed to send military advisors and also some special troops to assist Qaddafi in his bid to put down the revolution. Later, it was reported that Qaddafi had sent emissaries to the European capitals, seeking military assistance, including weaponry. Shortly after those reports surfaced, videos were placed on youtube showing that Israeli manufactured weapons had been provided to Qaddafi, along with troops and military advisers.
Today we learned that the US and NATO are considering a ground invasion of Libya, and that US President Barack Obama has sanctioned the use of drones in Libya.

Those of us who watched closely the US led invasion of Iraq and all of the preparation that went into that invasion, see very stark similarities between that run up to an all-out invasion, war and occupation, and the present situation in Libya.

Prior to the invasion of Iraq there was a call to intervene on behalf of Kurds and Shia supposedly suffering tremendously under a barbaric Hussein regime that had gone so far as to use chemical weapons against its own people. No one bothered to mention that the Hussein had been given biological weapons by the US. When that failed to get as much support for war as was hoped, “the weapons of mass destruction in the hands of an unpredictable tyrant” did the job. With no real proof that Huseein had nuclear or biological or chemical weapons program of any type, an invasion of Iraq took place, resulting the deaths of more than 4 million people, and no weapons of mass destruction, as they came to be called, were ever found. Those who had argued that coalition forces would be treated and liberators of the oppressed peoples of Iraq, and who had said that it would be a quick regime change and a cake walk were all proven wrong. Iraq became a 7 year war of attrition that has left nothing but death and destruction in its wake.

Today we see the same tactics and rhetoric being employed to justify an invasion of Libya. Qaddafi like Hussein before him is being portrayed in the media as a madman who is holding the world’s economies hostage to threats of destroying oil refineries and refusing to pump oil, thereby driving up the cost of oil. He has been charged with carrying out massacres against his own people and using banned weapons against them such as cluster bombs. He is being called insane and delusional due to his insistence that Libyans have been exposed to water containing hallucinogens and other drugs. He claimed that Al Qadea was attempting to establish an Islamic Republic Libya and that threatened to fight against this effort to his last drop of blood. Hussien rejected the Western accusation that Al Qadea terrorist were operating in Iraq, and that they had any relationship with the government or people of Iraq. So in this respect, the two men differed. Hussein did everything in his power to protect Iraq from being a target in the so called war on terrorism, while Qaddafi seems to have said everything he could to make sure that Libya would become a casualty of the West’s war on Islam carried out under the banner of war on terrorism. The two men also enjoyed varying degrees of popular admiration and respect among Muslims and Arabs due to their supposed support for the Palestinian people and their struggle to end the illegal Israeli occupation of their lands.

Along with similarities in the rhetoric employed by the Western powers to justify war on Libya, there are also some pretty glaring military similarities.

Prior to the actual invasion and subsequent war in Iraq, the US had established a no fly zone over Iraq and imposed economic and military sanctions. This prevented Iraq from being able to purchase weapons, or to purchase foods, etc. thereby creating a humanitarian crisis which became the cause for UN intervention, and programs on the ground, which translates very often into intelligence gathering. The US also routinely targeted Iraq for attacks, bringing down its jets, destroying military installations and destroying its radar and other defense mechanisms. This all served to make the invasion very easy since there was no radar, very few fighter jets to mount counter attacks, and the people had been physically weakened and morally broken by years of economic sanctions and a previously devastating war known as Desert Storm that was also substantiated by false information and false claims against Iraq related to an Iraqi military invasion of disputed land claimed by both Iraq and Kuwait, that had been tacitly approved by the US.

Now Libya has been prepared for invasion. Under the dame guise of providing humanitarian assistance a no fly zone has been established and Libya’s military weakened. It is important to note the military is only being weakened and not destroyed. This was the same with the Iraqi military. Even after the invasion, Iraq’s military did not really engage the coalition forces on the ground, and were in fact allowed to disband, carrying their weapons with them. Why is this important? It is important since later, after the invasion was complete and the occupation underway, the war of attrition that was to take place in Iraq along with the destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure, was carried to a great extent as internecine violence, carried out as a sectarian war, Sunni against Shia, and led by guess who? Al Qadea…of course. At least for a time, it seems that Iraq’s military was transformed into Al Qadea just long enough to kill enough Iraqis, Sunni and Shia, while creating a competition for US approval and also for money being doled out by the US military on the ground to buy loyalty from various tribes and factions that created political paralysis in the country that prevented the formation of an independent and fully representative and legitimate Iraqi government.

Looking now at the situation as it develops in Libya, we can see that Libya is possibly being prepared for a similar experience. The UN passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a no fly zone and arms embargo. The UN has followed up with a call for UN sponsored humanitarian projects to assist refugees. Libya’s army is being weakened and not destroyed, while its ability to strike back at coalition forces has been eliminated. Again the coalition forces have positioned themselves politically and militarily as being on the side of the people, but in respect to Libya, they are pretending to be neutral in respect to regime change. They did learn a few lessons from their experience in Iraq that they want to avoid in Libya. The UN’s refusal to recognize an interim Libyan government shows that they are waiting to see who will prevail before offering fealty to any potential leader.

If these observations are indications of what is to be expected in Libya, they suggest that we will see a coalition invasion and occupation. We are also likely to see the war between the Qaddafi faction and the opposition get more intense as coalition forces on the ground play both sides, one against another, creating civil war and chaos that will result in UN intervention that will put UN peacekeepers on the ground and the country split between East and West, just as Somalia, Sudan, Iraq and Palestine have been divided, with the oil and resource rich territory being where the Western support will be found. Whichever faction is able to capture and hold the oil rich regions that will be the faction, who in the end will enjoy Western support. If the Western powers decide that they can work with Saif Al Islam, there is also a chance that they will eliminate his father and put him in power, and utilize the Libyan army, what is left of it, along with more AU mercenaries to eliminate the opposition and to kill the rebels and those who supported the opposition.

The only way to avoid this scenario is for a fourth player to enter. It was Edmund Burke in his brilliant writings on the French Revolution (Reflections on the French Revolution) who made the brilliant observation, that whenever two powers become locked in conflict, and a third player enters the situation, all power will devolve into the hands of the third player, which is in this instance and all of the war on terrorism situations, is a US led coalition of Western powers. Since the two opposing factions are not going to reconcile and unite against the coalition, sparing Libya an Iraqi like experience, another interest must be identified and allowed to operate. In my opinion, that fourth interest will be the Islamic movement.

Should Islamic movement leaders recognize the strategic importance of Libya and come to understand how the fall of Libya into the hands of a US/Israeli puppet such as Saif Al Islam Qaddafi and NATO would destabilize the region while strengthening Israel, they will enter this situation and change the dynamic completely.

Why Wiki leaks

2010-12-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

Anisa Abd el Fattah

As a result of downloading and sharing with various news outlets, highly sensitive and sometimes classified information never made public before, an organization known as Wikileaks has been catapulted onto the front pages of every major newspaper in the world. As a result, people everywhere are asking who is behind the Wikileaks operation and why Wiki is leaking.

These are good questions considering that the organization seems to have access not only to extremely sensitive US government defense files, but also diplomatic cables between embassies and secret information belonging to banks and powerful corporations. Most government and bank employees don’t have access to this type of information, which makes it clear that Wikileaks activists are not simply disgruntled government or bank employees as some might suspect, just having a good time embarrassing and frustrating the US government and major banks. It’s also pretty clear that Wikileaks is not an organization that is being energized by a desire for publicity and or notoriety, since it seems that only its founder and leader, Julian Assange is recognizable.

Questions that seek to ascertain if indeed Wikileaks is a criminal enterprise seem to have taken a backseat to a more philosophical conversation that focuses mostly on the morality of what Wikileaks does. That conversation is saturated with somewhat esoteric idealism that pits the small and anonymous Wikileaks in opposition to a government and elite behemoth that is wrapped in unnecessary secrecy. In this respect, it is the secrecy itself that is the target and the details of what is actually being leaked, and its potentially negative impact is seen as merely collateral damage in a war being fought for greater transparency. Wikileaks describes itself in such terms saying on its website:

"Wikileaks is a non profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish information of ethical, political and historical significance, while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices."

Wikileaks heads one of its various websites with a banner saying, “Keep us strong, help Wikileaks keep governments open.”

On the other side of the conversation are those who say that Wikileaks is a criminal outfit that is carrying out cyber warfare against the United States. In a USA Today article, (Wikileaks actions: An act of cyber war?) former State Department official under the Bush administration, Christian Whiton said;

“Assaulting the company electronically is something worth trying…it buys you time to go after the organization in other ways.” According to the article, Whiton believes that Wikileaks is a “foreign organization trying to impede US policy.” [1]

US Attorney General Eric Holder has said that Wikileaks is the subject of an “active and ongoing criminal investigation.” This statement is contextualized by Holder’s earlier statement, where he said, “To the extent that we can find anybody involved in the breaking of America law, who put at risk the assets and the people I have described…” [2]

Between these two opinions of Wikileaks in respect to its motives, there still lies the question of Wikileaks criminality. To most observers it is obvious that Wikileaks is not an overtly criminal operation. There does not seem to be any statute that criminalizes publishing sensitive information that has been censored to protect the names of US assets and to censor other information that might be deemed harmful to US interests. According to The New York Times and other news outlets that actually published the information, all information deemed harmful to US interests and assets was redacted.

On December 8th, 2010 National Public Radio,(NPR) aired a program called Fresh Air, which is hosted by Terry Goss. Goss interviewed the New York Time’s Washington Correspondent David Sanger. Sanger makes it clear in the interview that the New York Times acted in cooperation with the US government to insure that no Wikileaks information was released that would harm US interests in any significant way.

An online journal known as Global Research.ca published a transcript of the Sanger interview. In the introduction to the transcript, Michael Chossodovsky, the sites founder and editor wrote the following observations:

"The following transcript points to the involvement of the corporate media including the New York Times in the Wikileaks project. How do we interpret this relationship? The corporate media is the source of disinformation and at the same time it is supporting "transparency" and truth in media. David E. Sanger, Washington Correspondent of the New York Times, worked closely with Wikileaks. He was involved in the distribution, editing and dissemination of the leaked documents. Sanger is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Aspen Strategy Group together with Madeleine K. Albright, Richard Hass, R Talbott, Robert.B. Zoellick (president of the World Bank), and Philip Zelikow (formerly executive director of the 9/11 Commission).

We have highlighted a number of important statements in the first part of this interview, which confirm that the NYT has not only been involved in the selection and redacting of the Wikileaks documents, it has undertaken these activities in consultation with the US government.

Unquestionably the released documents constitute an important data bank in their own right. The question is who controls and oversees the selection, distribution and editing of the released documents to the broader public. What interests are being served?"[3]

Along with those who don't feel that Wikileaks is a criminal enterprise, and that Wikileaks in fact works in cooperation with the US government, there are also those who feel that Wikileaks has been used by the Israeli government to leak information that actually facilitates Israel’s foreign policy objectives that include a US war with Iran.

In an article published by World Bulletin, (Wikileaks-The Tel Aviv Connection) author Jeff Gates wrote:

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Con me consistently for six decades and the relationship is over, as is Israel’s credibility as a legitimate nation state. Tel Aviv knows this, but what can the Zionist state do about it? Answer: Wikileaks. Why now? Misdirection!" [4]

In Gate’s opinion, Wikileaks is possibly a Mossad operation. He said,”

"Any credible forensics would start by asking: “To what benefit?” Then look to the means, motive and opportunity plus the presence of stable nation-state intelligence inside the US. Other than Israel, who else is a credible candidate? Notice how quickly Israel’s role in the peace process vanished from the news. Now, its Iran, Iran, Iran. To whose benefit? Tel Aviv knows that the phony intelligence on Iraq leads to those skilled at waging war “by way of deception” the Mossad." [5]

Gates goes on to say: “Wikileaks are noteworthy for what’s missing: the absence of any material damaging to Israel goals. But still, Tel Aviv faces an unprecedented peril: transparency. Americans know they were duped. And Israel rightly fears that Americans will soon realize by whom.”

In the most recent development, US Senator Joseph Lieberman along with Senator Diane Feinstein, is seeking to have Wikileaks founder Julian Assange prosecuted under an antiquated and highly controversial law known as the Espionage Act. Sounding the alarm on this approach in an article published by the Huffington Post (Espionage Act: How the Government Can Engage in Serious Aggression Against the People of the United States, Dec.10, 2010) writer Naomi Wolf wrote,

"Presidential candidate Eugene Debs received a ten-year prison sentence in 1918 under the Espionage Act for daring to read the First Amendment in public. The roundup of ordinary citizens -- charged with the Espionage Act -- who were jailed for daring to criticize the government, was so effective in deterring others from speaking up that the Act silenced dissent in this country for a decade. In the wake of this traumatic history, it was left untouched -- until those who wish the same outcome began to try to reanimate it again starting five years ago, and once again, now. Seeing the Espionage Act rise up again is, for anyone who knows a thing about it, like seeing the end of a horror movie in which the zombie that has enslaved the village just won't die."[6]

It is no secret that for years Joseph Lieberman has sought some way to criminalize free speech in respect to a citizen’s right to criticize the government and government allies, most specifically Israel. There have also been rumors that one of the uses that Israel has for Wikileaks is to create a crisis and a cause for emergency measures to be put in place that would supposedly stop the leaks and the danger they allegedly represent to the US government and its interest requiring internet censorship. Now it seems that it might also be used to revive an ancient law, antiquated mostly due to its blatant violation of the US Constitution’s first amendment.

Also, none of us are likely to ever forget former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel’s’ remark that no crisis should ever go unexploited. In respect to the Wikileaks leaks, it seems that for whatever reason Wiki leaks, its leaks have served more than the cause of transparency.

[1] USA Today, Wikileaks actions: An act of cyberwar? http:/www.usatoday.com/clearprint/?1292293292303

[2] Jonathan M. Seidl, “AG Holder says Wikileaks under criminal investigation” www.theblaze.com/ stories/holder-says-wikileaks-under-criminal-investigation/

[3] PBS Interview: “The Redacting and Selection of Wikileaks documents by the Corporate Media”, cited at Global Research; www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?content=viewArticles&codes=20101212articleID=22378

[4] http:/www.worldbulliten.net.news/_print .php?id=66903

[5] Ibid.

[6]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/post_1394_b_795001.html

NAMAW Muslim 2010 Voters Guide

2010-10-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

"Change it with your hands...vote!"

As Salaamu Alaikum!

In our effort to ensure Muslim representation in the US political process, we are issuing this 2010 election voter's guide.

The purpose of this guide is simply to offer some advice as to which candidates, in the most important races should be considered by Muslims as worthy of our vote. We must all decide on our own, according to our own consciences which candidates we will vote for. Still, we must also keep in mind the criteria for judgment that God has taught us in the Qur'an and through the prophet Muhammad's sunnah or way of life.

Over the past months leading up to this election, Muslims as a community who exist within the larger community of American citizens, were subjected to a hellish campaign of hatred and demonization of our community, our religion and our beliefs. Gross misrepresentations of Islam, and horrible lies about Muslim attitudes towards the US and non Muslims were allowed to be aired across mainstream media airwaves with little or no concern for the dangerous climate that was being created, leading to acts of violence against Muslims and destruction and desecration of Mosques.

There are those who will look at these events and say that there is nothing that we can do to prevent ignorant and hate filled people from saying and doing such evil things, and desiring harm for Muslim. We disagree and feel that when Muslims speak the truth upon every opportunity, falsehood flees. The Qur'an teaches us that when truth arrives, falsehood flees, because it is the nature of falsehood to be weak and and when confronted with the truth, to run and hide its ugly face. We must always take every opportunity to speak the truth without ambiguity.

The political campaign season, which is now near its end, is a wonderful time and opportunity to speak out about the things that are important to our community, and also for our country. It is a great time for us to speak to our neighbors and colleagues, friends and associates about Islam and about the things we believe are best for our country. We cannot seclude ourselves. We are Americans, and we must live and coexist as part of the American society, even if we don't like everything about the society.

Having said that, it is important for us to also say that the only way to change the things we don't like about our government and society is to vote. In our representative republic, we make our voices heard at the ballot box. This is why it is essential that we vote and that we vote according to a set of priorities, and based upon what we believe.

We have seen and heard enough over the past two years since the Obama election to understand very clearly what is at stake for Muslims in the United States and for our country in this election cycle.

Our first priority is the survival of our community, our safety and our rights. Our 1st amendment right to choose our faith, to practice our faith openly without fear of government or any other type of reprisal are key issues for us. The safety of our children and the rights of Muslim women to wear the Islamic attire if they choose and to feel safe and secure in their person are also important priorities for us.

There are many candidates who are running for election under the guise of being strict Constitutionalists. They make this claim, yet they are a very dangerous threat to our Constitution and the rights of Muslims. Some are calling for the repeal of the 14th amendment, an amendment that guarantees equal protection under the law for every citizen, not just for some.

Many of us might remember that US Senator Joseph Lieberman suggested that US citizens should be stripped of citizenship and deported for criticizing Israel. The 14th amendment stood in his way. It says:

"Persons born or naturalized in the US and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and the states wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the US, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of the law, nor deny to any person its jurisdiction equal protection under the law."

This is only one example of how deceptive , devious and cunning Zionists in the US are, and to what extent they are willing to go to deprive US citizens of rights, hoping to cement their dominance in our society and to silence all dissent. Whereas it is only one example, it is not the only threat to our rights represented by the Tea Party and other so called Constitutionalists who are calling for amending the US Constitution to suit their extreme and fanatical religious and political views. Another so called Tea Party candidate competing for a seat in the US Senate representing the state of Delaware, said in a debate that the US Constitution does not prevent the establishment of a national religion, nor prohibit preferential treatement of any religion over others. Others want to curtail free speech rights hoping to criminalize dissent.

It is our opinion, and our advice to Muslims to avoid , and do not vote for any Tea Party candidates, and only those moderate Republicans that we endorse. It is not enough to merely "not" vote for a candidate. We must vote "for" those who are running against them. In some instances this will be a vote for the lesser of two evils. This is permissible in Islam, especially when the very survival of our community is at stake.

We also advise Muslims to not be distracted by the so called culture war issues such as gay marriage, abortion, prayer in schools, etc. Republicans are exploiting these issues hoping to get what they call the moral vote. We are moral voters. Muslims are moral voters with priorities. In this election cycle, culture war issues are not our priority. The survival of our community and our Constitutional rights are our priority. Issues like gay marriage and abortion, etc., will increasingly be resolved at the state level, so if you are interested in these issues, work in your local communities to educate, but do not throw away your important vote in this election, thinking your vote will help to resolve these issues, because it wont.

We also ask that you help us to circulate this guide to Muslims throughout the US via e-mail, or by printing and distributing at Muslim gatherings, family gatherings, etc.

The following endorsements represent our guidance in respect to a few key states where candidates are running that we feel threaten our community's rights, and who we feel are wrong for our country. If you live in the states and districts where these candidates are running, we suggest that you do not vote for any Tea Party candidate and that you vote for the candidates we have endorsed. May Allah help us, guide us and protect us, and forgive us for our sins and imperfections.

Candidates running for US Senate that we endorse
Alaska Senate race we endorse write in candidate Lisa Murkowski

Arizona Senate race we endorse Rodney Glassman

California Senate race we endorse Carly Fiorina

Colorado Senate race we endorse Michael Bennet

Delaware Senate race we endorse Chris Coons

Florida Senate race we endorse Charlie Crist

Kentucky Senate race we endorse Jack Conway

Nevada Senate race we endorse Harry Reid

Ohio Senate race we endorse Rob Portman

Pennsylvania Senate race we endorse Joe Sestak

Wisconsin Senate race we endorse Russ Feingold

Candidates running for US House of Representatives
Minnesota race for House of Representatives we endorse Michael Cavlan

North Carolina race for House of Representatives we endorse Mike McIntyre

Ohio race for House of Representatives we endorse Mary J. Kilroy

Pennsylvania race for House of Representatives we endorse Patrick Murphy and Paul Kanjorski

Candidates running for Governor
Arizona's gubernatorial race we endorse Terry Goddard

California gubernatorial race we endorse Jerry Brown

Colorado gubernatorial race we endorse John Hickenlooper

Illinois gubernatorial race we endorse Pat Quinn

New York gubernatorial race we endorse Andrew Cuomo

Ohio gubernatorial race we endorse Ted Strickland

Pennsylvania gubernatorial race we endorse Dan Oronato

Contact Us

namaw01@gmail.com

The Truth About Islamophobia in the United States

2010-10-07T01:40:00.000-07:00

The sudden upsurge in hatred towards Muslims and Islam in the US, known as Islamophobia is not something that is happening by accident. It has been nine years since the horrible and criminal attacks of 9/11. Instead of feelings towards Muslims getting better as time goes by, according to US mainstream and alternative media, things are getting worse for Muslims in the US. This puzzling situation should cause us all to ask ourselves why? Is it strange that 9 years of war has not satisfied the desire for revenge, and that time has not healed the psychological wounds created by 9/11?

Is it possible that some special interest within the US does not want healing, and decreasing support for the so the called war on terrorism? We might also ask ourselves if there might be people in the US, who want the war on terrorism to include a war on US Muslims, hoping that such a war might lead to genocide here in the US similar to the genocide that took place in Nazi Germany.

The voices of those instigating hatred against Muslims in the US are harsh and hateful. One would never imagine that such words would ever be spoken publicly by Congressmen and women and other elected officials such as governors, and also political candidates. These are the people we would expect would be working hard to keep the country united and to demand that the US Constitution be upheld, and its rights extended to every citizen, and its principles preserved and protected. It would also seem that a government that sincerely felt that 8 or 9 million of its citizens were a threat to its existence, would not be acting in a way to incite anger and hatred, and especially not in a way that would provoke violence, unless violence is exactly what it hopes to provoke.

Just as things didn’t seem to add up in respect to the surge in anti-Muslim sentiment in Switzerland that led to a Minaret ban, when less than 1/3 of the population is Muslim, and those Muslims are mostly secular, the upsurge in fear and hatred of Muslims in the US is equally confusing. US Muslims represent one of the best educated and affluent religious communities within the United States and there is almost no crime committed by US Muslims. Can we avoid asking if these positive attributes might be the very reason that Muslims are the targets of what seems to be a very well orchestrated effort to demonize and dehumanize American Muslims? American history is ripe with examples of ethnic conflict that originated from feelings of envy, and fear of political and economic competition experienced by in-groups, in respect to newly arrived out groups.

The only way to truly understand what is creating Islamophobia in the US, is to look at what has been going on in the US from various perspectives since 9/11. Has the government acted to help its citizens recover from the trauma? Has the government and others worked to heal the society and bring the people together, or have they done the opposite? Is it possible that leaders of the US society are oblivious to what is needed to end or at least to curtail Islamophobia and are they doing enough? If not, why would a country allow hate speech to foment hatred and demonization of certain groups, knowing the documented relationship between hate speech and violence? These are some of the questions this article will seek to answer.

Professor Stevan E. Hobfoll, Ph.D., conducted a study hoping to determine how societies recover from traumatic events. He pulled together experts and clinicians from around the world, in the various fields of psychiatry that deal with stress, fear and anxiety. According to a review of the book written by Professor Hobfall and his colleagues on the topic, “the panel reviewed existing research, and then determined five key principles of effective mass trauma mental health care, which involves promoting a sense of safety, calm, a sense of being able to solve problems for oneself or as part of a group, and connectedness to social support and help.”

Looking at this list of five principles for recovery, it becomes extremely apparent that none of these government officials or candidates was employing the principles. In fact, based upon what they said, and the media sensationalism that resulted from their remarks, it might appear that the five principles were in fact being deliberately ignored, assuming that these officials and the media are familiar with these, or similar principles. Even if not familiar with these exact principles, it seems that any intelligent person would realize that hate speech incites hatred and violence.

In another important study on the relationship between hate speech and violence, findings were written by the authors, suggesting that hate speech is a very effective tool when used by governments and groups to incite ethnic tensions hoping to polarize societies and to cause genocides and violence. They wrote:

"The most drastic and well-known example of hate speech communicated through the media that has brought world-wide attention to the phenomenon in this region was disseminated by the radio station Radio T´el´evision Mille Collines (RTLM) during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.The broadcasts of this government-owned station, which incited the Hutu majority to murder Tutsis and opponents of the regime, are commonly recognized as having played a major role in this genocide (des Forges 1999;Gourevitch 1998).

Furthermore, hate radio has continued to exist even after the genocide, and has resulted in further conflict across borders. After Rwandan Patriotic Front troops succeeded in driving the genocidal government forces out of the capital of Rwanda in July 1994, RTLM used mobile radio transmitters to broadcast disinformation from inside the French-controlled zone on the border between Rwanda and Zaire (now DRC). This caused millions of Hutus to flee toward refugee camps, where they could be recruited as freedom fighters. Hutu extremists then began to stage raids into Rwanda from Congolese territory. Thereby, the ground for future conflict and war between Rwanda and the DRC was created, which discord continues to have a negative impact on the relations between the two countries and the lives of people (Gourevitch 1999; Nzongola-Ntalaja 2003).

In sum, hate speech and hate media have a historical and symbolic meaning in the region, and have played a crucial role in violent conflicts both between and within states. Within the DRC, the effects of hate speech have not been as drastic as in its neighboring country Rwanda. Nevertheless, hate media has been and is very present here as well, and continues to play a destructive role in the political events of the country. During the civil war in the Congo, which took place in 1998-2003 and caused four million deaths due to fighting and disease, hate propaganda was used, for example, in the eastern part of the country. Here it fueled ethnic conflict, for example between Hema and Lendu, two ethnic groups in the Ituri region. Based on the classification of dehumanizing speech as one of eight stages leading to genocide (Genocide Watch a), the occurrence of hate speech was among the factors that led international NGOs to warn against a potential genocide in the region (Genocide Watch b). "

When we compare the hate speech being made public through US mainstream media and printed in US news papers across the country, it seems apparent that not only were the five principles for healing US society after 9/11 ignored, but a campaign of hate speech was carried out by US politicians and their supporters that could lead to polarization of US society, violence and even genocide.

Some observers have suggested that the anti-Muslim hate speech campaign was initiated with the cooperation of the US government and media, for the purpose of perpetuating more hatred of Muslims based upon accusations that Muslims attacked the US on 9/11. They argue that such hatred must be continuously incited to continue support for the so called war on terrorism, and for Congressional approval of billions of tax payer dollars needed to pay for the wars. One such observer, Diana Ralph, Ph.D., wrote in an article entitled; “Islamophobia and the War on Terror, the Continuing Pretext for US Imperial Conquest” the following:

"The 9-11 attacks were the pretext which sold the myth of evil Muslim terrorists imminently threatening Americans. That tale allowed the Cheney-led members of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) to implement their 1990 DPG plan for world control. The “war on terror” has nothing to do with protecting the U.S. and world’s people from “terrorists”, and everything to do with securing the American empire abroad and muzzling democracy and human rights at home. Designed to inspire popular support for U.S. wars of world conquest, it is modeled on Islamophobic stereotypes, policies, and political structures developed by the Israeli Likkud and Bush Sr. since 1979."

There are others who argue that in fact the purpose of the hate speech that has created the phenomenon known as Islamophobia is aimed at provoking US Muslims to carry out acts of violence that would ignite a Muslim genocide here in the US, similar the genocide carried out Hitler against what were deemed undesirables and internal threats to the Third Reich. In an article written by Paul Kivel a US blogger writing on the issue of Christian hegemony, Kivel opines that Islamophobia is in fact created by white Christians to demonize Muslims, because they want to incite hatred and possible violence against Muslims. Interestingly, he also wrote that Islamophobia also hurts the US. He wrote:

"Islamophobia justifies systemic and institutionalized discrimination and violence against Muslims in the United States and by the U.S. throughout the world. Just as with racial profiling and discrimination directed against other groups, Islamophobia threatens our collective safety when resources are selectively and inappropriately directed at specific communities. It threatens our civil and religious liberties when one group is singled out as not entitled to constitutionally guaranteed rights. It also curtails our freedom when surveillance and harassment are legally sanctioned under the justification that the danger of some group is so great that we must limit our civil rights in order to prevent attack. When we speak out and stand strong as allies to the Muslim community we challenge violence and injustice, increase our safety and freedom, and challenge age-old Christian stereotypes and myths. We also uphold our legal rights to freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom from discrimination and attack."

Whatever the cause or current purpose of the growing Islamophobia in the US might be, we can trace its beginning back before 9/11. We can trace the anti-Muslim hate speech to its beginnings with Steven Emerson, the anti Muslim polemicist who wrote his Master’s thesis at Brown University on the Nazi’s use of propaganda to foment hatred against Jews, which he argued led to the Holocaust.

We can trace it back to his colleague Daniel Pipes, who coined the term Islamism, and used that create to create something he called political Islam, and put in opposition, and in contrast to Islam the religion. We can also trace it back to people like Michael Horowitz who said that the Muslims must be pushed back to the Middle Ages and prevented from finding comfort and protection under the laws of the United States.

The truth about Islamophobia, is that it is aimed at dehumanizing and demonizing Muslims for many purposes, the most sinister of which is possibly to create a political climate in which the mass murder of Muslims, including Muslims in the US, is not only deemed a necessary evil, but is also justified as the only means by which to save what they claim is US Christian culture here in the US, and also the only way to insure that Jews can establish and life peacefully in a racist Jewish Only state in Palestine. While we know these claims are not true, we must also acknowledge that truth, treachery and evil never travel together. Chattel slavery was justified by believers in these same ideas in this same way, as were the Crusades, the Inquisition and also the Holocaust.

We must demand that our government and media end their collaboration in the creation of Islamophobia and we must not be silent and we must respond to the many lies, and anti-Muslim and also anti-Islam hate speech that is so prevalent in our media. If we fail to stop this now, we already know that it will not stop until homosexuals, the poor, the elderly, and the chronically ill and disabled will also become targets of public hatred and hysteria created by the likes of the present day Islamophobes and their enablers and supporters.

NAMAW calls for new 9/11 investigation

2010-09-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

US Muslim women's Association says Muslims have been unjustly scapegoated and calls for new independent investigation of 9/11.

In an attempt to set the record straight and to end false and unproven allegations that it was Muslims who planned and carried out the devastating and criminal attacks on the World Trade Center in NY City, and the Pentagon in Washington DC, on September 11, 2001, a national Muslim Women's organization will provide proof during an international radio broadcast, that Muslims did not carry out those attacks.

On September 11, 2010 at 10:00am, EST, The National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) will issue a statement via an international radio broadcast, where they will provide proof that Muslims did not attack the US on 9/11. The program can be accessed at poweroftruthradio.com.

"This is our humble effort to free Muslims from the unfair and unjust stigma that has been placed upon us by those who rushed to judgment after 9/11, and wrongly blamed Muslims and Islam for the attacks", says NAMAW founder and Chairwoman Anisa Abd el Fattah. "Since that time numerous experts in the fields of aviation, aeronautics, demolitions, architects, engineers and other scientists, and first responders have compiled an impressive body of proof, showing clearly that Muslims did not attack the US on 9/11, or at any other time. Abd el Fattah said further, that "We hope to provide some of that evidence for our listeners consideration, and also to read some of the testimonies presented by military experts, including a former NATO General and presidential candidate, calling for a new investigation based upon some of the same evidence we will present."

Along with declaring Muslim innocence based upon scientific proof that creates a reasonable doubt as to the truthfulness of the official 9/11 report, NAMAW will call for a new and independent investigation, and also for an apology and reparations to the families of the nearly 5 million Muslims killed in the so called war on terrorism launched in revenge for 9/11. To date 5 Muslim countries have been invaded, attacked and occupied as a result of 9/11 . NAMAW hopes that this action will end the violence and hatred against Muslims that resulted from the 9/11 attacks, the false charges and continued scapegoating of Muslims.

Radio Presentation: Reasonable Doubt: How we Know Muslims Did Not Attack the US on 9/11
When: September 11th, 2010
Time: 10:00am EST
Where: poweroftruthradio.com

For more information contact poweroftruthradio.com at www.poweroftruthradio.com
1-800-246-3038

-END-

Uniting Again For Peace: It's time to establish a war crimes tribunal in the United States

2010-08-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

By Anisa Abd el Fattah

“Where the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, the General Assembly shall seize itself of the matter.” UN Resolution 377 (v).

Since the inception of the US led international war on terrorism in 2002, many questions have been raised in respect to the legality of the war, its motive, and also the tactics employed in the war. Perhaps one of the most controversial of these tactics has been the use of torture.

Arguably, one of the best definitions of torture for those interested in a legal, and not a political definition, is provided in the book, Torture, the United States and the Laws of War, written by Lionel Beehner.

In chapters 7 and 8 of the book, Beehner asks, “How is torture defined in international law?” and “Do US interrogation techniques qualify as torture?” He answers both questions saying:

Torture, as defined by Article 1 of the 1984 Convention Against Torture, is the “cruel, inhumane, or degrading” infliction of severe pain or suffering, physical or mental, on a prisoner to obtain information or a confession, or to mete out a punishment for a suspected crime. The United States ratified the treaty in 1994 but took a reservation to the convention’s addendum on the definition of torture, deferring to the U.S. Bill of Rights’ Eighth Amendment, which outlaws cruel and unusual punishment. However, the 1980 court case Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, in which a Paraguayan citizen won a suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals’ Second Circuit against a former Paraguayan police officer, established that torture falls under the realm of customary international law—thus, all countries, whether party to the Torture Convention or not, must abide. Further, the suit found that torturers become, “like the pirate and slave trader before him—hostis humani generis, an enemy of mankind.” Other agreements that outline similar definitions of torture include the Geneva Conventions and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
A leaked 2004 report by CIA inspector general John Helgerson found that several of the interrogation techniques approved by the agency may violate some of the provisions of the Convention on Torture. Human-rights groups charge the United States has tried to narrow the definition of torture to include only those interrogation techniques that result in severe harm to a bodily organ. Thus, they argue that the use of “waterboarding”—when a detainee is strapped down, forced underwater, and made to believe he is drowning—or the use of sleep deprivation would not legally fall under the definition of torture. What the Bush administration essentially did was “rip up the rulebook as far as military interrogators were concerned, telling them that the decades-old rules of the Army interrogation manual didn’t apply,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, in an April 14 Council event on the laws of war.

In USC: 18, Part I. Chapter 113C:2340 torture is defined somewhat differently. US law makes an exception for pain and suffering “incidental to lawful sanctions.” Other than this exception, the US law clearly incorporates the principles and meaning of torture explaining and defining exactly what torture is. !8 USC: 2340 says the following:

As used in this chapter—
(1) “torture” means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;
(2) “severe mental pain or suffering” means the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from—
(A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering;
(B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality;
(C) the threat of imminent death; or
(D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality; and
(3) “United States” means the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the commonwealths, territories, and possessions of the United States.

In 2005, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) provided its own definition of torture in a series of statements posted to its website. According to Boston Globe columnists, Jeffery Smith and Dan Eggen in the article, “US revises definition of torture” (Boston Globe, Jan. 1, 2005) “ the statements reject a previous statement that only ''organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death" constitute torture punishable by law.” They wrote that the DOJ definition, “also drops an attempt in the earlier version to rule that harmful acts not specifically intended to cause severe pain and suffering might be legal, and to define ''specific intent."

Without question, both domestic US law and international law prohibit the use of torture. Investigations conducted by the US military, and also statements made by various Bush administration officials, and testimony given in military courts by lower level military personnel who were charged and convicted of crimes associated with torture, make it clear that water boarding and other forms of torture have been employed by the United States, with the knowledge and approval of officials in our government. The challenge facing the international community in response to this situation is not how to determine whether or not torture took place, but how to bring those to justice who were in any way involved in these repeated violations.

Brief history of Ad Hoc Tribunals and Special Courts and the rules, laws and resolutions establishing such courts and tribunals.

In an essay entitled Courts and Tribunals, Professor Charles Garraway, a member of the faculty at the International Institute of International Law in San Remo Italy, and a contributor to The International Criminal Court: Elements of Crimes and Rules of Procedure and Evidence (Ed. Ray Lee), observed that “ad hoc tribunals have compulsory jurisdiction with primacy over domestic state courts that are the result of national legislation that gives domestic courts jurisdiction over the Rome Statute.” He said that “the ICC only has jurisdiction when state courts with jurisdiction are either unwilling or unable to act,” and “the onus is therefore placed upon national courts to take responsibility.”

Prior to the establishment of the International Criminal Court and the adoption of its Rome Statute, the UN Security Council (UNSC) was the primary international body charged with the responsibility to adjudicate alleged war crimes under international law.

The UN Security Council was the first to establish ad hoc tribunals to try those responsible for war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and did so based strongly on the precedent set in Nuremberg.
In 1993, prior to the establishment of the ICC, the UNSC set up tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. It asserted authority to set up the tribunals under UN Charter, Article 41, which says,

"The Security Council may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force, are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures. These may include complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations."

The UNSC has also established ad hoc tribunals through treaties with national governments. These tribunals are referred to as
Special Courts. An example of a Special Court established by treaty is the Court set up in 2002 to address crimes committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone. This court was distinguished by a unique arrangement of both international and domestic judges with jurisdiction over both international and domestic crimes.

This Special Court was also distinguished by its mandate, which granted the hybrid court legitimacy based upon a precedent created by the UN in Rwanda, which allowed the UN to assert jurisdiction jointly with a national government over crimes committed in non international armed conflicts. Similar hybrid courts have subsequently been set up in East Timor, Iraq and Kosovo.

When the UNSC is unable, or unwilling to act in pursuit of justice and peace for any reason, the UN General Assembly (GA) is given authority to act to set up tribunals under a resolution known as “Uniting for Peace,” UN Resolution 377 (v). This resolution gives the UN General Assembly the right to act where there is no unanimity of the Security Council. In section “A” the resolutions states, “Where the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, the General Assembly shall seize itself of the matter.”

Article 11 (2) of the UN Charter allows the General Assembly to act on questions related to the maintenance of international peace and security, while Article 18 of the Charter allows the General Assembly to make recommendations with respect to maintenance of international peace and security by a 2/3rd majority vote.

Article 22 of the UN Chapter allows the General Assembly to set up subsidiary, or Special Courts, saying: “The General Assembly may establish such subsidiary organs as it deems necessary for the performance of its functions.”
In Ethiopia a newly elected government sought ways to bring charges for war crimes against a former regime for crimes it had allegedly committed against Ethiopians in Ethiopia. The government set up a Special Prosecutors Office to try the members of the former regime. In this instance, charges were based only on national laws.
State court assertion of jurisdiction to adjudicate alleged war crimes through the establishment of Ad Hoc Tribunals.

There appears to be sufficient applicable international and domestic law and precedent to support the establishment of ad hoc tribunals by state courts seeking to assert jurisdiction over alleged war crimes under the principles of universal jurisdiction.

In respect to domestic laws, the US Constitution in Article 6, “Debts, Supremacy, Oaths” states that “all treaties made, or which shall be made under authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary not withstanding.”

The 4th Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Civilians in Times of War Articles 146 and 147, commits all parties, “to enact any necessary legislation to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing grave breeches,” and says,

Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the present Convention: willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.”

The United States is party to the Geneva Conventions.
18 USC 2331: US Code-Section 2331 (1) (a), which is a federal anti-terrorism statute says the term "international terrorism" means activities that (A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State; the United States.

For our purposes, 18 USC 2331 implies that it is both an international law, reaching across domestic borders under the principal of universal jurisdiction, and a domestic law, the violation of which can be prosecuted in both state and federal courts, if such acts “would be a criminal violation if committed in the United States.”

The history of ad hoc war crimes tribunals and special courts and attempts to set up such courts and tribunals, as well as the various international, and domestic rules, laws and resolutions that have guided and given legitimacy and authority to such courts and tribunals, provide enough information and guidance that the establishment of such courts or tribunals in the United States is not only plausible, but might also be recommended in some instances to states interested in exerting jurisdiction over alleged war crimes under principles of universal jurisdiction.
State courts might be able to establish ad hoc tribunals hoping to assert jurisdiction to adjudicate alleged war crimes under universal jurisdiction principles established in international law. These special courts or tribunals can possibly be set up as independent courts or tribunals, or in cooperation with the United Nations Security Council, or the International Criminal Court.

In fact, it could be argued that when the ICC, the UNSC, or the UN General Assembly is unwilling or not able to act, or to assert jurisdiction in places like the United States, which has not ratified the ICC’s Rome Statute, state courts may have an obligation under the principles of universal jurisdiction to assert jurisdiction through the establishment of ad hoc tribunals and/or special courts. Ordinary courts can act on some issues such as torture, where there are US laws prohibiting torture, but in respect to other war crimes, there is legislation presently in place that gives US courts jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other very serious violations of international law.

Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson spoke to this issue in her Foreword to the Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction. She wrote:

Through its cornerstone principle of complementarity, the ICC Statute highlights the fact that international prosecutions alone will never be sufficient to achieve justice and emphasizes the crucial role of national legal systems in bringing an end to impunity. The sad reality is that territorial states often fail to investigate and prosecute serious human rights abuses. The application of universal jurisdiction is therefore a crucial means of justice.

This statement, and others related to the challenge to achieve justice in case of war crimes gives rise to our question, which asks to what extent state courts might exert such universal jurisdiction.

In my opinion, the establishment of ad hoc state tribunals presents an opportunity for state courts to assert subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate war crimes under principles of universal jurisdiction.

Fundamentals of Universal Jurisdiction

The Princeton Principles of Universal Jurisdiction

Steven W. Becker, J.D., Sullivan Fellow, International Human Rights Law Institute at De Paul University wrote in a commentary on the Princeton Principles of Universal Jurisdiction the Following:

The Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction (Principles) are a progressive restatement of international law on the subject of universal jurisdiction. Leading scholars and jurists gathered twice at Princeton University to help clarify this important area of law.

The Principles contain elements of both lex lata (the law as it is) and de lege ferenda (the law as it ought to be), but they should not be understood to limit the future evolution of universal jurisdiction.

The Principles are intended to help guide national legislative bodies seeking to enact implementing legislation; judges who may be required to construe universal jurisdiction in applying domestic law or in making extradition decisions; governments that must decide whether to prosecute or extradite, or otherwise to assist in promoting international criminal accountability; and all those in civil society concerned with bringing to justice perpetrators of serious international crimes.

The Principles of Universal Jurisdiction, 1 and 2

1. For purposes of these Principles, universal jurisdiction is criminal jurisdiction based solely on the nature of the crime, without regard to where the crime was committed, the nationality of the alleged or convicted perpetrator, the nationality of the victim, or any other connection to the state exercising such jurisdiction.

2. Universal jurisdiction may be exercised by a competent and ordinary judicial body of any state in order to try a person duly accused of committing serious crimes under international law as specified in Principle 2(1), provided the person is present before such judicial body.

3. A state may rely on universal jurisdiction as a basis for seeking the extradition of a person accused or convicted of committing a serious crime under international law as specified in Principle 2(1), provided that it has established a prima facie case of the person’s guilt and that the person sought to be extradited will be tried or the punishment carried out in accordance with international norms and standards on the protection of human rights in the context of criminal proceedings.

4. In exercising universal jurisdiction or in relying upon universal jurisdiction as a basis for seeking extradition, a state and its judicial organs shall observe international due process norms including but not limited to those involving the rights of the accused and victims, the fairness of the proceedings, and the independence and impartiality of the judiciary (hereinafter referred to as “international due process norms”).

5. A state shall exercise universal jurisdiction in good faith and in accordance with its rights and obligations under international law.

Principle 2 — Serious Crimes under International Law

1. For purposes of these Principles, serious crimes under international law include: (1) piracy; (2) slavery; (3) war crimes; (4) crimes against peace; (5) crimes against humanity; (6) genocide; and (7) torture.

2. The application of universal jurisdiction to the crimes listed.

Funding for U.N. War Crimes Tribunals

The U.N. Security Council has created two war crimes tribunals to investigate
and prosecute those accused of serious crimes against humanity under specified
circumstances. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Republic of
Yugoslavia (ICTY) was set up in 1993 to investigate and prosecute those accused of
genocide, crimes against humanity, or violations of international humanitarian law
on the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. The International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was created in November 1994 to investigate and
prosecute persons accused of genocide and other serious violations of international
humanitarian law in the territory of Rwanda between January 1 and December 31,
1994, and also Rwandan citizens suspected of such acts or violations in the territory
of neighboring states. Each tribunal is under the Council requirement and timetable
to complete its work by December 31, 2010.

The General Assembly decided that each tribunal would be financed through a
special assessed account and that U.N. member states would be assessed to contribute
to those accounts in a unique way. Half of the annual budget of each would be paid
on the basis of the scale of assessments used for contributions to the U.N. regular
budget, and half of each account would be funded on the basis of the scale of assessments used for contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operation accounts.

Conclusion

To date, not a single U.S. official has faced even a mere investigation for these breeches of international (and also domestic U.S.) law. Only very low level military personnel have been charged, and only for some of the acts of torture documented by the limited evidence that leaked. Further evidence of abuse and torture exists, but has been suppressed by the U.S. Department of Defense in an action authorized by the Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court.
In the wake of inaction by the federal government, a civil society movement across the United States is working to establish special courts or tribunals in the U.S. to bring to justice those officials involved in authorizing or conducting these illegal and heinous abuses.
Unfortunately, the US has not ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. As a result, only domestic courts can viably assert jurisdiction to enforce international human rights standards. However, because our federal authorities have abdicated their commitments to investigate all credible allegations of torture, only our state courts remain.
For these reasons, and because it is important that we all work to end impunity, we propose the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal in the U.S. wielding authority under principles of universal jurisdiction to adjudicate international war crimes committed by U.S. defendants. To lend these ad hoc tribunals the greater legitimacy of special courts pursuing an international mandate, we seek the help of the UN General Assembly.

Appendix I.

Applicable Statutes

1). UN Charter, Chapter 4, “General Assembly”

Article 11 (2)

The General Assembly may discuss any questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security brought before it by any Member of the United Nations, or by the Security Council, or by a state which is not a Member of the United Nations in accordance with Article 35, paragraph 2, and, except as provided in Article 12, may make recommendations with regard to any such questions to the state or states concerned or to the Security Council or to both. Any such question on which action is necessary shall be referred to the Security Council by the General Assembly either before or after discussion.

www.un.org/en/documents/charter/index.shtml

2). UN Charter, Chapter 4,”Voting”
Article 18 (1) and (2)
(1) Each member of the General Assembly shall have one vote. Decisions of the General Assembly on important questions shall be made by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting. These questions shall include: recommendations with respect to the maintenance of international peace and security, the election of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, the election of the members of the Economic and Social Council, the election of members of the Trusteeship Council in accordance with paragraph 1 (c) of Article 86, the admission of new Members to the United Nations, the suspension of the rights and privileges of membership, the expulsion of Members, questions relating to the operation of the trusteeship system, and budgetary questions.
www.un.org/en/documents/charter/index.shtml

(2) Decisions on other questions, including the determination of additional categories of questions to be decided by a two-thirds majority, shall be made by a majority of the members present and voting.
www.un.org/en/documents/charter/index.shtml

Article 22
The General Assembly may establish such subsidiary organs as it deems necessary for the performance of its functions.
www.un.org/en/documents/charter/index.shtml
3). “Uniting for Peace,” Resolution of the UN General Assembly (Res.377 (v).
"Reaffirming the importance of the exercise by the Security Council of its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and the duty of the permanent members to seek unanimity and to exercise restraint in the use of the veto," ...
"Recognizing in particular that such failure does not deprive the General Assembly of its rights or relieve it of its responsibilities under the Charter in regard to the maintenance of international peace and security," ...
"Resolves that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in the case of a breach of the peace or act of aggression the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restore international peace and security."
http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/ufp/ufp.html
4). Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Part 3, General Principles of Criminal Law
Article 22, nullum crimen sine lege

A person shall not be criminally responsible under this statute unless the conduct in question constitutes, at the time it takes place, a crime within the jurisdiction of the court.

http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/icc/statute/part-a.htm

Article 23, nulla poena sine lege

A person convicted by the court may be punished only in accordance with this statute.

http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/icc/statute/part-a.htm

Article 24, non-retroactivity ratione personae

No person shall be criminally responsible under this statute prior to the entry into force of this statute.

http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/icc/statute/part-a.htm

5). US Constitution, Article 6, Debts, Supremacy, Oaths

All treaties made, or which shall be made, under authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of the state contrary, notwithstanding.

www.usconstitution.net/const.htmi#article6

6). 4th Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Civilians in Time of War

Article146.

The High Contracting Parties undertake to enact any legislation necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or ordering to be committed, any of the grave breaches of the present Convention defined in the following Article.

Article147.

Grave breeches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the present Convention: willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.

http://www.tamilnation.org/humanrights/genevaconventions/geneva4d.htm#19

7). 18 USC 2331: US Code-Section 2331 (1) (a)

(1) the term "international terrorism" means activities that (A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State; the United States.

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/113B/2331

(NAMAW) National Association of Muslim American Women Founder and Chairwoman sues US government to remove Hamas from lists of terrorist organizations.

2010-08-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

Press Release
For Immediate Release
August 11, 2010

On Monday, August 9, 2010, Founder and Chairwoman of (NAMAW), the National Association of Muslim American Women, Anisa Abd el Fattah, filed a lawsuit in a US District Court, suing the Office of the President, the US State Department and the US Treasury. The lawsuit alleges that these agencies violated Article 6 of the US Constitution, the 1st amendment to the US Constitution and the Geneva Conventions, when they designated Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine, terrorists.

In the lawsuit, Abd el Fattah requests that the terrorist designation be removed from Hamas, and that Hamas’s name be removed from any and all government lists of foreign terrorist organizations, along with its members. She also requests that all public records be made to reflect the court’s order and the change in legal status.

The government has 60 days to respond to the allegations, at which time the court will decide whether the lawsuit should go forward, or be dismissed. Abd el Fattah has requested a jury trial for the Defendants.

-END-

America’s Zionist Ku Klux and the threat it poses to the future of our Constitutional Republic

2010-06-17T02:46:00.000-07:00

Anisa Abd el Fattah

Americans born and raised in the United States during the 50s, 60s and 70s might have a unique perspective of our country’s progress from an apartheid state of Jim Crow segregation, to what we thought we were as a people just prior to 9/11. It seems like a long time ago that we viewed ourselves as a people who had defeated the forces of evil racial supremacism and the politics and culture of racial hatred and fear that had divided us for so long. It was hatred and fear that had been imposed upon us for so many years, and presented to us as American culture that had divided us. America had suffered ugly years, and the consequences included spiritual and social deformity resulting from centuries of brutal human bondage, slavery and genocide that had to be falsely justified.

The false justification was couched in an American narrative that implied the racial inferiority of one group, and the racial supremacy of another. America justified its crimes of slavery and genocide with a narrative that was both Biblical and secular in its insistence that it was either God or Darwin who had selected the White race to preserve God and nature’s intrinsic order and selection of the races. It was suggested by both scripture and science in America, that it was in fact the duty of the supposedly “superior race” to dominate all of the other supposedly “inferior races” of people. Sometimes this message was subtle, and sometimes it was not. The spiritual and social deformities resulting from such hoaxes, lies and evil would have certainly destroyed the United States, had we as a people not faced our demons in the streets of Selma and Montgomery Alabama and other racial hot spots that became the battle grounds between good and evil from where our country’s racist demons were seemingly driven out.

It would have been almost impossible to have been a teenager or young adult during that tumultuous period of 30 odd years in US history, and not have been touched in some way by these events as they transpired. The change was there, in our daily news and nightly in the streets of our cities. America was changing, and to some of us it seemed fast, hard, and beautiful. To others it was merely frightening. For all of us, it was necessary.

In African-American communities there were stark differences between the worlds of adults and teenagers, except when it came to civil rights. This melding of the Black, specifically the African-American mind that closed the traditional generational gap in our communities was due, for the most part, to the preachers in the Black Churches. They made it clear to all of us every Sunday, that Jesus had said “suffer the children to come unto me,” which meant that we were not excused from the struggle. It was ours, whether we liked it or not, and whether we understood it or not. We cried when our parents cried, we got angry when they got angry, we marched when they marched, and we sat still and quiet and stood back when they told us to. Their tears, along with all of the expressions of joy and anger, faith and hope that animated their strong faces were sometimes all we had to go by. So we learned to read their faces and to understand, what it all meant.

For our parents, the fight had been long and unyielding. For many of them memories of slavery, only a generation or so past, were fresh in their minds. They knew what was at stake, and what they were fighting for. They were authentic. They were heroes, and their legacy was left to everyone who considers themselves part of this experience and experiment called America. We held on to their moral coattails all the way from Alabama in the 60s, to New York City. We let go, and began our collective fall from grace on September 11th, 2001.

How many of us would be willing to say today, that we as a people and a country are at our best and that the state of our union today is strong and sound? The racial supremacism that we stared down and the demons we thought we had defeated half a century ago are back. They have taken on a new form, and they are threatening our country again, but this time as religious supremacism barely hidden in the language of scripture and science, draped in the US flag while claiming piety, just as racism and Jim Crow had before.

Those of us, who are heartbroken by what now parades itself as the United States of America, understand that 9/11 changed us in many ways that were not good. We can see it in the faces and hear it in the voices of our fellow citizens, the hatred, the fear, and the anger. We understand that what we see and hear is a response to what is being said and demonstrated by our so called leaders and politicians who, just as before, have created a narrative that is ripe with false justification for the deprivation of rights for some Americans and blatant favoritism for others.

Whereas in the past, the ideas that divided and deformed us were contrived for the sake of justifying the demonization and domination of supposedly inferior races, today‘s dangerous ideas are aimed at creating a new American identity. An identity that is being crafted by Zionists who want to convince us that White European Jews are God’s selected or chosen people and that gentiles are inferior. They want us to believe that they have access to God, while our souls are trapped inside husks, making us nearer to animals in our consciousness, while they are supposedly superior and nearer to God.

The identity they are crafting for our country suggests that the gentile was created to serve and to protect the so called “chosen ones” with our lives, blood, and treasure, while it is their supposed duty to God, to dominate and to subjugate us and to use us for the fulfillment of their destinies and desires, whether in Heaven or in Hell. They want to recreate the United States, not in God’s image, but in an ugly image of modern day slavery where our people, including our children, will work long hours for little pay, no pensions, no sick days, no social security, no affordable health care, and no retirement. The trade off is that they will set no limits to our immorality, pornography, and sexualization and exploitation of our children. They have nothing vested in our spiritual growth or salvation, since according to their Talmud; we were created only to serve them.

Today, the United States of America sends 7 million dollars per day to Israel in foreign aide. That does not count for the military aide, or the security aide, the weapons and other ways that we funnel money to Israel that cannot be detected. Meanwhile, we are also paying billions to finance two wars being fought to secure Israel’s geo-political dominance in the Middle East and to capture oil and natural resources, much of which was reserved for Israel, and not the United States.

The Zionist Ku Klux in the US wants to recreate us as a country where the children of the rich and elite go to college, while the children of the poor go to war. They want us to surrender our morality to their genocides being carried out in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. They want to shield themselves from the consequences of their immoral crimes. They want us to overlook and justify their immorality and lawlessness. They want us to return to our dark past, a past from which we thought we had broken free.

Once we understand that today, in our country there exists a Zionist Ku Klux, similar in every way to the racist white Ku Klux Klan of history, we will understand why we are fighting for Zionist Israel’s global dominance in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will understand why we are fighting Islam in a bogus so called War on Terrorism and killing Muslims throughout the world, hoping to eliminate any resistance, challengers, detractors and/or competitors against Zionism. This Klan fights to sustain its control over our government, and many of our churches, civic and political organizations, schools and labor unions. This is why whenever we begin, as an American people, to ask questions, to demand our freedom from increasing government invasion of our privacy and protection of our rights, and our money, we are taken back to 9/11, and reminded that we should be afraid. It is why we are threatened and silenced with the very so called Anti-Terrorism laws that we thought were passed to fight terrorism, while it is becoming increasingly clear that they were really passed to fight us. They were passed to deprive us of rights, and to silence us and to prevent us from ever again challenging and battling our demons in our streets. The Zionist Ku Klux in America learned the lessons of our past. They learned, and remembered the important lessons that we forgot.

Even prior to 9/11 this Zionist Klan began their war of terror on the United States. It began as a very subtle suggestion that if we hoped to be safe from terrorism, we must change our laws, including our Constitution which our Congress was told presented a barrier to fighting terrorism. Now we know that the real message was that unless we changed our laws and got rid of our Constitution we would be the victims of an act of terrorism that would reach so deep into our collective psyche with fear, that we would forget all of our lofty ideas and past struggles, and surrender our rights anyway. What we didn’t known then, were that our own attempts to speak the truth and to exert our rights as a self-governing and sovereign people, to demand justice in our courts, and an end to wars and a balanced budget, would be called acts of terrorism. While Zionists and their political flunkies in our Congress stoked the flames of hatred against Muslims, Islam, and Middle Easterners after 9/11, falsely claiming that it was Muslims, led by an extremist Islamic idea, who attacked us on 9/11. AIPAC, the Israeli organization that overseas and manages Zionist power in the US, was busy buying and blackmailing our Congress, stealing our state secrets and passing laws to be used against all of us, but only after being tested successfully on our Muslim and Middle Eastern citizens first.

In May of this year 2010, a ship filled with medicines, food, and cement set sail for a place in Palestine called Gaza. For three years Gaza has suffered under an illegal economic embargo imposed by Israel in a failed attempt to overthrow the elected Palestinian government. While this ship was in international waters, headed for the coast of Gaza, Israeli commandos illegally boarded the ship and murdered 9 of the humanitarian activists aboard the ship, including a 19 year old American student. His autopsy shows that he was killed due to being shot 4 times in his brain at close range. There were other Americans on that ship the Mavi Marmara, and also on other ships that made up what was called the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

Thinking that they still enjoyed Constitutional rights in their country, some of the survivors upon their return home to the US, have sought to speak out, and to tell their fellow countrymen and women what happened to them and also what happened to that young American who was executed by the Israeli commandos. Rather than to be greeted with sympathy, and solidarity, or to be received by our government as heroes and citizens to be proud of for their humanitarian efforts, they were met with hatred, not by the people, but by Zionist politicians and their AIPAC cronies and operatives. There was no grief expressed by our government to the family of the fallen. No resolution passed in his honor by our Zionist Congress. No memorial held by our Zionist churches and synagogues, and not a tear shed for our country’s loss, suffered in the death of that brave young 19 year old American who was killed for carrying food to hungry Palestinians.

California Congressman Brad Sherman, along with others including New York City Councilwoman Christine Quinn, Representatives Jerry Nadler, Anthony Weiner, Carolyn Mahoney, Charles Rangel, and Scott Stringer issued threats to have the survivors arrested using anti-terrorism statutes, and to have them silenced with threats of government investigations into their private lives to supposedly determine if they have ties to terrorists. All actions aimed purely at depriving these citizens their constitutional rights.

The Zionist Ku Klux in America has shown its ugly face, and they have demonstrated for us in a most dramatic way, how they will use the so called anti-terrorism laws that our Zionist Congress passed without ever reading, to silence us and to deprive us of our Constitutional rights. One of the Zionist leaders of this cabal, Joseph Lieberman even threatened to pass a law stripping US citizens of citizenship if we dare criticize Israel, or take political positions opposed to those of our Zionist masters. They have proven by their own words and actions, that they will not honor the social contract between the governed and the governing known as the Bill of Rights. In their minds, they have already changed and remade America in a Zionist image, and all that is left is for us to either submit, or be treated as terrorists by our own government and elected officials whose purpose is no longer to serve, protect and represent the interests of the American citizen, but rather to serve, protect, defend and finance their false god and idol Israel, and to shield Israel from any accountability for its numerous crimes against gentiles, and violations of international law. Unless we are willing as a people to reject what is happening to our country, and to organize and to stand against it, we should expect to return to the days of the ugly and grossly deformed America. The old America from where we thought we had been liberated, and transformed. Together we stand, divided we fall.

On June 17th, Flotilla survivors Lara Lee, Ahonet Unsal, and Kevin Overdon will speak at the House of the Lord Church in New York City. They will speak about the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and what happened to them and other human rights activists on board flotilla ships, including those who were killed. We should turn out in huge numbers to support them, and other flotilla survivors and their right to speak, and to dissent.

Sherman’s interpretation of 1996 Anti-Terrorism Act seems to defy true intent of the law, while attacking US Constitutional Rights to appease a foreig

2010-06-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

Anisa Abd el Fattah

When the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was passed following the Oklahoma City bombing, many Muslim and Arab Americans charged that the Act is unconstitutional, and that it was unfairly aimed at Muslims and Arabs, even though it was proven that Muslims and Arabs had nothing to do with the Oklahoma City Bombing. Of course the Department of Justice and other US law enforcement officials countered such charges, saying that the Act was not intended for anything except to effectively fight terrorism, no matter the race, religion, ethnicity or nationality of an individual perpetrator, group or foreign country.

Listening to California Congressman Brad Sherman, who is one of the many Zionist and Jewish politicians who found it politically expedient to congratulate Israel for its May 2010 massacre of 9 unarmed humanitarian aide activists on a Turkish ship bound for Gaza, one would think that Muslim and Arab suspicions were true. According to Sherman, the Act says it is “illegal for US citizens to give food, money, school supplies, paper clips, concrete or weapons to Hamas and Gaza’s civilian population.” As it turns out, this is merely Sherman’s interpretation of the Act. The Act never mentions, Gaza, or Hamas and is aimed exclusively at foreign terrorists and foreign governments that support or commit acts of terrorism. The aim of the Act is to prevent US citizens from fundraising and providing material support to terrorist organizations, states, and individuals that commit acts of terrorism and that provide material support for terrorism. Taking into consideration that Israel is accused of committing war crimes and crimes of aggression as well as crimes against humanity in an illegal assault on Gaza that left 1500 Palestinians, mostly woman and children dead, the Act could very easily be interpreted to also include Israel, the Israeli army and the illegal Jewish settlers among those targeted for prosecution by the Act.

Of course Sherman did not mention that fact. His objective was to use the law exactly in the way that US Muslims and Arabs had said it would be used, namely to target Muslims and Arabs. It appears that Sherman had hoped to create a novel interpretation of the Act that would be used to chill Muslim and Arab Constitutional rights to free speech and also dissent, and that would reinforce the wrong idea that Hamas is a terrorist organization and is therefore subject to the Act, along with any US citizen that would fundraise or send money to Gaza in an attempt to provide humanitarian aide to a people suffering, what the UN has designated a humanitarian crisis. In fact, following Israel’s flotilla massacre, the Obama administration pledged 400 million dollars to Gaza in humanitarian aide. Sherman did not call for the arrest of President Obama, nor of secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

In Sherman’s highly politicized interpretation of the Act, Sherman failed to mention the fact that the US Constitution protects the rights of US Citizens to protest and also to use our speech, which the Supreme Court has said includes our money and fundraising, to support our political positions and also to oppose and dissent from our government’s official positions. Along with that, Article 6 of the US Constitution says, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding” which means that provisions within the Act must be reconciled with the Geneva Conventions, to which the US is a signor. According to both the Bush and Obama administrations, the US stands by and abides by the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions protects, rather than criminalizes the Palestinian resistance militias and the resistance movement.

According to the Joint Publication 1-02, the United States Department of Defense defines a resistance movement as "an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to resist the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability". It says: “In strict military terminology, a resistance movement is simply that; it seeks to resist (change) the policies of a government or occupying power. This may be accomplished though violent or non-violent means. A resistance movement is specifically limited to changing the nature of current power, not to overthrow it.” The correct military term for removing or overthrowing a government is an insurgency. Also, Article 4 of the Geneva Conventions defines legal combatants as:

1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
2. Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfill the following conditions:
(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

In its 49th session, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights as recently as 1993, adopted resolution E/CN.4/ RES/1993/2 (A & B), recognizing and affirming the right of the Palestinian people to resistance against the illegal occupation by all means.” It states the following:

The Commission on Human Rights,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as by the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

Guided also by the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

2. Affirms the right of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli occupation by all means, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions, consistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, as has been expressed by the Palestinian people in their brave intifada since December 1987, in legitimate resistance against the Israeli military occupation;

Israel’s bogus claim that Gaza is no longer under military occupation is undermined by Israel’s simultaneous claim to a right to control Gaza’s borders, airspace and waterways. Its routine invasions, detainments of Gazans and other acts intended to maintain illegal control and authority over Gaza, further undermines Israel’s erroneous claim that Gaza is not under Israeli military occupation.

Article 6 of the US Constitutions says clearly that our treaties are the Supreme law of the land, and our military code recognizes by definition that the Palestinian resistance fighters are lawful combatants. Since statutory law overrides Executive orders , Bill Clinton’s attempt to criminalize the Palestinian resistance is merely a political ploy that was designed to create a legal context for Israel’s brutal violence in Gaza and the West Bank, and its illegal targeted assassinations of resistance leaders and activists. Clinton’s executive order which attempts to reduce the Palestinian resistance to mere terrorism is the pretext within which many of the worst criminal acts carried out by Israel against the people of Palestine have claimed legality. It is also the legal framework within which Sherman is emboldened to call for the arrests of US citizens for attempting to travel to Gaza, and to deliver humanitarian aide.

While seemingly anxious to please his AIPAC cronies and Zionist financial backers, Sherman seems to have lost sight of the fact that according to the Act, there may be some arrests to be made within his own circle of pro-Israel Zionists. He said in his highly publicized press release that he “will be asking the Attorney General to prosecute any American involved in what is clearly an effort to give items of value to terrorists.” That might include the California branch of the JDL that have been linked to the US State Department designated terrorist organization known as Kahane Chai, whose members were convicted of attempting to carry out terrorists attacks here in the US against an elected official. It might also include leaders of an entire network of synagogues, churches and Christian and Jewish charitable organizations that routinely raise money and transfer funds to Israel in support of the radical extremist settlers, many of whom are US citizens, and who routinely shoot, kill, harass and illegally confiscate the property of Palestinian citizens. Most of these illegal settlers are self confessed members of the Kahane movement, which is linked to Kahane Chai in ideology if not by card carrying memberships. In a New York Times article written by Neil Lewis, he states that Kahane Chai “advocates the restoration of the Biblical state of Israel and the expulsion of Arabs from Israel.” This is also the mantra of nearly every illegal Jewish settler in Palestine.

Among the list of US Jews arrested for acts of terrorism against Palestinians in Palestine are the confessed terrorists Jack Teity who murdered two Palestinians and wounded at least three. His murder victims included a 57 year old Palestinian shepherd murdered simply because he was not Jewish. Teity traveled between the US and Israel for 12 years carrying out his terrorist acts without ever being stopped and questioned or arrested. Teity, in his confession, stated that he smuggled the sub machine gun used in his killings, past a British airline’s security. Another US Jew who carried out an act of terrorism against Palestinians inside Palestine is Barak Goldstein who slaughtered 20 Palestinians in Hebron mosque. He is called a Jewish martyr, even though he shot his unarmed victims from behind with a fully automatic machine gun as they prostrated in prayer.

In the article, “Israel arrests settlers it says tried to bomb Palestinians” by New York Times columnist John Kifner, Kifner wrote: “Shin Bet uncovered a suspected Jewish network that apparently planned to bomb two or more Palestinian schools.” According to Kifner, “Israeli police confiscated sub machine guns, and Israeli military issued explosives.” He said the bombs were set to go off at 7:35 am, the time when most Palestinian students would arrive at the schools.” Kifner identified the leader of the network as Noam Federman, a leader of the Kach movement.

There is another interpretation of the Act, contrary to Sherman’s which suggests that Sherman himself could possibly be designated a supporter of international terrorism, since it appears that he might be abusing the power of his office and US taxpayer money in an attempt to provide political and legal cover for Israel’s terrorist act of piracy and murder of 9 human rights activists, carried out in international waters, and without provocation. A Congressional Research Service summary of the Act states that:

“Title I of the Act ‘enlarges proscriptions against assisting in the commission of acts of terrorism. It adjusts the Foreign Assistance Act to help isolate countries who support terrorists. “

Ironically the activists targeted by Sherman’s threats of arrest for exercising their Constitutional rights might actually be assisted against Israel by the Act which, according to the same summary, “expands the circumstances under which foreign governments that support terrorism may be sued for resulting injuries, and increases the assistance and compensation available to victims of terrorism.” The family of the US citizen killed by Israel on one of the flotilla boats with 4 shots through his brain and one through his heart might also look into the provisions of the Act seeking legal relief.

Why Congressman Brad Sherman felt compelled to attack the US members of the flotilla with an Anti-Terrorism statute is anyone’s guess. What we can be sure of is that US law is aimed at protecting the rights of citizens, their property and their persons, and not foreign governments. In his haste to arrest these citizens he obviously forgot the spirit, or intent of the Act, and depended too heavily upon his own misguided and highly politicized interpretation.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistance_movement
2.http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/genevacon/blart-4.htm
3. http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/EF7E1F52C06A9CB885256AD2004B1194
4. Cited in the article “Rep. Sherman” Prosecute US Citizens involved with Freedom Flotilla” Modoweiss.com
5. http://www.answers.com/topic/executive-order-1
6. Summary of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Charles Doyle, Senior Specialist, American Law Division of the Congressional Research Service
www.fas.org/irp/crs/96-499
7. Appeals Court Upholds Terrorist Label for a Jewish Group, New York Times, 10/06.
8. Israel Arrests Settlers It says Tried to Bomb Palestinians” New York Times, 5/19/2002
FBI Raided a Brooklyn Community Center led by Member of Kahane Chai, New York Times,

Rogue Israel Shocks, but does not Surprise Civilzed world with its Flotilla Massacre

2010-06-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

Anisa Abd el Fattah

When the news first came in that Israel had attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and killed 20 of the human rights activists on board the ship, most people were shocked. The degree of shock perhaps varied depending upon one’s overall impression of Israel.

Those in the United States and Europe who generally support Israel, and who have overlooked all of Israel’s historic crimes, including the routine murder of innocents, were perhaps a bit disappointed and shocked that Israel would rather execute 20 activists than to allow medicines and cement into Gaza. No one imagined that Israel’s hatred of the Palestinians, and the desire to see them continue to suffer without end, was so passionate. Israel has always been very careful to make it appear as if its war against Gaza is based purely upon its desire to eliminate Hamas, who Israel claims is an existential threat. This, along with the insistence by the US that every act of violence committed by Israel is an act of self defense, has created enough intellectual reasoning and argumentation to cloud any attempt at moral or legal judgment in respect to Israel’s addiction to over the top acts of violence and crime.

Many others, people throughout the world, who don’t support Israel unconditionally and who have watched over the years as Israel has been allowed by the US, EU and UN to slaughter Palestinians and their supporters with impunity, even with our own US government’s assistance and support in some instances, saw the flotilla massacre as just another of Israel’s numerous atrocities. The gut wrenching reality that 20 innocent people had been executed; shot at close range in the head and heart may have seemed surreal, and was shocking, yet, it was still par for the course for Israel and no surprise.

In respect to Israel’s repeated atrocities against the Palestinian people, and in fact the entire world, it is important to distinguish shock from surprise. It might be accurate to say that everyone, including Israel’s supporters was shocked by this most recent of Israel’s crimes against humanity, while sadly, almost no one was surprised.

Since Israel’s first attempts to establish itself in Palestine in 1948, it has carried out mind boggling acts of violence that go even further than the type of violence and murder blamed on Adolf Hitler himself who is accused of killing nearly 12,000,000 people from 1939-1945. Even Stalin, who murdered approximately 23,000,000 people from 1932-1939 cannot be condemned for any worse acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide than can Israel, even though Stalin killed millions of more people.

So large is the number of Palestinians murdered by Israel since 1948, that not only can we not find a total number of Palestinians killed by Israel since 1948 published anywhere, it is almost impossible to even find the number of Palestinians that existed in Palestine in 1948. Unfortunately history does not convey accurately the extent of Israel’s ethnic cleansing and genocide in Palestine. History does not even provide the numbers necessary for us to do our own math. What we do know is that between 650 and 750 million Palestinians escaped Palestine during the Nakba , or catastrophe resulting from Israel’s so called war of independence in Palestine.

If we consider the numbers of Palestinians possibly murdered during the Nakba and later through various massacres, including Deir Yassin where pregnant women literally had their unborn babies ripped from their bodies and killed and also the massacre in Jenin and most recently in Gaza, the numbers of Palestinian murdered by Israel in its genocide, could well be in the millions.

It is reasonable to suggest that the numbers of Palestinian murdered during and immediately after the Nakba could at least be as many as were killed by Pol Pot from 1975-79, which totaled 1,700,000. This estimation is based purely on the more comparable sizes of Palestine and Cambodia, which is more reasonable than attempting to compare Palestine’s population to either Russia or China's in respect to the percentage of those populations that were killed. Please note than none of the genocides carried out by the world’s most notorious mass murders lasted for more than 10 years, and they are accused of murdering tremendous numbers of people, reaching totals as high as 78,000,000 supposedly killed by Mao Ze Dong from 1949-50 in Tibet and later from 1958-61, and then from 66-69 in China, equaling only 7 years of genocide. By comparison, Israel’s genocide in Palestine has been ongoing for approximately 60 years with hardly a day that goes by without at least 4 to 5 Palestinians being killed by Israel’s so called Defense forces.

In the book Searching Jenin, Editor Ramzy Baroud, himself a Palestinian, wrote the following,

A question that this book cannot answer is “How many Palestinians were killed in Jenin in two weeks of fighting, bombardment and home demolitions?” He attributed this inability to answer the question to Israel’s purposeful destruction of records. He said,” Israeli soldiers vandalized and destroyed Palestinian records in hospitals, schools and government buildings...this question may never be answered.”

The eyewitness accounts of the Jenin massacre chronicled within the book Searching Jenin are enough to demonstrate Israeli brutality and the shocking lack of humanness that Israel shows in respect to the Palestinians and their supporters. There is nothing within the pages of the book that compels us to imagine that Israel was ever any less brutal or any less interested in hiding the numbers associated with its genocide. A good example of this is the story of Um Siri a 45 year old Palestinian woman. She relayed the following concerning her family’s experience during the Jenin massacre. She said,

The soldiers took the owner of the house (where her family had fled) and started punching him in the mouth. They asked him, “Where are the fighters/” He said “I don’t know.” His denial only made them angrier, and so they forced him to the ground and they stepped on his face. The soldiers had him stand up against a wall and they started firing their guns between his legs. Then they took my son, they had him strip naked and they also stared firing between his legs to terrorize him. I held my mother, she was ninety. The Israeli soldiers started rounding up women and they forced me and my mother outside the house. My mother was barefoot and there was so much shattered glass outside the door. They forced her to walk on the glass. Her feet started to bleed. They also rounded up the men and children. They gathered them in Abu Nizar’s half destroyed home. They hand cuffed and blind folded them and took them to the second floor. They rounded up more men and boys and interrogated them for the rest of the day and the whole night. They were beating them up constantly.

Even worse atrocities were reported following Israel’s most recent massacre which took place in Gaza, in an Operation they called Cast Lead, which took place over a three week period, December 28, 2008 until January 29, 2009. Writing on this incident, Michel Chossudovsky, from the Center for Research on Globalization said,

The aerial bombings and the ongoing ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli ground forces must be analyzed in a historical context. Operation "Cast Lead" is a carefully planned undertaking, which is part of a broader military-intelligence agenda first formulated by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001:
"Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas."(Barak Ravid, Operation "Cast Lead": Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)

It was Israel which broke the truce on the day of the US presidential elections, November 4: "Israel used this distraction to break the ceasefire between itself and Hamas by bombing the Gaza strip. Israel claimed this violation of the ceasefire was to prevent Hamas from digging tunnels into Israeli territory.

The very next day, Israel launched a terrorizing siege of Gaza, cutting off food, fuel, medical supplies and other necessities in an attempt to “subdue” the Palestinians while at the same time engaging in armed incursions.

In response, Hamas and others in Gaza again resorted to firing crude, homemade, and mainly inaccurate rockets into Israel. During the past seven years, these rockets have been responsible for the deaths of 17 Israelis. Over the same time span, Israeli Blitzkrieg assaults have killed thousands of Palestinians, drawing worldwide protest but falling on deaf ears at the UN." (Shamus Cooke, The Massacre in Palestine and the Threat of a Wider War, Global Research, December 2008).
Chossudovsky’s remarks make the case that Israel’s persistent and never ending violence and massacres in Palestine are not acts of self defense, and neither are they spontaneous actions in response or reaction to the actions of Palestinians. Chossudovsky makes it clear that Operation Cast Lead, known more famously as the Gaza massacre was part of a larger military /intelligence strategy adopted by former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon. Chossodovsky calls it, “Part of a broader Israeli Military-Intelligence agenda.”

Since Israel’s so called war of independence, it has been the focus of at least 114 UNSC resolutions. They include;

Resolution 42: The Palestine Question (5 March 1948) Requests recommendations for the Palestine Commission, Resolution 43: The Palestine Question (1 Apr 1948) Recognizes "increasing violence and disorder in Palestine" and requests that representatives of "the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the Arab Higher Committee" arrange, with the Security Council, "a truce between the Arab and Jewish Communities of Palestine...Calls upon Arab and Jewish armed groups in Palestine to cease acts of violence immediately."
Resolution 44: The Palestine Question (1 Apr 1948) Requests convocation of special session of the General Assembly, Resolution 46: The Palestine Question (17 Apr 1948) As the United Kingdom is the Mandatory Power, "it is responsible for the maintenance of peace and order in Palestine." The Resolutions also "Calls upon all persons and organizations in Palestine" to stop importing "armed bands and fighting personnel...whatever their origin;...weapons and war materials;...Refrain, pending the future government of Palestine...from any political activity which might prejudice the rights, claims, or position of either community;...refrain from any action which will endanger the safety of the Holy Places in Palestine." Resolution 106: The Palestine Question (29 Mar 1955) 'condemns' Israel for Gaza raid. Resolution 111: The Palestine Question (January 19, 1956) " ... 'condemns' Israel for raid on Syria that killed fifty-six people".
Resolution 138: (June 23, 1960) Question relating to the case of Adolf Eichmann, concerning Argentine complaint that Israel breached its sovereignty.
Resolution 162: The Palestine Question (April 11, 1961) " ... 'urges' Israel to comply with UN decisions". Resolution 171: The Palestine Question (April 9, 1962) " ... determines flagrant violations' by Israel in its attack on Syria".
Resolution 228: The Palestine Question (November 25, 1966) " ... 'censures' Israel for its attack on Samu in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control".
Resolution 237: Six Day War June 14, 1967) " ... 'urges' Israel to allow return of new 1967 Palestinian refugees". Resolution 240 (October 25, 1967): concerning violations of the cease-fire. Resolution 248: (March 24, 1968) " ... 'condemns' Israel for its massive attack on Karameh in Jordan".
Resolution 252: (May 21) " ... 'declares invalid' Israel's acts to unify Jerusalem as Jewish capital".Resolution 256: (August 16) " ... 'condemns' Israeli raids on Jordan as 'flagrant violation". Resolution 259: (September 27) " ... 'deplores' Israel's refusal to accept UN mission to probe occupation".
Resolution 262: (December 31) " ... 'condemns' Israel for attack on Beirut airport".Resolution 265: (April 1, 1969) " ... 'condemns' Israel for air attacks on Salt, Jordan".Resolution 267: (July 3) " ... 'censures' Israel for administrative acts to change the status of Jerusalem".Resolution 270: (August 26) " ... 'condemns' Israel for air attacks on villages in southern Lebanon".
Resolution 271: (September 15) " ... 'condemns' Israel's failure to obey UN resolutions on Jerusalem".Resolution 279: (May 12, 1970) "Demands the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli armed forces from Lebanese territory."(full text)Resolution 280: (May 19) " ... 'condemns' Israeli's attacks against Lebanon".
Resolution 285: (September 5) " ... 'demands' immediate Israeli withdrawal form Lebanon".Resolution 298: (September 25, 1971) " ... 'deplores' Israel's changing of the status of Jerusalem".Resolution 313: (February 28, 1972) " ... 'demands' that Israel stop attacks against Lebanon".Resolution 316: (June 26) " ... 'condemns' Israel for repeated attacks on Lebanon".
Resolution 317: (July 21) " ... 'deplores' Israel's refusal to release Arabs abducted in Lebanon".Resolution 331: (April 20, 1973)
Resolution 332: (April 21) " ... 'condemns' Israel's repeated attacks against Lebanon".Resolution 337: (August 15) " ... 'condemns' Israel for violating Lebanon's sovereignty".Resolution 338 (22 October 1973): cease fire in Yom Kippur War. Resolution 339 (23 October 1973): Confirms Res. 338, dispatch UN observers. Resolution 347: " ... 'condemns' Israeli attacks on Lebanon".
Resolution 350 (31 May 1974) established the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Syria in the wake of the Yom Kippur War.Resolution 425 (1978): " ... 'calls' on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon". Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon was completed by 16 June 2000. Resolution 427: " ... 'calls' on Israel to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon". Resolution 444: " ... 'deplores' Israel's lack of cooperation with UN peacekeeping forces".Resolution 446 (1979): 'determines' that Israeli settlements are a 'serious obstruction' to peace and calls on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention".Resolution 450: " ... 'calls' on Israel to stop attacking Lebanon". Resolution 452: " ... 'calls' on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories". Resolution 465: " ... 'deplores' Israel's settlements and asks all member states not to assist Israel's settlements program".
Resolution 467: " ... 'strongly deplores' Israel's military intervention in Lebanon". Resolution 468: " ... 'calls' on Israel to rescind illegal expulsions of two Palestinian mayors and a judge and to facilitate their return".
Resolution 469: " ... 'strongly deplores' Israel's failure to observe the council's order not to deport Palestinians".Resolution 471: " ... 'expresses deep concern' at Israel's failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention". Resolution 476: " ... 'reiterates' that Israel's claim to Jerusalem are 'null and void'".
Resolution 478 (20 August 1980): 'censures (Israel) in the strongest terms' for its claim to Jerusalem in its 'Basic Law'. Resolution 485Resolution 487: " ... 'strongly condemns' Israel for its attack on Iraq's nuclear facility".Resolution 497 (17 December 1981) decides that Israel's annexation of Syria's Golan Heights is 'null and void' and demands that Israel rescinds its decision forthwith. Resolution 498: " ... 'calls' on Israel to withdraw from Lebanon". Resolution 501: " ... 'calls' on Israel to stop attacks against Lebanon and withdraw its troops". Resolution 509: " ... 'demands' that Israel withdraw its forces forthwith and unconditionally from Lebanon".
Resolution 515: " ... 'demands' that Israel lift its siege of Beirut and allow food supplies to be brought in". Resolution 517: " ... 'censures' Israel for failing to obey UN resolutions and demands that Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon". Resolution 518: " ... 'demands' that Israel cooperate fully with UN forces in Lebanon". ... 'condemns' Israel's attack into West Beirut".
Resolution 573: " ... 'condemns' Israel 'vigorously' for bombing Tunisia in attack on PLO headquarters. Resolution 587 " ... 'takes note' of previous calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and urges all parties to withdraw".
Resolution 592: " ... 'strongly deplores' the killing of Palestinian students at Bir Zeit University by Israeli troops". Resolution 605: " ... 'strongly deplores' Israel's policies and practices denying the human rights of Palestinians.
Resolution 607: " ... 'calls' on Israel not to deport Palestinians and strongly requests it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention. Resolution 608: " ... 'deeply regrets' that Israel has defied the United Nations and deported Palestinian civilians". Resolution 636: " ... 'deeply regrets' Israeli deportation of Palestinian civilians. Resolution 639 (31 Jul 1989)
Resolution 641 (30 Aug 1989): " ... 'deplores' Israel's continuing deportation of Palestinians. Resolution 648 (31 Jan 1990)[1] The Security Council extends the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon until July 31, 1990.
Resolution 672 (12 Oct 1990): " ... 'condemns' Israel for "violence against Palestinians" at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.
Resolution 673 (24 Oct 1990): " ... 'deplores' Israel's refusal to cooperate with the United Nations. Resolution 681 (20 Dec 1990): " ... 'deplores' Israel's resumption of the deportation of Palestinians. Resolution 694 (24 May 1991): " ... 'deplores' Israel's deportation of Palestinians and calls on it to ensure their safe and immediate return. Resolution 726 (06 Jan 1992): " ... 'strongly condemns' Israel's deportation of Palestinians. Resolution 799 (18 Dec 1992): ". . . 'strongly condemns' Israel's deportation of 413 Palestinians and calls for their immediate return. Resolution 904 (18 Mar 1994): Cave of the Patriarchs massacre.
Resolution 938 (28 Jul 1994): extends mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon until January 31, 1995. Resolution 1351 (30 May 2001)
Resolution 1559 (2 September 2004) called upon Lebanon to establish its sovereignty over all of its land and called upon Syria to end their military presence in Lebanon by withdrawing its forces and to cease intervening in internal Lebanese politics. The resolution also called on all Lebanese militias to disband.
Resolution 1583 (28 January 2005) calls on Lebanon to assert full control over its border with Israel. It also states that "the Council has recognized the Blue Line as valid for the purpose of confirming Israel's withdrawal pursuant to resolution 425.
Resolution 1648 (21 December 2005) renewed the mandate of United Nations Disengagement Observer Force until 30 June 2006. Resolution 1701 (11 August 2006) called for the full cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
Resolution 1860 (9 January 2009) called for the full cessation of war between Israel and Hamas.

This list of resolutions, few of which have ever been abided by, demonstrates to what extent Israel has become a rouge nation. What they don’t explain is why the civilized world has ignored Israel’s lawlessness and violence for more than 60 years. Why have we allowed genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and all of Palestine?

The very obvious, and unfortunate result of the world’s unwillingness to bring Israel into compliance with the law, by merely enforcing international law, are the June 4th, 2010 executions of 20 humanitarian aid activists who were killed by being shot in the head and chest repeatedly and at a close range by Israel’s commandos. This is a crime of such tremendous proportion, that it will be interesting to see how Israel’s even most diehard supporters will avoid condemnation of this act without being stained by a lack of condemnation and considered complicit.

Whereas the world is not surprised by Israel’s lawlessness and disregard for the sacredness of human life, we continue to be shocked by its inability to understand that sooner or later it must be called to account for its genocide and other war crimes and crimes against humanity. We can only hope that this most recent Israeli atrocity will be the final straw in a 60 year history of Israeli aggression and mass murder and that it will compel a day of reckoning for Israel and justice for the Palestinian people.

2010-05-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

With the Name of God

National Association of Muslim American Muslim (NAMAW) calls for prayer vigil to break the illegal siege on Gaza. and free Palestine. Vigil dates to coincide with journey of freedom flotilla.

May 17, 2010

God says in the Qur’an, “The unbelievers are protectors of one another. Unless you this, (protect one another) there will be tumult and oppression on the earth and great mischief” (Holy Qur’an 8:73).

The Qur’an also teaches us that our prayers are a source of protection for one another. God told the prophet Muhammad (sa) that his prayers are a source of protection for the believers. Whereas we are not prophets, our righteous prayers, when prayed as the prophet prayed, also serve as a protection for the believers.

The city of Gaza in Palestine has been under an illegal and inhumane economic embargo, imposed by Egypt and the colonial Zionist occupation forces in Palestine for nearly 3 years. Egypt and the Zionist occupation forces have been aided and abetted by the likes of the so called Palestinian Authority and other Arab and also Western European countries and institutions that have refused to stop the criminal blockade. Even though more than 500 people, mostly suffering from chronic disease, have died as a result of this blockade, not even the UN Security Council has been moved by its own charter to put an end to this blatant crime against humanity, and the International Courts have also turned a blind eye, ignoring the tremendous suffering of the people of Gaza.

On May 15th the first of nine ships carrying humanitarian aide as well as building materials for the reconstruction of Gaza, left Ireland, headed for Gaza. It will meet and accompanied by 8 other ships, among them ships from Turkey, Algeria, carrying along with aid and assistance, delegations from the US and other Western countries as well as many noted personalities, statesmen, women and activists from throughout the world. The anticipated arrival date for the flotilla to reach Gaza’s shore is May 27, 2010.

The National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) is calling upon those who will not go to Gaza, to support this effort with a vigil of night prayers offered on behalf of Gaza and the freedom flotilla. We will be petitioning God each night, from May 18th through the 27th, or whenever the freedom flotilla arrives in Gaza. We will ask God to end this criminal siege on Gaza now. We will petition God to end the occupation of Palestine now, and to free Palestine. We will also be petitioning God to protect the ships and passengers who have set sail for Gaza, in obedience to His command to the believers, to answer the call of the weak, the oppressed, and those who are not able to free and protect themselves from the evil satanic forces and their followers and patrons without our help.

Our prayer vigil will begin at 12:00am, EST, May 28th and continue until Fajr, or the Morning Prayer. Please feel free to customize your individual or communal vigil to fit your own schedule if necessary. Some of us will take a break from 2:30am to 3:30am and then continue prayer at 3:30 am, until Fajr. Whether you pray in congregations or groups in the mosques or privately as groups and/or individuals in your homes, centers, etc, it does not matter. What matters is that we have the niyah to free Palestine, to end the illegal occupation, to lift the siege on Gaza, and to protect the freedom flotilla, the people, the ships and their cargo, and make them reach Gaza safely and return home safely.

We invite believers of other faith traditions to also conduct prayer vigils to end the siege on Gaza, and to protect the freedom flotilla, free Palestine and end the occupation. Please pray on our schedule, or feel free to set your own according to what is convenient for you. That we pray in unity on these nights is an act of unity from the believers in a righteous cause and action.

May Allah accept our intentions and supplications and facilitate us. May He protect and save us from the tricks of our enemies and the satanic forces who will attempt to prevent our prayers in any way they can, whether through satanic attacks of jinns and demons, sleepiness, sexual desire, other lusts, fatigue, forgetfulness and by other means unknown to us, but known by God. May God allow His angels to descend on these nights to protect and comfort us, keep us awake and keep us company, lead our prayers and pray with us. May every created thing unite with us in prayer for Gaza and all of Palestine. May God silence the tongues of the wicked, foil their schemes and plots and destroy the wicked jinn who assist them and with whom they have taken league for protection, and render all of their deeds ineffectual. May Allah protect and guide the freedom flotilla ships, the people and their cargo, send His angels to journey with them, to calm the seas and command them, in the name of the One God, to serve this righteous cause. Ameen.

“Those who believe and adopt exile, and fight for the faith in the cause of God, as well as those who give them asylum and aide, these are all in very truth the believers. For them is forgiveness of sins and a provision most generous” (8:75).

Death of a two state solution could give birth to a free Palestine

2010-04-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Anisa Abd el Fattah

Now that a noted and respected academician, Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, has suggested that a two state solution is dead, and that the result of that death will be the birth of Greater Israel as an apartheid state, we are free to stop wasting our time analyzing and hoping to improve upon and return to Oslo, and the idea of a negotiated end to the illegal occupation of Palestine.

It has been clear to most analysts for many years, and even pronounced on numerous occasions by the political leaders of the occupation administration, that there would be no Palestinian state allowed to co-exist side by side with the Jews envisioned Jewish Only state. For some reason, Arabs saw great merit in the Oslo formula for peace, even though it did not guarantee the establishment of a Palestinian state as an end result of a successful peace process. Indeed all along the Oslo path, it was very clear that the occupation was expanding on the ground, as it falsely spoke of peace. Even more importantly, after every failed round of so called negotiations, the Palestinians would be punished with various massacres and other acts of violence intended to cull the number of Palestinians, and also to further intimidate them, in preparation for the end game, which was always to be a single Jewish only state where the Palestinians would be allowed to exist in limited and controlled numbers, for the purpose of providing cheap labor.

For some reason, perhaps wishful thinking, many people confused the idea of peace in respect to Oslo, with the idea of freedom. The occupation has never offered the Palestinian people freedom. It has offered them quiet co-existence, but only according to the type of co-existence that is prescribed by the Talmudic law. That law suggests that Palestinian citizens of a Jewish only state are second, or even third class citizens whose purpose, as was reported by a noted Rabbi, would be to serve the Jews. In other words, not only does the one state solution from the Zionist perspective mean victory for Zionism whether over the long or short term, it also means absolute defeat for the Palestinians. Just as the American pioneers defeated and led the Native Americans off to reservations to die, so too the Palestinians will be allowed to live in their reservations, defeated and humiliated after years of struggle against a brutal and illegal occupation.

The prospect of the establishment of Greater Israel is of course completely unacceptable to most Muslims, and we can expect that there will be Muslims who will be willing to mount resistance against it. Yet, based upon past performance, we might anticipate that for the secular Arab nationalists leaders and monarchs, so long as they can continue to rule over their people in some capacity and to continue to be paid through either foreign aid, trade schemes, etc., the idea might not be so bad. In fact, it would not be much different from the way in which they co-exist with the occupation today. The only difference might be that rather than hiding their secret arrangements for normalized relations, and trade, they can complain to their people that the newly established Jewish state is in fact a done deal that all must accept and accommodate. With some groaning, it will be accepted as an accomplished fact and with very little resistance, to the extent that some of the financial rewards trickle down to pacify the people, as Israel has promised. There does not seem to be any way to attribute, or any reason to expect either integrity or good judgment on the part of the Arab leaders. There is absolutely no reason to expect that they will act on principle and stand with those Palestinians and Muslims who will resist being defeated in this way.

It is also important to note, that there is no reason to accept the idea that the death of a two state solution can only result in greater Israel as an apartheid state. The truth is, that the death of the two state fake peace process scheme, can result in freedom for Palestine, if the Palestinian people are ready psychologically and spiritually for what will perhaps be the most difficult push against the occupation in the history of the occupation.

It will require that they abandon not only the rhetoric of the status quo and its insistence that Israel exists as a legal entity with a supposed special right to exist, and that what is happening is merely a land dispute that is being resolved by the natural selection of a better armed, more powerfully supported Jewish entity. The Palestinians will have to create their own narrative and it cannot in any way yield in even the slightest way to either accommodation, or appeasement of the occupation and its enablers. The people must prepare to fight and to possibly die in pursuit of their freedom. We must admit the likelihood that no amount of disinvestment or boycotts will be allowed to weaken Israel, and the UNSC will never impose sanctions upon Israel. At best, BDS will prevent the business buzzards from profiting from the illegal occupation. The US and EU will subsidize any loss that Israel might experience from divestment, so in reality, the people of the US and EU are the ones who will be punished by BDS and that might be appropriate, but not very helpful to the Palestinians in the short term, which is when Israel will make its push to take control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, annexing them as part of Greater Israel.

The Palestinian narrative, in direct contradiction to the Zionist narrative must deprive the anticipated Jewish only state of all legitimacy, and it must stand boldly upon the law. It cannot capitulate in any way to the idea of co-existence or the supposed right of Israel to exist. It must reject completely the lie that Israel was established as an act of justice to a Jewish people who are reclaiming a lost land based upon a fake promise from God. It must reject the British mandate as a fraud and theft, and demand justice and an end to US and EU unconditional financial and military support for a criminal enterprise and genocide. It must insist that the occupation exists in violation of international laws and treaties, and must also seek to criminalize those who support the illegal occupation, just as the occupation and its enablers have sought to criminalize all support for Palestinian freedom.

The people of the Arab and Muslim world must adopt this narrative and must live by it, refusing normalized relations of any type with the occupation or the Jews anywhere. This is another area where boycott can be effective, if it is a boycott of Jewish products being sold in Muslim countries. The people must accept that we are at war not only with a people, but with an idea and that idea is Greater Israel which is supported by a majority of Jews from throughout the world.

We must never accept the idea of a Jewish only state, or Greater Israel and the subjugation of the Palestinians as slaves living as third class citizens within that state. It will require that the Palestinian refugees dispersed throughout the Arab and Muslim world, become more involved and active as participants in the Palestinian resistance and it will require that Muslims everywhere, just as Jews everywhere, recognize that we are at war, not for land as they are, but for freedom. The war is for freedom of these, and for all other peoples living under occupation. The Zionists are fighting for land, but the Palestinians and the conscientious people of the world who support them will resist in pursuit of justice and freedom, not only for Palestinians but also for those who we know will soon fall prey to this same challenge, as the imperialists, emboldened by success in Palestine, intensify their drive to take over the Muslim and Arab world and also the resources, including the people of the region.

The death of the two state solution could give life to a free Palestine, but only if the people of the world decide that Palestine must be freed. We must decide to end this illegal occupation that is threatening to use brute strength to capture and enslave an indigenous people based upon a false narrative that has been used deceptively to convince the world that an illegal and criminal enterprise has been imposed upon us by a Jewish god that has supposedly enslaved Gentiles to serve these supposed chosen people. A chosen people whose society is overrun with organized crime, prostitution, human trafficking, government corruption, and the guilt of innocent blood, spilled without conscience, or consequence. We, meaning the entire world, is at a crossroads, and we must decide now, that Palestine will either be free, or lost forever to Greater Israel, a criminal apartheid state. If we decide that Palestine should die, be prepared, because there will be no hope for Africa, or Latin America or any of the other small countries with coveted land and resources. The battle for Palestine will be the last battle for freedom in our time. Decide now to win or surrender.

Why every Muslim must become the Islamic resistance

2010-03-18T06:28:00.000-07:00

Anisa Abd el Fattah

With the people of the world continuing to ignore the plight of the Palestinian people, who are continuously suffering due to the results of an illegal and brutal military occupation, and as the international institutions and Arab, and Western governments continue to ignore Israel’s violence and repeated violations of international law, it is becoming increasingly clear to Muslims and Arabs throughout the world, that we must become the Islamic resistance that we dream of.

The truth is all too apparent, that the Arab governments and the international institutions are not going to address the very serious problem of Israeli aggression and violations of international laws in respect to Palestine. They are also never going to help Muslim and Arab people in our struggle for human rights and freedoms in our own countries. The truth is that as far as the world is concerned, Muslims and Arabs have no rights, and our lives, as far as they are concerned, have little or no value.

Israel has launched an intense crackdown on the Palestinian people. PA aggression against the Palestinian resistance, under the guidance of traitors and collaborators such as former PA President Mahmoud Abbas, is no longer a secret. Abbas, who is filled with selfishness and envy and his European trained Palestinian anti-resistance force, have crippled the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank, leaving the people defenseless against the almost daily violence of Zionist Jewish settlers. This campaign against the resistance has been helped in Gaza by Egypt's Hosni Mubarak who worked diligently to cripple the resistance in Gaza by blowing up tunnels, and preventing the people from having food and other materials essential for normal lives, including electricity that has been shut off in many areas. Never forget that it was Hosni Mubarak who trapped the people of Gaza and prevented them from escaping three weeks of massacre carried out by Israel, that left 1,500 Palestinians dead, 500 of whom were women and children. Now Jordan is also rounding up pro-Palestinian activists and making it a crime to protest or even to write in support of the Palestinian people. Will we wait until everyone is behind bars, or dead before we act?

When we speak of these illegitimate governments, we are not talking about decent human beings who are interested in peace as they claim. They are liars and they are the only ones who are making war, and they are making war against unarmed, and starving, defenseless people because they are not Jews. These animals are liars and hypocrites and mass murderers who feel that they have crushed the Islamic resistance by killing and imprisoning members of Islamic and Muslim groups and organizations in Palestine. We are talking about ruthless and godless animalistic men and women who can do anything cruel and horrible to achieve their goals.

For Israel, the goal is to dominate the Muslim world and to reign as master over its people and resources. For the wicked and corrupt Arab dogs that facilitate Israel, their goals are merely to stay in power and to be protected by the US and Israel from being exposed, and held accountable for the crimes against humanity and human rights violations they perpetrate against their own people. They don't want the world to know that they torture, rape and sodomize prisoners, and disappear people to prevent criticism and to shut down opposition. They are also afraid that one day they will be held accountable for the billions in US foreign aid they have squandered. They live like kings while the Muslim and Arab people in their countries are mostly illiterate and live in gross poverty, and are denied even basic rights in many places.

The time has come for Muslims to stop looking at the Muslim world through the eyes of the colonialists who carved up the Muslim territories and who imposed their authority through the appointment of hand picked secular and atheist puppet governments and monarchies that are illegitimate and unjust rulers of what used to be the Muslim empire.

It is time for us to remember, that in our world, there are no Palestinians, or Jordanians, or Iraqis, or Egyptians, or Muslim Americans, or Lebanese, Iranians, etc., etc, etc., and that we are all Muslim. We must remember that along with God, we are all that we have. And as we remember this, we must unite in heart and soul, and we must become the Islamic resistance that we dream of. The time has come to end Muslim suffering and to demand freedom and justice for our people. This is why we, meaning every Muslim, must become the Islamic resistance. We must work tirelessly to free our people and our lands from all illegitimate governments, oppressors, tyrants and occupiers. We must do so according to Islamic laws, and in ways that are just, and without hatred. We must do so, with complete trust in God.

National Association of Muslim American Women endorses call for intifada in defense of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

2010-03-16T05:44:00.000-07:00

Today, March 16, 2010, the National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) adds our voices to the growing chorus of voices calling for Palestinian intifada in response to Israel’s continued acts of aggression in violation of the Geneva Conventions, against the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Due to the silence and negligence of the United States, the EU and those who have the responsibility to ensure enforcement of the Geneva Conventions, Israel has been allowed to repeatedly attempt to prevent Muslims from having unfettered access to the mosque, and Israel has also undermined the structural integrity of the Al Aqsa mosque, and allowed its desecration by militant Jewish Zionist settler groups.

As we have said numerous times before, when the international institutions and community of nations fail in their responsibility to the peoples of the world, the people must and will take the initiative to act in protection of their own lives, rights and property and to attain freedom.

Reports today from Jerusalem by Al Jazeera news agency, says that more than 3000 Israeli soldiers surrounded the mosque compound beginning on Monday and that after worshippers had completed the Morning Prayer on Tuesday, they were attacked by the Israeli soldiers and beaten with batons, and tear gassed. Deputy head of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 Occupied Lands, Kamal Al-Khatib said that there are many Palestinian casualties.

It is in light of these developments and due to our conviction that Israel is a lawless and out of control aggressor that will never end its violence and aggression against the Palestinian people, that we endorse the call for intifada, including the call by the Organization Islamic Conference (OIC)and call for Muslims throughout the world to join our brothers and sisters in Palestine in their struggle for freedom, and in defense of the Al Aqsa Mosque in every permissible and legal way that is possible.

NAMAW endorses Ghaddfi speech calling for boycott of Switzerland and invigoration of Muslim spirit of jihad

2010-03-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

With the Name of God, who is Most Gracious and Most Merciful

When former US President George W. Bush first referred to the US war on terrorism as a crusade, many international pundits and diplomats were appalled. None could believe that the former president had characterized the US effort to apprehend and to punish those who were responsible for the September 11th 2001 attacks on the United States, in that way.

The international Muslim leadership and organizations were also shocked, and appalled by his choice of a word depicting what was being presented as a war against the use of political violence, as a crusade, or a Christian religious war against Islam.

It was not until years later, after the illegal invasion and destruction of Iraq, a Muslim country that had no relationship to 9/11, and subsequent invasions of other Muslim countries not involved, nor suspected of involvement in 9/11, that Muslims and others began to realize that the former President’s characterization of the so called war on terrorism was indeed accurate.

Credible and substantiated reports that Qur’ans were being flushed down toilets and destroyed and that mosque were being targeted and blown up, were the first clues that the war on terrorism was not really a war against political violence. Also, reports that Muslims were being subjected to mass round ups, kidnappings, secret detainments, massacres and torture were also clues that the war on terrorism is much more than merely an attempt to identify and to apprehend suspected terrorists. The US military was distributing Bibles and Bible tracts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a wave of Christian missionaries either followed, or accompanied the US military into Iraq and other Muslim countries where they carried out efforts to convert Muslims to Christianity in exchange for food, medical assistance, housing, etc. This, after most Muslim charities had been either shut down or operations limited due to false claims that their charitable works and contributions were being used to fund terrorism.

To date this crusade has engulfed more than 5 predominately Muslim countries in violence and destruction, resulting from attacks by either US military forces, or their proxies. More than 1,366,000 people, all innocent civilians, have been murdered in Iraq, while previously, more than 500,000 innocent Iraqi children had been literally starved to death as the US and the UN imposed a devastating economic sanctions regime on Iraq in a failed attempt at regime change.

It is not sufficient for us to mention these things without also mentioning that prior to the 9/11 attacks, the United States and the world were already being prepared for this type of an assault on Islam, and Muslims. Pro-Israeli polemicists and propagandists had begun, years prior to the 2001 attacks on the US, a campaign that was clearly aimed at demonizing Islam and Muslims and perpetuating the false idea that all Muslims are either terrorists or potential terrorists. People such as Steven Emerson, Daniel Pipes, Rita Katz, Judith Miller and other Zionists, played a primary role in creating an environment of suspicion and fear of Muslims, suggesting in their writings and lectures that Muslims hate the West due to the teachings of Islam and the Qur’an, and could not be trusted, and that we should be denied Constitutional rights and subjected to unique and novel types of persecutions.

Whereas it was not so clear in the past that this campaign was perhaps intended to foment fear and hatred of Muslims, and aimed at dehumanizing Muslims in preparation for what subsequently did become an all out war against Islam and Muslims, it is clear now that this was indeed the purpose and intent of their campaign. While these people worked to poison public opinion in the US and Europe in respect to Islam and Muslims, their operatives inside the US government and military did the most harm, plotting and unleashing after 9/11, a crusade that has not only devastated the Muslim and Arab world, but that also caused the US to abandon our own laws, traditions and values, which caused us to lose credibility and prestige in the eyes of most of the world.

On March 2, 2010, in commemoration of the birthday of our beloved prophet Muhammad (sa), the President of Libya and Commander of the World Islamic People’s Leadership, Muamar Ghaddafi, gave an historic speech, wherein he spoke the truth concerning these issues, and the obligation for Muslims throughout the world to unite in opposition to this crusade, and to condemn all unjust and illegal violence such as terrorism and also the renegade organizations that have sought to undermine Islam and Muslims through an attempted usurpation of Islamic authority, and distortion of Islam. President Ghaddafi specifically mentions Al Qaeda, and says that it is up to the international Muslim ummat to teach the world the difference between the honorable jihad of Muslims, and the illegal and criminal violence of organizations such as Al Qaeda. He said, “We should be clear that terrorism, which is a hallmark of Al Qaeda, led by Ayman al Zawahiri and his gang of criminal murderers, is not jihad. Unfortunately we have young people who have been deceived and who believe that this type of crime is jihad. We must make it clear to them that the unjust killing of Muslims is not jihad and violation of the Islamic laws is not jihad.”
He appealed to the Muslim youth saying, “To kill innocent women and children and to kill Muslims because of sectarianism is kufr (unbelief), and this is not jihad.”

President Ghaddafi went on to say, “Kidnapping, beheading, drug trafficking, banditry and robbery, smuggling of illegal goods, intimidation of the Muslim people who feel unsafe even in their own countries…this is terrorism, let us be clear. The Muslim people must be against such crimes, and turn against the gangs like Al Qaeda, who mock Islam with their illegal actions.”

In another part of this same speech, President Ghaddafi also condemned the crusade against Islam and Muslims and called the Muslim ummat to defend itself against this crusade by embracing and reinvigorating the Islamic obligation, and spirit of jihad, which is the righteous struggle against all evil, oppression and injustice. He specifically called for a Muslim boycott of Switzerland, based upon the fact that Switzerland has repeatedly allowed the ugly cartooning and defaming caricatures of the prophet Muhammad (sa), along with defamation of Islam. Switzerland also banned Muslims from building mosques with minarets. He explained this as a jihad to deny Switzerland money, and not to act violently, which is what Al Qaeda desires.

It is our opinion that President Ghaddafi sincerely wants to teach our youth and the world, that the desire for justice is the right of every human being, and to act to attain that justice is also a right and it is a right enjoyed by the Muslim and not only the non-Muslim. The Islamic obligation for jihad, is not merely a call to an armed confrontation, it is a call to act and struggle for justice in every reasonable way that we can.

In keeping with this theme, President Ghaddafi made it clear that the struggle of the Palestinian people to be free from the illegal Israeli occupation of their land, and to end the illegal economic embargo and other crimes against humanity and war crimes that are daily perpetrated against them, is the righteous jihad of Islam. He said, “There is a big difference, like the difference between heaven and earth, between terrorism and the jihad of the Palestinian people.”

President Ghaddafi also called upon Muslims throughout the world to end their attempts to separate themselves from the larger countries in which they live, and to instead adopt a cooperative approach, working with the governments to improve understanding of Islam, while demonstrating that Muslims are honorable people who live by the Qur’an. He suggested that Muslims struggle to become leaders in their countries and communities, and to struggle to change things from within, rather than to separate and form small and powerless countries that will be dependent upon the larger more powerful countries for security and other essentials.

It is our opinion that President Ghaddafi’s speech represents a first step towards reclaiming Muslim dignity and reasserting the Muslim right to justice and our Islamic duty to embark upon the jihad as a means of self defense and also as a method by which to attain justice and security for the Muslim lands and people. We agree with President Ghaddafi’s statement that an attempt has been made to equate jihad with terrorism, and that this was done with the intent to prevent Muslims from acting in our own defense and to force our surrender to the crusade, and our abandonment of Islam.

In consideration of the points mentioned, it is with great pleasure that the National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) announces our endorsement of President Ghaddafi’s speech and we join our voice with his voice, calling the Muslim ummat to unity, an end to sectarianism, and re-invigoration of the true spirit of jihad. We join President Ghaddafi in the call for opposition to Al Qaeda and other violent gangs. We endorse his call to boycott Switzerland, and international support for the righteous struggle and resistance of the Palestinian people in their quest for freedom, and the right to return to their homeland. We also support and endorse his recommendation to forge alliances with the honest people within our governments, in an effort to alleviate the present oppression and persecution being suffered by Muslims throughout the world at the hands of certain special interests within these governments. We also support his call for greater Muslim integration, and activism on the community level, and more Muslim leadership in politics.

We believe that the recommendations and explanations provided by President Ghaddafi in his speech represent a refreshing change by a Muslim leader of his stature, who rather than to repeatedly chastise Muslims for crimes we have not committed, recognizes the Muslim rights, and call for a re-invigoration of the spirit of jihad, and true Islam. We pray that God will continue to guide and to protect him, and appeal to Muslims everywhere to reflect upon, and to adhere to his wise advice, and counsel.

(signed) Anisa Abd el Fattah, Chairwoman
National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW)

There is no peace in Palestine

2010-03-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

Word is that Washington and the other Western and European powers are happy that former PA president Mahmoud Abbas will be involved in what they are calling indirect talks with Israel. What a sham. Mahmoud Abbas is no longer president of the PA and is barely holding onto power in Fatah, where he was threatened with ouster just months ago. Abbas is a Palestinian leader who has the unique distinction of being drenched in the blood of his own people, on whose behalf he will pretend to negotiate. In fact, one might suspect that his being drenched in Palestinian blood makes him the perfect peace partner for Benjamin Netanyahu, who we all know is also drenched in Palestinian blood. That blood includes the fresh blood of Hamas co-founder Mahmoud Mabhouh, who was assassinated in January by an Israeli hit team in Dubai. This has obviously upset Abbas so much, that his participation in indirect talks will supposedly begin this week, rather than after Dubai’s police chief issues the arrest warrant he has pledged to issue for Netanyahu’s arrest in relationship to the Dubai murder.

The fact that the two peace partners are not men who care the least bit about Palestine and who could care even less about the Palestinian people is not the biggest problem with the so called indirect negotiations. The biggest problem is that they are again claiming to be negotiating peace, when everyone knows there is no peace to negotiate in Palestine. Israel, knowing that Abbas was chomping at the negotiations bit, even though he pretended to hold out for an Israeli halt to illegal settlement building which everyone knew was not going to happen, has been very busy preparing for the talks by grabbing up more Palestinian land, even laying claim to Christian and Muslim holy sites under the false claim that the sites are part of the Jewish heritage of Israel. Netanyahu knows what Abbas ignores, and that is that whatever he takes prior to negotiations is non negotiable, and Israel’s European and US patrons will never force or pressure Israel to give up anything of the land that it claims as its Biblical right, even if that land is under the religious sites of other faiths, whose existence dates back centuries ago.

With Netanyahu doing everything in his power to confiscate as much land as he can prior to the so called indirect talks, Abbas’s role is already limited. What will he negotiate? It’s obvious that these talks are not about Palestinian land, or even a state, all things that Israel has either already taken or already refused. So what is the point of these indirect negotiations? The purpose of these indirect talks is to decide how to complete the continued ethnic and religious cleansing of the West Bank and Jerusalem through a negotiated agreement with Mahmoud Abbas, and his Fatah movement whose membership now includes two Zionist Israeli Jews who have inroads into the Israel government.

Netanyahu has said that he wants Jordan to be involved in all subsequent talks which means that he is ready to introduce John Hagee’s and the other Christian Zionist’s proposed solution to the crisis in Palestine, which is to further ignore the Geneva Conventions and to transfer the Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem to Jordan. Funny don’t you think how Jordan keeps popping up in these final solutions proposed by Israel for their land grabbing schemes? First Palestine, then Iraq, and now back to Palestine. Makes one wonder why Israel thinks Jordan is willing or even interested in becoming an Israeli proxy authority over Palestinians and Iraqis displaced by Israel’s maneuvers to reconstruct what it deems Greater Israel.

It’s also important to note that the Palestinian people themselves are not interested in either direct or indirect talks with Israel. Most, if not all of the other Palestinian factions, who represent two or three times the number of Palestinians represented by Fatah, and who feel that they are not represented adequately by the PLO, are opposed to any negotiations with Israel. The people who make up and support these factions remember that every round of negotiations with Israel ends with a massacre as punishment for refusing Israel’s demands. They already know that regardless of the lies Abbas will tell, or what promises he makes, knowing that he cannot deliver anything, the Palestinian people must prepare to fight, and to survive more crippling and devastating pressure, resulting from the schemes Israel and the traitorous Arab governments will employ to deny Palestinians statehood, the right of return, and anything of meaning, and only transfer.

This also explains why Israel is desperate for the US to impose crippling sanctions on Iran, going so far as to request that the US attempt to blockade Iran to prevent Iran from being able to move its ships outside the Persian Gulf, should Iran decide to come to the rescue of the Palestinians. Israel realizes that the only thing that can foil its wicked plan is the Islamic movement and it is working desperately to do what it can to prevent any of the countries or groups that have taken an Islamic position on the crisis in Palestine from coming to Palestine’s assistance. With the approval of the Arab League for Israel’s final solution, communicated slyly as its “approval” of indirect talks between Abbas and Israel, Israel feels that its future as a Jewish only state that has captured all of historic Palestine is finally within sight. If it can either neutralize or defeat Syria, Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Hamas and the other resistance groups in Palestine, its dream of complete capture and control of historic Palestine, and normalized relations with its traitorous Arab neighbors will have come true. If this scenario plays out as Israel hopes, all of the murder, torture, lies and violations of the law will have paid off and perhaps forgiven or ignored by a world that is weary of this problem and perhaps willing to take whatever solution it can get, even at the expense of Palestinian life, rights, hopes and homeland.

There is no peace in Palestine and none will be found until Abbas resigns, the PA is dissolved and the people of Palestine allowed to elect their own representatives and to present to the world, their own demands for freedom for Israel’s brutal and illegal occupation. No amount of fake negotiations will lead to peace, in fact everything that is now being put in place by the US, EU, Israel and the traitor Arab states will be a cause for war. It will be war because Israel and the traitor Arab states will never again be left to torture and torment the Palestinian people as the world looks on and does nothing. Neither will they be allowed to transfer the Palestinians to Jordan. Israel and its lackeys east and west, have miscalculated the strength of those who are determined that Israel will not succeed, and that the blood, hopes, lives, homes and the rights of the Palestinian people, will not be a casualty of Israel’s sick and demented fantasy of greater Israel and a Jewish only state, nor a casualty of the religious fanaticism of the Christian wrong who are attempting to force the world into Armageddon, or their cowardly sycophants in the governments of the EU and the US.

Peacemaking in Palestine

2010-02-09T12:18:00.000-08:00

Anisa Abd el Fattah

Palestine seems to be at that place in history where things can go delightfully right or miserably wrong, based upon a single decision to either re-engage with Israel in peace negotiations, or not. Of course the use of the word peace is deceptive in this respect, because negotiations as far as Israel is concerned are not really a quest for peace as one might imagine. Israel is not interested in peace as in withdrawing to its pre war 67 borders, and removing its illegal checkpoints, stopping military raids, kidnappings, and ending apartheid, the siege on Gaza etc. In fact these issues have never been negotiable as far as Israel is concerned. Keep in mind also that Israel has never lived up to a negotiated agreement.

It seems that at least as far as Israel is concerned, the word peace is little more than a way to express a desire for Palestinians to decide whether they will submit to being displaced through a process of negotiated agreements, or if they prefer to be displaced forcefully. In other words, Israel seems to believe that through negotiations it will determine how the cleansing of Palestine will take place. In the past, whenever Israel failed to get what it wanted at the negotiating table, it has punished the Palestinians with violent massacres and brutal military assaults.

For those who think this opinion is too cynical let’s look at the facts. The Knesset could vote to end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and peace, as understood from the traditional definition, would be immediate. After all, Palestinians are not attacking Israel, or Israelis. They are not shooting them, bombing them, confiscating their land, demolishing their homes, destroying their farms, killing their livestock or literally chasing them from their homes and moving into them. The Palestinians mostly threaten to retaliate in return for Israel’s acts of violence, but seldom do. If we were to look only at the facts and ignore Israel’s incendiary rhetoric, it would become quite cleat that Israel is the reason that there is no peace, and they are the only people making perpetual war. The reality is that negotiations are not required for there to be peace, and no violence is required for peacemaking. Israel could withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza, remove its checkpoints, buy out the illegal settlers, ( and all are illegal) then relocate them to Israel proper. What would be left to be negotiated after that might be water rights and security arrangements that would prevent Israel from breeching its borders again, and attempting to confiscate the natural gas and oil reserves that belong to Palestine.

Unfortunately, neither Mahmoud Abbas nor any of the PLO team has suggested to Israel that if Israel wants to have meaningful negotiations, there should first be peace, at least in the sense that all Israeli violence against Palestinians should end as a gesture of sincerity. That, to most people would be more important and urgent than an end to settlement building which is really almost meaningless when we consider that anyone can live in those buildings, but no one can bring the Palestinians that are being murdered almost daily back to life. The lives and security of the Palestinian people would be the priority in the real world. Only in this conflict are the rights of the illegal occupier and war criminal more important than the rights and protection of its victim.

It is not difficult to understand why the US is pushing for renewed negotiations. The US is bankrupt and simply cannot afford to sustain Israel’s appetite for violence and weaponry much longer. On top of that, the US, which is fighting two other wars for the sake of Israel, cannot take any more risk that blow back from these Zionist inspired misadventures will manifest on America’s shores, or against its interests abroad. The US might be ready for that theoretical Clean Break that is the underlying purpose for all of these wars, occupations and violence. The Clean Break, as far as the US is concerned can’t be realized except through a negotiated process that saves face for Israel who would rather be seen as a top flight negotiator and peacemaker than a violent warmonger, even though in the past Israel has only been successful at war, and these wars were carried out and victories realized with the help of the US and other world powers who are committed to Israel because of religious fervor and fanaticism, and not based upon any logical, strategic or even remotely just idea.

The trouble in Palestine will only be resolved when the Palestinians themselves stop playing Israel’s game and figure out what their own unique interest is. What is their objective?

The Palestinians must realize that they will never be free of Israel without a decisive victory, either military or diplomatic that will force Israel to abandon the idea that it can achieve its desire to take all of Palestine militarily should Israel not get what it wants through negotiations. That means that Palestinians must accept that they cannot be free of Israel without a fight, unless some power that can balance the influence of the US, Israel and the EU gets involved and commits to Palestinian security with the same enthusiasm that the US and EU has committed to Israel’s. Iran, Turkey, Russia and China can do that, but will they?

The Palestinians must also be willing to state what issues are negotiable and, limit those issues to those not already the subject of UN resolutions, or issues that can be resolved by adhering to international laws, conventions and treaties. In other words, Israel should not be allowed to evade the law, or rewrite the law through negotiations. This is in fact prohibited by the Geneva Conventions. Only issues that are not addressed by law should be subject to negotiation and it might be worth it for Palestine to create a commission to review all relevant conventions, laws, treaties and resolutions in an effort to determine what can be legally negotiated and what cannot, and should not be included.

Last but not least, Palestine must decide what it wants as a reasonable gesture of sincerity from Israel before agreeing to renewed talks. I would suggest that it be that all violence against Palestinians, including kidnappings, raids, torture etc. end immediately, without exception, along with land confiscations, home demolitions and settler violence. I would suggest that Israel be put on notice that a single act of settler violence will end all negotiations. I would also demand that Israel end its illegal siege on Gaza. Minus any of these changes, there would be no negotiations.

The trouble in Palestine stems from either an unwillingness or inability of the Palestinians to identify and act in their own interests without feeling obligated to please either the US or the EU.

There is also without doubt, some fear based upon past experience, that just as the US pretends to play peacemaker, it is equally capable and has also played war maker, providing tacit approval and providing weapons and also financing for Israel’s illegal attacks on Palestine, carried out as punishment for refusing Israel’s advances at the negotiating table. The US is not an honest broker in this conflict and the Palestinians know it, but really haven’t been able up to this point to do much about it. The only way to solve this problem is for other players to become involved who are capable of leveraging Israeli, US and European power, taking the side of the Palestinians. These must be countries who have the capacity and are willing to exact punishment on Israel, and also the US and EU if and when they carry out acts of illegal and unjust violence, and aggression against Palestine.

The way to make and sustain peace is to balance power, and the way to negotiate is to limit negotiations to your own, not your opponents interests, to the extent possible. In respect to Israel’s illegal military occupation, those issues related to its withdrawal, its borders, etc., have already been addressed, either by UN resolutions or the law, and Israel should respect and conform to the law. What would be left in that case is for Israel and Palestine to work out the terms for sharing the land in ways that are fair, just and that sustain peace. This is the real purpose of peace negotiations and a legitimate peace process. This would take real Palestinian leadership and cannot be carried out by people who are only interested in pleasing the US and Israel, or who are seeking power and money, and fame, or who fear displeasing the US and Israel.

While waiting for the Palestinians to prepare for such negotiations, Israel should end all violence against the Palestinian people, including settler violence, home demolitions, destruction of agriculture and livestock and confiscation of land, and also its excavation under Al Aqsa mosque. Israel must also end its illegal embargo of Gaza, and remove the illegal settlers from the West Bank and prepare for complete withdrawal.

Those who are really interested in peace between Palestinians and Israel need to encourage and assist Israel in conforming to the numerous UN resolutions that address the illegal occupation, Israel’s persistent violence, the illegal economic siege on Gaza and settler violence, etc. The Geneva Conventions and other international laws provide guidance and limits for both the Palestinians and the Israelis that can clear the pathway to a negotiated agreement explaining how these two people will share the land in real peace once the illegal occupation has ended and the people are clear that they are preparing, or rather being prepared for co-existence, and not the domination of any group of people over the other.

The Last Days

2010-01-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

By Anisa Abd el Fattah

While watching TV several nights ago I came across a program that talked about the Christian idea of Armageddon. The narrator went over Biblical scriptures, seeking to create an image or an impression of what the last days before God’s final judgment of humanity will be like. Anyone who has read the Book of Revelations in the Bible, or listened to the apocalyptic preachers of the fundamentalist Church, believes that the last days will be filled with many overwhelming events, such as the rapture, the mass destruction of many people, catastrophes, plagues, famines and the like. In their end time scenario God begins punishing and destroying the wicked, and rapturing the righteous even before the actual Day of Judgment takes place.

As I watched this program, I thought about a verse of the Qur’an that says,”Those who really believe in a Day of Judgment hold it in awe.” To me, that means that if people really believe that what they read in the Biblical Book of Revelations is true, there would not be the wars, oppression, genocides, tyranny and other crimes against humanity taking place so boldly in our societies, and against so little opposition. Surely, those who feel that they are eligible for rapture would be busy opposing the forces of darkness, confident of victory, while the forces of darkness would be trying to get as much evil done as possible in the supposedly short amount of time they have left, hoping somehow to defeat the righteous, and God, with the supposed power of satan. Looking out at the world, it appears that only the wicked are believers in the last days. Their quite obvious confidence and sense of urgency in their quest for primacy might be the proof of that.

Perhaps the point of the documentary wasn’t really to convince us that the last days are upon us, or that we should prepare to be judged. It seems more likely that the point of the documentary was to feed the fire of self righteousness that is fueled by the supremacist thinking of the so called self declared “saved” and “righteous” who have obviously already judged themselves and declared themselves ready for rapture, and the rest of us bound for hell. This is true Christian charity according to the fundamentalists; that they have saved themselves and left others, in fact a majority, behind.

The Qur’an on the other hand gives us another view of the last days, and makes it clear to us that it is not the literal last days of all existence, but it is the last days of the system that God put in place to serve us in our journey from Him and, and our return to Him. For the sake of mental imagery we refer to it as a cycle of life much like a circle that has a point of departure, sojourn and return to its origin. In this scenario, the last days are not days of destruction and chaos. They are the final tests of those who say they have chosen God’s path, and an opportunity for us to join the heavenly forces as they usher in the transition of this system from one of test of trial in hardship, to a period of test and trial in ease and prosperity. The period of ease and prosperity is known by some as the 1000 year millennium.

In Islam we believe that there are many days of judgment. We are judged each night according to actions during the day, and we are judged each minute by the actions performed a minute ago. We are judged at the time of death, and then again at the time of resurrection. So in Islam there is no single last day for humanity in which we are to give up hope for salvation, but rather there are last days, pregnant with hope and opportunities for good and righteous acts, up and until we stand before God and our Imams and prophets seek to intercede for us, so that we might be spared complete separation from God, which is an unbearable thought for those who understand how intimately our happiness, well being and connection to God are associated.

There are many Muslims who believe that we are at the beginning of this period of transition or transformation from the system of test and trial through adversity and suffering, to the period of test and trial in peace and prosperity. Such belief also includes belief that these last days will perhaps present the most difficult trials for the true believers who will be challenged to stand with heavenly forces in the final battles against the wicked that will end their period of supposed supremacism and usher in the days of the righteous, who will begin working to establish the kingdom of God on earth, as it is in heaven.

For some, that means that the last days are the final tests of faith in times of cruelty and human suffering, wars, famines, plagues and horrendous crimes against humanity. Unlike those in some other religions who believe this is the time for gloating at the eagerly anticipated fall of the wicked and rapture of the righteous, Muslims believe that the last days are a final opportunity to choose to stand with the forces of God, or those of satan in a series of final trials aimed at sorting out those who have attained knowledge and understood the meaning of the cycle and the importance of intimacy with our Creator, as opposed to those who have not, and so will be idle, and cowed with fear, and serving wickedness in their silence and apathy.

So this judgment is by the standards of clear and common criteria for all of humanity. The last days represent a final choice in this era of trial through sacrifice, hardship and struggle, to either stand in opposition to the wickedness of these times, or to stand still, and be judged as one who failed to believe that the promises of God are true. God said,”The righteous will inherit this earth.” These last days before us are perhaps a period of sorting out, and a time to determine who are the true believers in God, those sitting back arrogantly waiting to be saved, while the entire world is suffering from the mischief of satan and his forces, or those who will spare nothing to save humanity from the temporary hell of this life, hoping for an eternity of happiness in the next? The last days are the times to choose, and to act.

May Allah grant us the knowledge and wisdom required for these difficult times. May God purify our hearts and remove all idols, and false worship from us. May He give us the courage to remain steadfast in the face of hardships, trials and death, and grant us the manifest (already promised) victory. Amen.

Understanding and defeating the war on radicalization

2009-11-27T19:16:00.000-08:00

The new approach to suppressing rights to free speech, and political expression is to call any speech or attitude that conveys disgust or moral outrage over the very obvious US and our ally’s violations of international law that have come to characterize the so called war on terrorism, radicalization.

If, when you hear that a drone has killed ten or twenty innocent people or more at a wedding or funeral in Pakistan in a military attempt to supposedly kill just one supposed terrorist, and you criticize that disproportionate and immoral use of force, you might be called radical, and extreme. It’s not because your gut instincts are naturally repulsed by what happened, that’s fine. You simply are not supposed to criticize or suggest that what happened was wrong, a violation of international law, or that it creates a desire and an excuse that justifies a similar use of violence by our supposed adversaries, in ways that might also be illegal and immoral.

If, when you hear that more than 1 million innocent people have been killed in a war where we were not fighting an army, or an enemy, but an insurgency that had a right to fight against a foreign invading and occupying military force, and that we not only killed those people, but also tortured them, raped them and destroyed their homes and then sent missionaries to provide them with Bibles in exchange for food and comfort. If you hear that, and you feel morally outraged that a certain faction in our country has used our troops and our money in this way, and you say or write anything critical about it, you might be considered by the powers that be, Democrats and Republicans and some so called independents, a person that has become radicalized.

Becoming radicalized can be compared to getting infected with rabies. If you hang out with, read, or agree with people who have already been infected with radicalism, and who write, speak, and do radical things like write letters critical of the war to newspaper editors, or submit op-eds to newspapers suggesting that the US is committing war crimes in these wars, etc., you can, and might also become radicalized. Like rabies, radicalization makes you appear angry. It can cause you to froth at the mouth as you debate simple concepts like human decency, law and justice and fair play with people who have been inoculated against radicalization. Such people are immune to radicalization due to injections of cash, jobs, appearances on cable TV, a mention in mainstream media as good people, and other perks, and pay offs.

The inoculated are absolutely incapable of understanding things like, you can’t lie your way into an illegal military invasion of a sovereign country, kill off its people, send in para-military groups to carry out slaughters, and then claim to be justified by the deaths of 3000 people, many of whom were foreign nationals and not even Americans, who were killed by other people, and not the people whose country you invaded and subsequently destroyed. Not only will the ambivalence and distorted sense of justice of the inoculated cause people who have been radicalized to froth at the mouth, it has been known to occasionally boil the blood to the point that a radicalized person will simply shut down, refuse to ever speak again and go into seclusion.

Radicalization, if it leads to frustration, can kill the spirit of even the strongest among us, when it reaches the point that logic shuts down, causing a person to believe the entire world has gone mad, and that it’s useless to say anything more, or to expect that anyone gives a damn, or that things will ever change. In such cases, the radicalized person might resort to bingo, and refuse to read newspapers or even to watch TV anymore.

Now, those who are involved in detecting radicalization and wiping it out or curing it, are not concerned that radicals might actually do anything violent, since it almost never happens. Yet, they must, and do suggest that radicalization leads to violence because it is the only way that they can get money to fight radicalization, or rather to fight free speech and expression and also the US Constitution that guarantees such rights as free speech and political expression. You see, no one can get government money to overtly undermine the US Constitution, or to violate our Constitutional rights. They can get millions, even billions to protect our country from the threat of terrorism.

This is why radicalization experts claim that the inevitable consequence of the dreaded disease, radicalization is politically motivated violence, or terrorism. Like rabies, it supposedly gives the appearance of mental illness, but can only be diagnosed as such if it is found in Zionists. Their violence and extremism is always the result of mental illnesses, or its self defense, while the common person’s moral outrage must be the result of radicalization. It is similar to a neurological disorder that prevents a person from being able to see evil as goodness, and goodness as weakness.

Radicakization is a type of moral dissonance that will not allow an infected person to believe that we are actually seeing our government and military act as an immoral and barbaric conquering force, completely ignoring the laws that we helped to impress upon the world as right and good and essential to peaceful co-existence. Laws like the Geneva Conventions. Yet, since moral dissonance has not been recognized by the AMA as a real mental illness, radicalization remains like rabies, a contagious neurological like disease that supposedly can only lead to violence, and so according to the experts, including the established religious experts who condone and support the war on radicalization, it must be eradicated.

Since aside from the Wall Street robber barons, our government is the only institution that can never run out of money, so long as it has a press that can print money, those who are part of the anti-terrorism industry must always have an angle whereby they can parlay their deep insights into the hearts and souls of the American sheeple, into cold hard government cash, formerly known as taxpayer money. Without much research or study, they know intuitively that enough outrageous behavior by our government and military will lead to the moral outrage of many American people. Eureka! What better way to make a buck than to bank on the fact that a free people will use their rights to free speech and political expression to criticize a government that claims to be representative, yet has clearly adopted a set of values and created for itself a law that is completely opposite of the values and laws of the people it claims to represent.

There is a cure for radicalization, but it doesn’t get much attention. You will almost never hear the word cure even mentioned by radicalization experts. Just like conspiracy theories surrounding cancer research and cures for other deadly diseases, the idea is that if radicalization is cured, the anti-radicalization industry will go out of business, and even worse, all of their lies will be exposed and they will lose credibility, maybe even be put in jail for lying to Congress and other crimes.

The obvious cure for radicalization is truth and accountability. To cure its radicalized citizenry, our government needs only reform, and to respond to the urgings of its people, and also the international community. End these wars; stop supporting dictators and violent despots who oppress their people in exchange for hand outs. Get rid of the double standards, the lying and the greed for power and replace it with common sense and a desire to co-exist peacefully in the world with others of varied cultures, skin colors, languages, religions, etc. Stop coveting the natural resources of others to the extent that rather than to depend upon free market economics, you will stoop to any level in smash and grab operations for oil and other resources that always fail miserably, leaving only hatred, death and destruction behind them.

Unfortunately, there is little hope that our government will opt for the cure anytime soon. So, we the people are left with two options. 1). Shut up and refuse to criticize the government, hide our moral outrage, and just go along hoping that the wars will eventually end and gas prices will one day be 1.50 a gallon or cheaper forever, or 2). Refuse to shut up, and demonstrate our moral outrage in every legal way possible, keeping in mind that the anti-radicalization forces in our Congress are at work trying to find ways to criminalize dissent, which is what radicalization was called previous to the wars. Since word dissent implies some type of patriotism and noble intent, it has been exchanged for the dreaded word, radicalization.

Keep in mind that if you adopt #2, that it is a war after all. If we adopt the mentality of our government and the insane faction of warmongers and imperialists now controlling our government, we will realize that there are no rules. They will either shut us all up, or we will shut their insane arses down. Power to the people.

Understanding and defeating the war against radicalization

2009-11-27T19:11:00.000-08:00

The new approach to suppressing rights to free speech, and political expression is to call any speech or attitude that conveys disgust or moral outrage over the very obvious US and our ally’s violations of international law that have come to characterize the so called war on terrorism, radicalization.

If, when you hear that a drone has killed ten or twenty innocent people or more at a wedding or funeral in Pakistan in a military attempt to supposedly kill just one supposed terrorist, and you criticize that disproportionate and immoral use of force, you might be called radical, and extreme. It’s not because your gut instincts are naturally repulsed by what happened, that’s fine. You simply are not supposed to criticize or suggest that what happened was wrong, a violation of international law, or that it creates a desire and an excuse that justifies a similar use of violence by our supposed adversaries, in ways that might also be illegal and immoral.

If, when you hear that more than 1 million innocent people have been killed in a war where we were not fighting an army, or an enemy, but an insurgency that had a right to fight against a foreign invading and occupying military force, and that we not only killed those people, but also tortured them, raped them and destroyed their homes and then sent missionaries to provide them with Bibles in exchange for food and comfort. If you hear that, and you feel morally outraged that a certain faction in our country has used our troops and our money in this way, and you say or write anything critical about it, you might be considered by the powers that be, Democrats and Republicans and some so called independents, a person that has become radicalized.

Becoming radicalized can be compared to getting infected with rabies. If you hang out with, read, or agree with people who have already been infected with radicalism, and who write, speak, and do radical things like write letters critical of the war to newspaper editors, or submit op-eds to newspapers suggesting that the US is committing war crimes in these wars, etc., you can, and might also become radicalized. Like rabies, radicalization makes you appear angry. It can cause you to froth at the mouth as you debate simple concepts like human decency, law and justice and fair play with people who have been inoculated against radicalization. Such people are immune to radicalization due to injections of cash, jobs, appearances on cable TV, a mention in mainstream media as good people, and other perks, and pay offs. They are absolutely incapable of understanding things like, you can’t lie your way into an illegal military invasion of a sovereign country, kill off its people, send in para-military groups to carry out slaughters, and then claim to be justified by the deaths of 3000 people, many of whom were foreign nationals and not even Americans, who were killed by other people, and not the people whose country you invaded and subsequently destroyed. Not only will the ambivalence and distorted sense of justice of the inoculated cause people who have been radicalized to froth at the mouth, it has been known to occasionally boil the blood to the point that a radicalized person will simply shut down, refuse to ever speak again and go into seclusion. It can kill the spirit of even the strongest among us, when it reaches the point that logic shuts down, causing a person to believe the entire world has gone mad, and that it’s useless to say anything more, or to expect that anyone gives a damn, or that things will ever change. In such cases, the radicalized person might resort to bingo, and refuse to read newspapers or even to watch TV anymore.

Now, those who are involved in detecting radicalization and wiping it out or curing it, are not concerned that radicals might actually do anything violent, since it almost never happens. Yet, they must, and do suggest that radicalization leads to violence because it is the only way that they can get money to fight radicalization, or rather to fight free speech and expression and also the US Constitution that guarantees such rights as free speech and political expression. You see, no one can get government money to overtly undermine the US Constitution, or to violate our Constitutional rights. They can get millions, even billions to protect our country from the threat of terrorism.

This is why radicalization experts claim that the inevitable consequence of the dreaded disease, radicalization is politically motivated violence, or terrorism. Like rabies, it supposedly gives the appearance of mental illness, but can only be diagnosed as such if it is found in Zionists. Their violence and extremism is always the result of mental illnesses, or its self defense, while the common person’s moral outrage must be the result of radicalization. It is similar to a neurological disorder that prevents a person from being able to see evil as goodness, and goodness as weakness. It is a type of moral dissonance that will not allow an infected person to believe that we are actually seeing our government and military act as an immoral and barbaric conquering force, completely ignoring the laws that we helped to impress upon the world as right and good and essential to peaceful co-existence. Laws like the Geneva Conventions. Yet, since moral dissonance has not been recognized by the AMA as a real mental illness, radicalization remains like rabies, a contagious neurological like disease that supposedly can only lead to violence, and so according to the experts, including the established religious experts who condone and support the war on radicalization, it must be eradicated.

Since aside from the Wall Street robber barons, our government is the only institution that can never run out of money, so long as it has a press that can print money, those who are part of the anti-terrorism industry must always have an angle whereby they can parlay their deep insights into the hearts and souls of the American sheeple, into cold hard government cash, formerly known as taxpayer money. Without much research or study, they know intuitively that enough outrageous behavior by our government and military will lead to the moral outrage of many American people. Eureka! What better way to make a buck than to bank on the fact that a free people will use their rights to free speech and political expression to criticize a government that claims to be representative, yet has clearly adopted a set of values and created for itself a law that is completely opposite of the values and laws of the people it claims to represent.

There is a cure for radicalization, but it doesn’t get much attention. You will almost never hear the word cure even mentioned by radicalization experts. Just like conspiracy theories surrounding cancer research and cures for other deadly diseases, the idea is that if radicalization is cured, the anti-radicalization industry will go out of business, and even worse, all of their lies will be exposed and they will lose credibility, maybe even be put in jail for lying to Congress and other crimes.

The obvious cure for radicalization is truth and accountability. To cure its radicalized citizenry, our government needs only reform, and to respond to the urgings of its people, and also the international community. End these wars; stop supporting dictators and violent despots who oppress their people in exchange for hand outs. Get rid of the double standards, the lying and the greed for power and replace it with common sense and a desire to co-exist peacefully in the world with others of varied cultures, skin colors, languages, religions, etc. Stop coveting the natural resources of others to the extent that rather than to depend upon free market economics, you will stoop to any level in smash and grab operations for oil and other resources that always fail miserably, leaving only hatred, death and destruction behind them.

Unfortunately, there is little hope that our government will opt for the cure anytime soon. So, we the people are left with two options. 1). Shut up and refuse to criticize the government, hide our moral outrage, and just go along hoping that the wars will eventually end and gas prices will one day be 1.50 a gallon or cheaper forever, or 2). Refuse to shut up, and demonstrate our moral outrage in every legal way possible, keeping in mind that the anti-radicalization forces in our Congress are at work trying to find ways to criminalize dissent, which is what radicalization was called previous to the wars. Since word dissent implies some type of patriotism and noble intent, it has been exchanged for the dreaded word, radicalization.

Keep in mind that if you adopt #2, that it is a war after all. If we adopt the mentality of our government and the insane faction of warmongers and imperialists now controlling our government, we will realize that there are no rules. They will either shut us all up, or we will shut their insane arses down. Power to the people.

America's muderous double standards

2009-11-08T14:10:00.000-08:00

There are some people who believe that things happen for a reason, and that everything has meaning. Such people reject the idea that things happen by mere coincidence, or that events and happenings have no relevance in respect to life’s big picture. Whether meaning is derived from the immediate emotional impact, or the symbolism conveyed through the details of such events, many people believe that everything has meaning and that understanding the meaning is where we draw benefit from even the most tragic circumstances.

When several young men attacked an American high school in Columbine Colorado years ago, killing many of their own class mates in a brutal massacre, the media acted in a way that at least appeared responsible. It distracted us from our natural desire to know more about the killers, and to hate them. The media did not dwell upon their religious beliefs or their cultural roots. In respect to the Columbine killings, the media kept our attention focused on the horror of the event, and how bullying and persecution of people can lead to tragic outcomes, like what happened at Columbine.

Very little main street media attention was given to the fact that the Columbine killers had trained, like young men on a mission, seeking proficiency in how to kill human beings with different types of weapons. They even recorded their preparation, and rehearsals as if they wanted to leave a how to book for other tormented souls supposedly seeking revenge against classroom bullies, while spitting into the face of society by killing our children in a coldly calculated, yet gruesome way, then committing suicide, denying society its right to choose to either take revenge or to forgive. The killers judged themselves and executed themselves, leaving the country to wonder who the real victims were, and then to conclude that we were all victims of a tragic set of events that seemingly began with hurt feelings and humiliation based upon a high school social hierarchy that is welcoming only to certain people, and extremely cruel to others.

It was not until several reporters published interviews they conducted with witnesses and parents of surviving victims, that we learned that the there was perhaps more to the Columbine story than what met the eye. As it turned out, the killers did indeed seem to have an ideology and a purpose. As more was learned about the killers, it also seemed that the meaning went far beyond how hatred, powerlessness and resentment can boil over into violent rage. As time passed we learned that the meaning of Columbine perhaps reached back into the religious culture of the killers, a religious culture whose primary feature is the mythical “chosen” status of its adherents, and the supposed gross inferiority, in fact inhumanness of all others.

The victim’s parents, survivors and witnesses told a different story of Columbine than the media. They told a story of heavily armed young men who stalked the halls of the school like mercenaries, questioning victims about their religious beliefs before killing them. One of the survivors said one of the Columbine killers walked up to her and asked “Do you believe in Jesus?” and when she answered “yes,” he shot her. Others said they also heard victims being asked before they were killed, if they believed in Jesus.

From the media we learned that the perpetrators were troubled youths who were victims of bulling and persecution. The media explained to us that these were young people who had perhaps been forced to the fringes of society because of the way they dressed, their choice of music or poor social skills. Listening to the media, it was obvious that its controllers wanted us to feel that in some way, we were as guilty as the perpetrators because we had not as a society acted to end bullying and to address the hazing that is all too common as rights of initiation among our young people, and especially in our high schools. It is also clear that the media did not want us to know that the Columbine murderers were Jewish teenagers who killed non Jews because they believed in Jesus.

Several days ago, an army officer and soldier of the Muslim faith was blamed with carrying out a massacre on a Texas military base. It was a massacre that left 13 American soldiers dead, and 30 injured, some with life threatening injuries. In stark contrast to how the media treated the Columbine story, this event was immediately given a meaning. The media wanted us to know that the alleged perpetrator is Palestinian, that he is Arab and that he is supposedly a devout Muslim. This information was the first and only information that was revealed about the accused shooter, aside from the fact that he was a psychiatrist, and that he was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan.

Immediately following the initial reporting of the incident itself, we were told that the perpetrator was killed and that two other suspects had been detained for questioning. After the FBI arrived, we learned that in fact the alleged perpetrator is still alive, after hours of being mistakenly dead, and that he is Arab, and Muslim. We also learned that the other suspects had been questioned and released, prior to an investigation. Was the real shooter killed, and an Arab and Muslim scapegoat, or rather sacrificial lamb, put in his place?

For hours following the supposed death and later the hospitalization of the alleged Fort Hood perpetrator, the media was saturated with anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic innuendo that while careful not to be too obvious, made it very clear that the media wants us to understand that the meaning of the event is that Islam is a violent ideology that leads its adherents over the top to the commission of violent acts against non Muslims, which is a lie. The tragic incident was also used to make the point that President Obama must send more troops into Afghanistan, that the Patriot Act is still necessary, that it is right for the FBI to send informants to poison the spiritual environment in the mosques, and to entrap young Muslim men into suspected FBI schemes aimed at creating and sustaining fear of Muslims and Islam, and that it was right to kill Imam Luqman. These were all issues our country was deliberating the week that the tragedy at Fort Hood took place, while a UN resolution to send the Goldstone Report to the UN Security Council, charging Israel with war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in Gaza, was also being debated and subsequently passed.

Later, on the day of the tragedy at Fort Hood, as a footnote to the bigger story, we were allowed to know that Fort Hood’s alleged killer was not dead, and had also been a victim of bullying and persecution, and that he did not fit the description of a terrorist or a person acting out for political reasons. We learned that previous to the killings, he had shown signs of anger about plans to be deployed to Afghanistan.

Moral of the story: If you are Muslim or Arab, there is a segment of the US population that wants you to live in fear and to feel guilty for crimes you had nothing to do with and no prior knowledge of. They want you to hide, and to feel ashamed and to be scared. They want you to surrender your Constitutional rights and to self censor, or fear their wrath. They want you to worship their false gods. They are bullies and persecutors mostly with political and even anti-religion agendas. These are the same people who did not want us to know about the possible real meaning of Columbine.

Columbine explains the double standards that we see increasingly in US society. We are a country whose standards of justice differ depending upon your skin color, your economic standing, who you know, and what you claim to believe, and who your victims are. Just as Columbine was very likely a cold and calculated act of religiously motivated terrorism against Christians and those who believe in Jesus, so too the media perpetrated demonization, and vilification of Muslims and Arabs and the subsequent violence resulting from these media stereotypes, against Muslims in the US and abroad.

Woman's NGO submits Goldstone Report to International Criminal Court

2009-11-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

PRESS RELEASE
11/03/09

For Immediate Release
Contact:info@namaw.org

Muslim Women's NGO Submits Goldstone Report to International Criminal Court as part of Communication on situation in Gaza.

Washington DC: Today, the National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) submitted the "Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict" better known as the Goldstone Report to the International Criminal Court at the Hague in the Netherlands. The report was submitted via e-mail, and also priority mail as documentation and evidence in support of a communication submitted by the group entitled, "Communication on the situation in Gaza and the Goldstone Report."

Under the rules of the International Criminal Court, non state parties can submit Communications to the court that are taken up for analysis and assessment the same as referrals from the UNSC or UN member nation/states. According to article 53 of the Rome Statute, the only difference is that the Court is not automatically complelled to initiate an investigation into the situation brought to its attention as it must when the referral comes from the UN Security Council. The International Court must now review the Communication and the supporting documentaion and evidence, and decide if there is enough probable cause, and supporting documentation to compel an investigation.

Considering that the UNHRC recently endorsed the report, which alleges that Israel committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity in its December 2008 military assault on Gaza, the group is hoping that the court will find Goldstone's report sufficient evidence to compel an investigation, along with reports by the World Health Organization and international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

Whereas the Goldstone report only called for action by the court if Israel refused to conduct an investigation of its own into the allegations made in the report, and failed to bring suspected persons to trial, the International Court is now seemingly involved as a result of the appeal made by NAMAW, a UN accredited NGO with the Division on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinians, for a Court assessment of the alleged facts and an investigation.

NAMAW Chairwoman Anisa Abd el Fattah says that the group has received confirmation from the Court that the Communication was successfully received. What is left now, is to see if the Court will find the Goldstone report as compelling as many, including the US and Israel might fear.

Along with the allegations of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity as mentioned in the Goldstone Report, the NAMAW communication also alleges that the economic embargo being imposed upon Gaza by Israel and Egypt is genocide, and that Israel also used banned weapons in its December 2008 assault, that included White Phosphorous, Depleted Uranium and the DIME which shoots small metal shards into flesh that cannot be removed with serious damage.

NAMAW's Communication to the Court and the supporting documentation will be viewable at the website, namaw.org.

The National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) is the United State's first and only Muslim woman's pro-life and pro-family organization. We are an accredited NGO with the UN Division on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinians and members of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.

# # #

African Union holds key to Rafah Crossing: "Will they use it?"

2009-11-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

On October 29, 2009, the National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW), a US based NGO and member of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinians, sent an appeal to all of the members of the African Union requesting that the African Union take jurisdiction over the Rafah Crossing, and provide the necessary military and security support to insure that the crossing is operated safely, and efficiently.

The African Union, which has adopted the UN Rome Statute as a guide for its own set of human rights laws, has the authority to take jurisdiction from Egypt, since Egypt is a member of the African Union, and bound by its human rights laws, and is subject to the African Union’s authority. It is clear that by keeping the crossing closed, and denying Palestinian’s humanitarian aid, including food, medicines and medical supplies, and also building materials and equipment, that Egypt is in violation of Articles 6 and 7 of the Rome Statute that prohibits genocide and crimes against humanity. Egypt is also blatantly violating the African Union’s human rights laws and principles.

It is clear from even a cursory review of the Rome Statute that both Israel and Egypt are in almost certainly in violation of article 6, which prohibits genocide. The Statute describes genocide as “acts committed to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group ...” The statute includes such acts as “ killing members of the group, causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

They are also likely in violation of Article 7, “Crimes against Humanity” which is described by the Rome Statute as “acts committed as part of a widespread or systemic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” According to the Rome Statute such acts include, but may not be limited to murder, extermination, torture, rape, persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender or other grounds...”

Under the above mentioned definition, the Rome Statue also criminalizes apartheid, and “other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to body, or physical health.”

Whereas much is being made of Israel’s history of alleged war crimes and refusal to abide by UN resolutions in respect to Palestine, and especially in respect to its continued and illegal economic siege on Gaza, little has been said about the fact that Israel’s embargo could not succeed if Egypt, a supposedly Muslim and Arab nation/state, was not providing full support and cooperation, making it possibly a co-conspirator with Israel in the conduct of these crimes.

Since there is little hope that either the EU or US will use their considerable influence over Israel, to lift the illegal embargo, it is clear that the only hope now is for the people of the Muslim and Arab world to come together to insist that Egypt end its possibly criminal cooperation with Israel, and act according to international law by opening the Rafah Crossing.

There must also be greater pressure applied by the international Muslim religious authorities who can call for Muslim and Arab boycotts of Egyptian goods, along with boycotting Israeli goods, should Egypt also thumb its nose at the African Union.

Muslim, Arab and African people are shocked by Egypt’s stubbornness in respect to permanently re-opening the Rafah Crossing, and many suspect that this stubbornness is being driven by a new lucrative industry that has sprung up in Egypt that is dependant upon illegally confiscated aid and goods intended for Gaza, along with bribes paid by activists who want to enter the strip for humanitarian causes, and also bribes paid by journalists.

Egypt has begun to auction off the goods intended for Gaza that it confiscates from tunnels under the guise of searching for weapons. If the goal is to prevent the re-arming of Gaza, why is food and equipment confiscated and why can’t these confiscated items be delivered by Egyptian security to the Gazans? Previously Egypt burned and even allowed donated foods to rot, rather than to allow the people of Gaza to receive and benefit from the humanitarian aid, illegally confiscated by Egypt at the borders and also in the makeshift tunnels. This shows that it is Egypt’s clear intent to deny the people of Gaza the sustenance and medical aid required for their survival, and that this denial is based purely upon the Egyptian, US, PA and Israeli desire to undermine the elected government, and to overthrow Hamas.

Hopes are high, that since Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddhafi, known for his fiery speeches in support of the Palestinian’s ongoing struggle, is the present head of the AU, that the Union will use its power and authority to end the illegal siege on Gaza by permanently re-opening the Rafah crossing, and possibly bringing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against Egypt in its own criminal court. The AU can also recommend to the International Criminal Court, that an investigation immediate into Egypt’s wrong doing get underway, while giving jurisdiction over the crossing, which is in Africa, to the African Union.

With winter and the cold weather approaching quickly, it is of the utmost importance that adequate shelter, clothing, food and medical care be made immediately available for the people of Gaza. The African Union holds the key to the Rafah Crossing; let’s pray that they will use that key to save the lives of the people of Gaza.

NAMAW Condemns Junduallah attacks on Iran, calls for immediate UNSC action

2009-10-20T04:08:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE
10/20/09

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Anisa Abd el Fattah
NAMAW
anisa@namaw.org

National Muslim Woman's organization condemns terrorist attacks on Iran, calls upon UN Security Council to intervene and end all provocations for war against Iran.
Washington DC-Oct.20,2009

The National Association of Muslim American Women(NAMAW), the United State's first and only Muslim woman's pro-life and pro-family organization condemns the recent Jundallah attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran, and calls upon the UN Security Council to intervene immediately to end all acts of provocation aimed at provoking war against Iran.

"We see this as an attempt to push Iran into retaliation and a proxy war with groups operating out of Pakistan," says NAMAW Chairwoman Anisa Abd el Fattah. Abd el Fattah went further, saying: "Failing to get outright US and EU approval for an Israeli or US attack on Iran, we see a new strategy for war. This strategy would provoke Iran into a proxy war with Western funded terrorist groups like Jundullah in Pakistan and the MKO, which has found sanctuary in Europe after being removed from Europe's list of terrorist organizations." "It is our position", said Abd el Fattah, "that these attacks represent an attempt to open a new battlefield in the so called war on terrorism, which many Muslims and others are convinced is merely a Western war against Islam and Muslim countries. Since Israel and its neoconservative supporters in the US, could not get US or EU approval for an Israeli attack on Iran under the false allegation of an Iranian nuclear weapon's program that threatens Israel, these interests seemingly have acted to attack Iran through a proxy. We ask Iran to be patient and not provoked, and to give time for the international institutions to carry out their obligation to do what is necessary to protect innocent civilian life from such attacks and to preserve peace."

We are also calling upon the UNSC to take the steps necessary to address this criminal act against the people of Iran, and to end all such criminal activity against Iran. The UNSC must act to prevent a proxy war that will likely escalate into a full blown war between Iran and the West, and possibly World War III. NAMAW is also calling upon all anti-war NGOs and organizations to step up their activism and to demand that an immediate investigation into these attacks be initiated in preparation for holding those who are responsible accountable before the International Criminal Court.

Finally, NAMAW is calling upon Muslims throughout the world to avoid being exploited by those who claim to be Islamic groups, but who act in the interest of the enemies of Islam. "We should not allow our personal sentiments or religious differences to cause us to assist our enemies as they escalate their war on the Muslim world. We must be wise," said NAMAW's Chairwoman. "The Qur'an teaches us to condemn injustice, even it causes us to be against our own selves. We must not allow the common enemy of Muslims everywhere, to use such crimes to split the international Muslim community and to turn us one against the other. We must stand steadfast for justice, and discourage internecine Muslim conflicts at all costs. We should have learned from our enemy's strategy in Iraq, not to allow sectarianism to split and destroy Muslims.

Until Muslims have functional international institutions of our own to protect our interests, we must encourage the international institutions that exist to act for the benefit of mankind, and to avoid war and to punish illegal and unjust acts of violence. We are also calling upon all Muslim organizations and institutions throughout the world to condemn this criminal attack on Iran and demand an end to all Muslim against Muslim violence.

We send our sincere condolences to the people of Iran as they mourn their losses and express our deep regret over these unfortunate events. Our hearts go out to them in their grief. May God guide and protect us all.

The Third Player

2009-09-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone is asking why the Democrats refuse to say that racism is what is driving the far right wing’s hatred of Obama. People are asking why the right wing hates Obama so much and why the hate seems to increase rather than decrease as time goes on. In a representative Republic that is as old as the United States, after more than half a year, we should be getting used to having a Black man in the White House, rather than getting angrier by the day.

The obvious answer is exactly what everyone is saying, that it’s better to ignore the race baiting right wing, because they are trying to incite a revolution that would drive the Democrats out of power, and put the Republicans back into power. The not so obvious answer is that the people on the right that are driving the hatred of Obama, and who are actually hoping to create an environment of hatred and polarization that might lead to civil war and/or Obama’s assassination, are likely the same group, with operatives on the left, who are misguiding Democrats to remain silent, allowing the hate speech and the incitement to continue unchallenged, perhaps in hope of the same tragic outcomes.

The right claims that they want revolution, and the left claims that it wants change, which is another word for revolution depending upon the amount of change and the method one chooses to bring that change about. Both are lying. It is clear to many people that what they both seem to want, is to pit American against American and to throw this country into chaos through a civil war. While the right wing screams about fighting socialism, the left screams about the rise of the south through the Republican Party, painting the south as a threat to the union and the cause of homosexual killings, the reason for no health care reform and an increase in racism against immigrants and minorities.

Zionists in this country are perhaps seeking to recreate the hatreds between the north and south that once turned brother against brother in this country, and that filled America’s fields and meadows with American blood, and the eyes of our people with tears.

Strange isn’t it that it’s the neoconservatives who run the Republican Party and the Zionists who run the Democrats who are absent from the political stage at this critical time in our country. We know why the neoconservative leadership is silent; they have the far right wing Christian Zionist fanatics to do their dirty work. These fanatics are more than willing to call Obama Hitler, and to claim that they are fighting socialism, as they hurl not so subtle racial slurs at the White House, because they believe they are serving God’s chosen people, the Jews. They don’t understand the difference between Judaism and Zionism.

The Zionist Democrats are also strangely silent, but possibly for a different reason. They don’t want to interfere with the good work of their Zionist brothers on the right. If the Democrat’s were to take up former President Jimmy Carter’s challenge to the country, to confront our racial fears and prejudices, it might lead to national reconciliation, which is not the goal. The goal is civil war, and the few of us who have not fallen under the spell of hatred and intolerance that was cast over our country after 9/11, have an obligation to make sure that it doesn’t happen.

Edmund Burke, one of the founders of the true conservative movement, in his critique of the French Revolution brought some important observations to our attention that might be relevant to our situation in the US today. One of those observations was that the antagonists, who were busy inciting hatred against the monarchy in France that led to the revolution, did so from the pulpits of the protestant churches in England, even though they were not Englishmen and were in fact strangers in the communities. Burke also observed that these preachers of intolerance and protestant religious fanaticism were not Frenchmen, and referred to them as the Old Jewry. Burke wrote:

It appears to me as if I were in a great crisis, not of the affairs of France alone, but of all Europe, perhaps of more than Europe. All circumstances taken together, the French revolution is the most astonishing that has hitherto happened in the world. The most wonderful things are brought about, in many instances by means the most absurd and ridiculous, in the most ridiculous modes, and apparently by the most contemptible instruments. Everything seems out of nature in this strange chaos of levity and ferocity, and of all sorts of crimes jumbled together with all sorts of follies. In viewing this monstrous tragicomic scene, the most opposite passions necessarily succeed and sometimes mix with each other in the mind: alternate contempt and indignation, alternate laughter and tears, alternate scorn and horror.

It cannot, however, be denied that to some this strange scene appeared in quite another point of view. Into them it inspired no other sentiments than those of exultation and rapture. They saw nothing in what has been done in France but a firm and temperate exertion of freedom, so consistent, on the whole, with morals and with piety as to make it deserving not only of the secular applause of dashing Machiavellian politicians, but to render it a fit theme for all the devout effusions of sacred eloquence.

On the forenoon of the fourth of November last, Doctor Richard Price, a non-conforming minister of eminence, preached, at the dissenting meeting house of the Old Jewry, to his club or society, a very extraordinary miscellaneous sermon, in which there are some good moral and religious sentiments, and not ill expressed, mixed up in a sort of porridge of various political opinions and reflections; but the Revolution in France is the grand ingredient in the cauldron. I consider the address transmitted by the Revolution Society to the National Assembly, through Earl Stanhope, as originating in the principles of the sermon and as a corollary from them. It was moved by the preacher of that discourse. It was passed by those who came reeking from the effect of the sermon without any censure or qualification, expressed or implied. If, however, any of the gentlemen concerned shall wish to separate the sermon from the resolution, they know how to acknowledge the one and to disavow the other. They may do it: I cannot.

For my part, I looked on that sermon as the public declaration of a man much connected with literary caballers and intriguing philosophers, with political theologians and theological politicians both at home and abroad. I know they set him up as a sort of oracle, because, with the best intentions in the world, he naturally philippizes and chants his prophetic song in exact unison with their designs.

That sermon is in a strain which I believe has not been heard in this kingdom, in any of the pulpits which are tolerated or encouraged in it, since the year 1648, when a predecessor of Dr. Price, the Rev. Hugh Peters, made the vault of the king's own chapel at St. James's ring with the honor and privilege of the saints, who, with the "high praises of God in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hands, were to execute judgment on the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron".[1] Few harangues from the pulpit, except in the days of your league in France or in the days of our Solemn League and Covenant in England, have ever breathed less of the spirit of moderation than this lecture in the Old Jewry. Supposing, however, that something like moderation were visible in this political sermon, yet politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement. No sound ought to be heard in the church but the healing voice of Christian charity. The cause of civil liberty and civil government gains as little as that of religion by this confusion of duties. Those who quit their proper character to assume what does not belong to them are, for the greater part, ignorant both of the character they leave and of the character they assume. Wholly unacquainted with the world in which they are so fond of meddling, and inexperienced in all its affairs on which they pronounce with so much confidence, they have nothing of politics but the passions they excite. Surely the church is a place where one day's truce ought to be allowed to the dissensions and animosities of mankind.

Burke called these dissenters a Third Estate that was inciting the people of France against the French monarchy. Frenchmen, fighting against Frenchmen caused France to fall to Zionism. It was Edmund Burke who said to us that when two parties are drawn into conflict and there is a third party, the power of the two in conflict will fall to the third party. The French monarchy was the only barrier to Zionist rule because it was based upon blood lineage and not a popular vote. After the French revolution and the murder and exile of the royals, who claimed blood lineage to Jesus Christ, France was left to the Zionists who bought France with the power of the purse. In the United States today, Zionism is that same third party. Burke talked about the affects of Zionist rule in France saying:

They have found their punishment in their success: laws overturned; tribunals subverted; industry without vigor; commerce expiring; the revenue unpaid, yet the people impoverished; a church pillaged, and a state not relieved; civil and military anarchy made the constitution of the kingdom; everything human and divine sacrificed to the idol of public credit, and national bankruptcy the consequence; and, to crown all, the paper securities of new, precarious, tottering power, the discredited paper securities of impoverished fraud and beggared rapine, held out as a currency for the support of an empire in lieu of the two great recognized species that represent the lasting, conventional credit of mankind, which disappeared and hid themselves in the earth from whence they came, when the principle of property, whose creatures and representatives they are, was systematically subverted. Zionism is also the third party in the US today, and we are also feeling and witnessing these same effects.

It is interesting that the hatred of Obama, and the anti Obama rhetoric and gun toting symbolism and threats of violence and revolution, seem to grow in proportion to US calls for Israel to end illegal settlement building in Palestine and a reinvigorated peace process that would see Israel make concessions to the Palestinians that Israel does not intend to make, and also calls for an audit of the Federal Reserve.

It is also interesting that this is exactly how the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin took place. First right wing Zionists began the seemingly harmless verbal insults, calling Rabin a self hating Jew, etc. When Rabin refused to challenge the rhetoric, it got worse, until they were carrying signs in the street calling Rabin Hitler, and even went so far as to burn him in effigy. Soon after a few cries from the left went out for the rhetoric to tone down, Rabin was gunned down by a right wing Zionist settler.

Of course to some people,suggesting that Zionists are pushing the United States into a civil war, or even a revolution if that is the case, seems as crazy as calling Obama Hitler, and also as difficult to believe as the silence of the Democrats. The difference is that suggesting that Zionists are pushing the United States into civil war and chaos could save this country, if given serious consideration, and if the necessary steps are taken to stop the momentum that is pushing us in that direction. Neither Republican incitement, nor the Democrat’s silence can, or will do that.

http://www.constitution.org/eb/rev_fran.htm

Neo-conservatives, their town hall mobs, the media and America

2009-08-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

Neo-conservatives, their town hall mobs, the media and America

It is both intriguing and also disheartening to listen to the cable TV punditry’s characterizations and frustrations regarding the anger of the US public over the health care debate. They are characterizing the people as a mob, and calling them political terrorists. I guess any group can be both, but to be a criminal mob they must be committing crimes, and to be terrorists they must be committing violent crimes aimed at political coercion. To talk loudly, to demonstrate anger and to demand that your elected representative show you at least the minimum of respect owed to taxpayers, is not yet criminal in the US. Of course, if the people harm or even cause another person to feel that their life or property is in any way threatened by the other’s anger and outspokenness that might be a crime, especially if threats of physical harm are made.

Now, let’s stop here for a moment and try to understand what is really happening in the United States. We have three hundred million people in the US of different races, religions and social-economic backgrounds. Politicians and especially neoconservatives are astute in the art of dividing and conquering this three hundred million people, almost at will, and without much effort. Good examples of this control and exploitation are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. When the neoconservatives decided that the country should go to war, they exploited the fear and anger of the public following 9/11, created a Muslim boogeyman to use as a scapegoat and whipping boy, and took the country to war. The people that the media are now calling the mob and political terrorists, were then the real America, the patriots and the good Christians, when they were needed to serve as a constituency that supported the war, and the spending of billions of taxpayer dollars per month to carry out an illegal act of aggression against a country simply because the people of that country are Arab and Muslim, who control natural resources like oil and natural gas.

Neoconservatives courted the far religious right, empowered them, and even adopted their religious jargon and lingo to create a political language of hatred against Muslims and Arabs that was powerful enough to engulf, and incite an entire world into participating with what they called a war on terrorism, yet what is increasingly being revealed to be a war on Muslims and Islam. This was done in spite of the US Constitution strictly prohibiting the establishment of a state religion, ideology or theology. To many people, this Constitutional prohibition includes a prohibition against showing preferential treatment to any religious group or groups over others.

Yet, since it served neoconservatives to empower and to exploit the far religious right, the preferential treatment the religious right received was overlooked even by many Democrats and people on the left who were benefiting politically and financially from turning their heads to the pro religious fanaticism, pro war, and anti-Muslim and Arab sentiment that was poisoning our country. Hatred of Muslims and Arabs grew to such an extent in our country, that our presidential candidates could not even allow Muslim citizens to be photographed at their gatherings without fear of neoconservative reprisal. In exchange for the support of the Christian Zionists, and neoconservatives, US politicians almost never attempted to reach out to Muslims and/or Arab Americans in any substantive way, in comparison to how they fawned over Zionists for endorsements and votes.

Today, these same people are filling town hall meetings throughout the US, shouting down politicians and expressing their fears, racism and hatred and not surprisingly, it is no longer welcomed by the mainstream media. It is not welcomed because they are no longer railing against Islam and Muslims, or demanding that Muslims and Arabs be tortured. Now they are railing against health care reform, increased taxes and an African American President that they refer to as Hitler. They are now calling the Obama administration Nazis and Obama Hitler, using language that is clearly aimed at inciting anger in Christian and Jewish Zionists, who make up the majority of the far right. In other words, the Frankenstein created by the political elite to serve their desire to invade and destroy Muslim and Arab countries hoping to wipe out Islam and to take control of natural resources, has turned against its government master, not because it no longer shares the desire of neoconservatives to destroy people who are not white and not Christian or Jewish, but because they are possibly angry that the same political elite which they served and even sacrificed their children in wars to please, allowed a Black man to be elected to the US presidency, and before a Zionist Jew was elected to that coveted post.

Neoconservatives are angry because their crimes against the US and the world are almost daily being exposed in the criminal activity of organizations like Blackwater, and the scientific proof that Muslims did not commit the atrocious crime of attacking the US on 9/11 as they had claimed. Their Frankenstein, the religious right is also angry because their role in all of this is exposed, and their political clout is waning. They are so angry that they are oblivious to the fact that the neoconservative politicians, left and right are still exploiting their racism, religious intolerance and hatred, but this time it’s not to incite a fake war on terrorism, but rather it is to insure that the far right wing creates enough political chaos here in the US to prevent a new investigation of 9/11, and to make sure there will be no audit of the Federal Reserve, and no real political reform in the United States, or political success for Barack Obama, which means that health care reform must be undermined.

That is only one side of the story, and it is a side that should not be underestimated for its potential to drag our country into a violent civil war. The other side of the story, though not as complex is equally, if not more important, since it is essential that the political elite get it right in respect to dealing with what is the real silent majority in this country who have decided to be silent no more. They are not Christian right fanatics. They are American citizens from the poor and middle class who are fed up with political corruption, elite entitlement and being ignored.

These are the mostly uneducated blue collar workers of our country and their children, whose manufacturing jobs were exported to Zionist owned firms in India and Israel, and to communist countries like China in globalization schemes. These are the people who lost their homes due to the many mortgage scams and fraud that only came to light once our economy was nearly pushed over a cliff by a failure in the housing and mortgage market that cost the US taxpayer, the same people who have buried nearly 5,000 of their children fallen on foreign soil in wars that have been shown to be wars of choice, more than 700 billion dollars, much of which went to pay bonuses to corporate fat cats who had nearly collapsed the US economy due to their greed. These are angry people who are not religious fanatics, but who are frightened by what appears to be a final push by the political elite to eliminate the middle class and to force them into greater poverty, servitude and desperation.

For the first time in their lives many of these people are on food stamps, and have lost their homes and jobs and most importantly, they have lost their pensions and fear that they are also about to loose Medicare should there be health care reform. They feel humiliated and betrayed by the government.

These people are showing up at the town hall meetings and asking questions that might sound stupid to the political elites and politicians because the elites have become accustomed to listening only to professional corporate lobbyists while eating $100.00 per plate dinners and lunches at fancy restaurants and fund raisers. They have forgotten the sound of the voice of the American citizen, poor and Middle Class because they never talk to these people until they need their money and then its through controlled environments like cable TV and orchestrated town hall meetings where people are pre screened, and allowed to ask only the right questions, or on talk radio where the hosts control the dialogue to serve the elites, while filling the listeners’ heads with propaganda mostly aimed at creating fear of one thing, or another. And in these so called public debates, the citizen is always told that the only way to be saved from the latest and most recent boogeyman, is to give away billions more of their hard earned tax dollars. These people are real. Their anger and fear and frustration is real. They are not all white, or Republican or right wing. They are all Americans.

If the media is sincere in its desire to tone down the anger of this group of Americans, they should first realize that talking angrily to your elected official is not criminal. It does not make you a right wing nut job, or a member of a mob, or a cult. It does not make them political terrorists, or religious fanatics or Zionists. They are the silent majority that Jerry Falwell ignored. These are the people who were content to go to work each day, watch the game or go shopping on weekends, and put their kids through college by working two jobs. Their vision of old age includes sitting on the porch watching kids and cars walk and ride up and down crumbling streets. They vote when it’s important, but most stay away from politics because they know that they don’t really understand much about what is going on, and they know that’s not by accident. Their elected officials don’t talk to them to educate them about the issues, only to indoctrinate them. The politicians, rather than looking for ways to understand better the needs of their constituents, look for ways to put distance between themselves and their constituents, while making themselves more accessible to corporate lobbyists. These Americans are showing up at town hall meetings because they are afraid and angry that their silence and their willingness to just go along, rather than being rewarded, is being punished by what they see as a government that simply has lost touch, and does not care about our country’s poor and working class.

It is important that rather than allowing the media to chastise, criticize and attempt to criminalize these people that we insist that the media and the political elite learn to listen to them. Media pundits are claiming that these people are shutting down the political debate on health care, knowing very well there was never any debate, or discussion taking place. The people have been purposefully silenced by the corporate owned media who regularly stage town hall meetings and decide who will be heard and who will not. The people are shouting because they have decided that they will be heard and that even if their elected representatives will not talk to them, and the media screen them out, they will talk to their elected officials, and if necessary, they will shout.

It is time for the political elites, and the corporate owned media to realize that the people of this country are waking up and they are angry. It would be wise to use this awakening as an opportunity for all of us to reconsider the direction in which our country is headed and to take the necessary steps to heal its rifts and to restore the power that has been usurped from the people, our civil rights and liberties and hopes for happiness. As for the neoconservatives and far religious right, it is time for them to realize that their reign has ended and sanity is returning to America.

How Judeo/Christian jurisprudence failed the world, and why Islamic law might be our last chance for justice

2009-07-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

Without doubt the jurisprudence of the Western world was inspired by the religions Christianity and Judaism. Secularists and atheists in the West have spent years trying to disprove the fact that indeed the laws of their lands were inspired by what is commonly accepted today as the Ten Commandments, other laws of the Old Testament and to a lesser degree the teachings of Jesus Christ.

As the laws of the West were being promulgated, it seems that Western lawmakers took the meaning of the law from the Old Testament, and their ideas of redemption and rehabilitation somewhat from the teachings of Jesus who preached love of enemies, mercy and redemption through God’s grace for all of mankind. Unfortunately in Western jurisprudence, Jesus’ ideas don’t come into play until the Old Testament laws have placed a person in prison where now as a convict, it is believed that the teachings of Jesus should have more bearing on his destiny than the judgment of the Pharisees.

There are those who believe that the term Judeo/Christian reflects the timing of the various periods of rule of these faith’s ideas, Judaism having preceded Christianity. In reality, it is quite possible that the juxtaposition of the terms reflects their position in respect to which commands the greatest amount of influence in our contemporary law and its interpretation. Even today, we find that our supposedly secular legislature in the United States looks quite a bit to the Old Testament for guidance, or at least inspiration in respect to its approaches to war, peace, justice and also punishments. There is practically nothing, either in federal or state laws that give the impression that we , as a country are any longer interested in rehabilitating or redeeming the soul of man except through the evangelicalism of the protestant church which focuses its zeal mainly on the Arab and Muslim world, and of course Africa.

The US Church has seemingly lost interest in saving its domestic flock, except when it’s time to vote. In both the Church’s and the Synagogue’s domestic politics, we find a lot of Caiaphas and very little Jesus in their attitudes on abortion, capital punishment, marriage, homosexuality and entitlement and the legislation passed by our Congress that regulate these customs. Even in respect to law enforcement, we find increasingly that the idea of a constabulary whose aim is to serve and protect the citizen, is giving way to a system where the police officer is seen as an agent of the government whose purpose is to protect the property and interest of the government authority from the citizen who is no longer innocent until proven guilty, but is rather guilty until proven innocent, which is straight out of the Judaism of Pharisees. This seems the case, in spite of the fact that the government owns nothing and has no interest that is not also the citizen’s property and interest.

Prisoners who languish in US prisons, a disproportionate number of which are minorities, African Americans and Hispanics, have been excluded from our American evangelicalism, except when it comes to competing with Islam for converts. Christian converts are given privileges and special treatments in prisons that other prisoners who convert to religions like Islam, or Buddhism are not. There have also been attempts to impose difficult requirements upon Muslim preachers and Imams who which to work in the prisons, and also their Muslim followers. The Church and Synagogue went so far in their attempts to chase Muslim preachers away from the prisons that they launched false and absurd charges that Muslim preachers were radicalizing prisoners against the government, and recruiting them to be domestic terrorists. Even though it has neither been said nor proven, it is my opinion that prisoners like Imam Jamil Al Amin who is being kept in solitary confinement in a super max prison for a crime that he very obviously did not commit, are denied Qur’ans, and the right to pray in congregational prayers because of such lies that were whispered into the ears of legislators, and subsequently the DOJ and Prison Wardens, by evangelicals in competition with Islam.

Of course the case of one man is not enough to support my argument that Judeo/Christian jurisprudence, once touted as the most fair, impartial and independent judicial philosophy and system in the world has failed. Not only has it failed, but it has fallen to the extent that its core principles, stated values and cause are barely visible anymore to the public’s eye, and it is the public’s eye by which any system of justice should be viewed, and not through the eyes of professional jurists, theorists and judges.

Perhaps the most glaring example of the failure of the Judeo/Christian judicial system is the United State’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Palestine. We need go no further to mention the backlash against Muslims and Arabs following 9/11. The rounding up of innocents who were placed in secret prisons where they were tortured, not to get information to protect civilization from the violence of religious extremists, but rather to coerce false confessions from innocent people, hoping to provide testimony to support the war on terrorism initiated by Israel prior to 9/11, is also a sign of moral and legal failure.

Following 9/11 our government, with the knowledge and assistance of Europe, rounded up young men, denied them their freedom because of their race and religion, tortured them and killed them because these governments were looking for false confessions about fake Muslim plots to carry out fictional acts of terrorism. This is not to mention that bodies of jurisprudence, like the Omnibus Anti-Terrorism Law, Secret Evidence Act, and the Patriot Act which were adopted by our government, and similar laws adopted by government’s throughout the world who followed our lead as we enacted laws that stripped citizens of freedom, sought to deny people the right to self defense, that authorized illegal wiretapping and denied citizens the presumption of innocence and due process, all under the false guise of fighting terrorism.

The most persuasive sign of systemic failure is when a system fails to, or is incapable of responding to a crisis in a way that is consistent with its own self confessed values, principles and objectives. Judeo/Christian jurisprudence was not only incapable of rising to the challenge of blood lust and desire for revenge that permeated our society after the false flag attacks of 9/11, political appointees within our government were allowed to re-interpret and in some cases actually to rewrite laws to facilitate government lawlessness. US Prosecutors were dispatched with the command to round up Muslims and Arabs right here in the US to be deported, or arrested and tried sometimes twice or three times on the same charge until the prosecutor could find a jury that would convict people for acts carried out before laws were passed that criminalized past behavior.

The US judiciary became the primary battleground for the war on Islam being waged through our government by the Church and Synagogue, as war on terrorism, which is why our media never covered a single terrorism trial, except the trial of a French citizen named Mossaoui who shouted very negative and ridiculous claims about Islam to the jury during his testimony. He is a supposed Al Qadea operative that shared an e-mail with a US citizen of Jewish faith, who was killed in Iraq. It was reported upon the Jewish-American’s death, that his personal belongings included a Qur’an and anti-US propaganda that was littered with Qur’anic references, possibly to be left strategically at false flag crime scenes where Islam would be scapegoated as the usual suspect.

Instead of focusing on the crash of the US judicial system taking place before our very eyes, the media kept their lens focused on the illegal wars being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. These wars kept American blood boiling and our fear level high enough to convince us that any challenge to our government’s errant behavior and the destruction of our judiciary was unpatriotic, undermining the troops, and making the US vulnerable to more attacks. Not until recently has the American public began to realize that the war on terrorism is a monumental hoax that has cost us billions in dollars, a priceless value in the lives of our young men and women who gave their lives in these crusades, and also those who have been injured and disabled for life. It also cost us our moral authority and our prestige and good standing in the world. Where were the judges, the lawyers, the great legal theorists and law professors? Why did they sit silently and not challenge those who were clearly undermining our judiciary and in fact our country?

The genocide in Palestine by contrast to Iraq and Afghanistan is a much more plain and convincing sign of the failure of the Judeo/Christian judicial theory and system of the West in my view. Through this conflict we have learned that Judeo/Christian law is not blind and equal if you are not Christian or Jewish, non white and rich. We also learned that there is no moral obligation either stated or implied towards those who are not Christian, Jewish European, or rich and famous. Keep in mind that the Ashkenazi Jews that rule Israel are white and European, and that it is their Talmud, even more than the Orthodox Jew’s and the Zionist Christian’s Old Testament that is undermining the world in respect to the rule of law and moral justice.

The fact that Israel has been allowed to implant itself through ethnic cleansing in the Muslim world based upon a fictional right supported by a suspect interpretation of their Old Testament historicism, should be enough to cause any jurist of any legal philosophy to cry foul. That this ethnic cleansing has been allowed to take place over 60 years, in violation of every law known to God and man is another proof that Judeo/Christian justice is not available to non Jews and non Christians, or Christians of the wrong race or culture. In fact Judeo/Christian law has proven incapable of recognizing the equal value of all human life and the equal potential for good of every human soul.

The most ironic and also the most disheartening fact in respect to the systemic failure of Judeo/Christian jurisprudence in respect to the colonization of Palestine by the European Ashkenazim, and the subsequent 9/11 failures, is that this is not the first time that it has failed so dramatically and destructively. It’s first historic failure of this magnitude was during the human slave trade of Africans to the West’s “New World” and the second was arguably the genocide against the Native Americans and then the periods of European colonization when neither the Church, or the European colonial governments were able to see or understand the evil of their project, even though their own judicial philosophy should have suggested to them that what was taking place in India, Africa and Latin America was not only a moral crime, but it was also the failure of Judeo/Christian jurisprudence to judge accurately and fairly the actions of its own society and leaders, and to hold them accountable.

It is important that we not only recognize this systemic civilizational failure in our lifetimes, but it is also important that we address it appropriately. The Judeo/Christian judicial philosophy has inspired and guided the establishment of independent judiciaries throughout the world, including many in the Muslim world. This judicial system of Judeo/Christian laws is arguably the single most significant cause of violence in the entire world, and might also be the cause of much of the world’s poverty, and much of the world’s crime. Its rhetoric fills the hearts and minds of people young and old with delusions of perfect justice that simply does not exist in the Judeo/Christian world and that could never be attained by a system, the very foundation of which is racial and class preference.

Anisa Abd el Fattah is the founder and Chairwoman of the National Association of Muslim American Women. She has a PH.D. in Islamic Jurisprudence from the Islamic College for Advanced Studies in London.

NAMAW to call for DOJ investigation of recent NY terror arrests

2009-05-22T02:40:00.000-07:00

National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW)
Press Release
National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) calls for US Department of Justice investigation into alleged terrorism case targeting synagogues and airplanes.

Domestic war on terrorism tactics are likely unconstitutional.

Washington DC, May 22, 2009

The National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) in response to FBI and NYPD allegations, and the arrests of six Muslim men who are charged with plotting to bomb synagogues and airplanes in New York, will ask the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to initiate an investigation to determine whether or not these men were entrapped in a year long scheme that was carried out to criminalizie these men in a plot that was in fact conceived, guided and facilitated by an FBI informant. This suggests to us that this was in fact an FBI plot, rather than a plot that was created and advanced by these men. According to the information released today there was neither any willful intent, nor were these men capable of carrying out such a plot without help from the FBI.

We believe that this supposed conspiracy was dreamed up by the FBI informant who coerced these men who reportedly have very limited intellectual abilities, one who is reportedly a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, to participate with him in a fake plot to blow up synagogues and an airplane in New York. The FBI said in its own statement that they allowed the informant to carry out a psychological campaign for a entire year, that was intended to make these men depressed and aggravated about the plight of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq. The informant then persuaded these men into believing that their religion obligated them to carry out acts of violence in the United States in retaliation for US war crimes being carried out in the Muslim world. Once the desired psychological conditioning was achieved, the informant supplied fake weapons and explosives to the suspects, and it was only then that the FBI and NYPD moved to arrest these men. In our opinion, this is a classic case of entrapment, and if what we believe is true, the FBI may have violated these men's civil rights, and the informant may in fact be guilty of criminal entrapment.

We feel that the case, and the questions raised by this case have created a need for further investigation and we hope that the Department of Justice will agree with us. We are in the process of retaining an attorney to guide us in our pursuit of the truth and justice for these young men, who may not be guilty of anything more than mental illness, retardation, and sympathy for other Muslims.

Our worse suspicion is that these men have been entrapped in an ongoing political campaign being carried out by the FBI that is aimed at creating the illusion that all Muslims are either terrorists or potential terrorists, thereby substantiating the use of racial and religious profiling on Muslims and Arabs, and the use of controversial and possibly unconstitutional "preventive" crime techniques exclusively on Muslims and Arabs. Just as we have recently learned that waterboarding was used against detainees at Guantanamo Bay to coerce false confessions linking Iraq to Al Qadea, hoping to create a false cause for war against Iraq, these types of domestic plots, arrests, and publicity might be intended to create fear in our society of Arabs, Muslims.and the religion of Islam. The intent might also be to create fear that might result in a willingness on the part of citizens to surrender rights in exchange for a false sense of safety, and to substantiate more funding for the wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, and to strengthen the rationale for perpetual preemptive war against Muslims, Arabs and Islam.
- END-

For more information contact NAMAW at: namaw01@gmail.com

The National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) is the United State's first and only pro life and pro family Muslim woman's political action committee.

The state of the Muslim Ummah (Community)

2009-05-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

With the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The State of the Muslim Ummah (Community)

As we look around at the world today, it is almost impossible to escape the feeling that something is tremendously wrong, and out of balance. Never before in our life times have things seemed more chaotic, while at the same time seeming to be orchestrated, shaped and imposed by a power or influence that is extremely dark and negative. Who ever imagined that one day the United States of America would be embroiled in wars whose aims are not to safe guard freedom, nor to address gross injustices or to defend itself from an imminent threat? Who among us would have ever dreamed that the United States of America would one day come to represent an oppressive, and occupying power that has set itself on a collision course with more than 1.5 billion people based upon what they believe. Who among us would ever have believed that the United States of America, a country founded by monotheists seeking a place where they could worship God freely and without fear of government persecution, would one day invade countries and kill people simply because they believe that there is only One God, and that Muhammad ibn Abdullah of Mecca is the last of His prophets, and that a Book called the Qur’an, that was revealed to that illiterate and humble man living in a desert over 1400 years ago, is God’s last Divinely revealed message to mankind. Who would ever believe that the United States of America would become the worldly power used to forcefully impose a New Secular World Order upon God’s earth, the aim of which is to reorder God’s creation, to abolish His laws, and to establish new man made laws whose purpose is to bring mankind into submission to the darkest inclinations of the human soul, which are greed for wealth, violence and lust for kingdom, dominion, and immortality.

A country whose Constitution once guaranteed the rights of all men to
believe in God freely and to express that belief freely openly, has become a country that goes to war and kills people because of what they believe about God, and his message to mankind. What is even more starling and unbelievable is that many Arab and Muslim governments have aligned themselves with these Secularists, and irreligious fanatics in their attempt to reorder the human society and to recreate it according to their laws and desires. They even help to kill and to starve Muslims and our children, looking for power, favors and protection from the godless.

A country whose Constitution was once the gold standard for social contracts that recognized and sought to protect the God given and inalienable rights of all human beings, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is now a country that spends days and weeks and months and years publicly debating whether or not torture works, and whether or not we should adopt and endorse the use of torture, even though it is against our laws, and traditions and is clearly not only illegal, but also immoral. Imagine that one of our country’s faith leaders would submit to that debate, the idea that we are not to contemplate what Jesus would do in a ticking bomb situation, but rather what Jesus would expect us to do and how far he would expect us to go to save innocent lives by torturing people to get information from them. This is the thinking and logic of one of the leaders of a religious organizations that professes the belief that Jesus Christ gave his life on a cross where he was tortured, because he would not forsaken his belief in One God, and in the message that he taught, which was revealed to him by that God. According to this imposters belief, Jesus Christ was tortured an died upon a cross for what he believed, yet he would expect his followers to torture to save lives. This failed logic also ignores the simple truth that you cannot know if someone has information about a ticking bomb unless you already have that same information. Even a lie detector test will fail in a situation where a person is being tortured. The truth is that they are sadist and they enjoy hurting others, especially Muslims.

The logic of that man is not the logic of Jesus, it is the the logic of the Pharisees, who felt that Jesus deserved to be scourged and killed because he refused to submit to their authority, and because he would not compromise his message to the Hebrew people, calling them to repentance for the false worship of men they had adopted after entering a covenant with God to worship him only, and to preserve the Book and the laws that had been revealed to the prophet Moses. Jesus gave hope to those of other tribes saying that God would send them a prophet, and described the prophet Muhammad (sa) who did receive a Divinely revealed and universal message for all of mankind.

This Secular World Order that is advancing like a storm, rumbling across the landscape of God’s earth has a history, and it goes back to the beginning, back to the story of creation where a disobedient entity that felt it had the right and power to challenge God for dominion over God’s creation said to God in rebellion, that he would not bow down to man, but rather should rule mankind because he was created of fire, and man from dust. These are metaphors representing the power to destroy over the power to procreate. It represents the power of fear used to subjugate mankind, in competition with the power of love as an incentive for life and the loyal worship of our Creator. Fire cannot create or give life, it cannot nourish or advance life, and it can only frighten and destroy unless it is controlled by a benevolent spirit that is of greater power. Thus, we have the quintessential battle between good and evil, acted out for us as the battle between Satan, the rebellious entity and Adam, the worldly father of mankind, created of love and dust, life giving and sustaining substances that are more powerful than fear of destruction, and lusts for kingdom and immortality in a darkened soul. So the objective of the rebellious entity is to prevent illumination, because the light shows mankind the pathway to God, our sustainer and source of real power.

Most of us who are familiar with religious texts and ways of thinking, look out at the world and see the fulfillment of prophecies, and those of us who seemingly recognize the times we are living in as the proverbial Last Days, will also realize, or rather remember that such days do not portend the end of the worlds, but rather they portend the coming of a day that the Qur’an says will be a Day that no one can put back, meaning it is Day that is unavoidable, the date for its arrival being fixed and will not be changed.

It is the arrival of this day that those who love God and who trust in Him await with fear, and it is a Day that the wicked and rebellious soul does not recognize, believe in, or fear, and it is this lack of belief or concern for the destination of their souls after death that will be the cause for their punishment and destruction. God told the prophet Muhammad in the Qur’an to remind the wicked of this Day, so they might learn to fear God. It is a day when every soul will be called to account for its violations of Gods laws and sins, and it is a Day where the righteous souls who have born the hardship of struggle towards God in a world wrought with evil, will find its relief, and its salvation.

The Qur’an says the angels will greet the righteous and say this is the promise of God fulfilled, so enter the garden with happiness in security. The righteous will return to the Garden from whence our father Adam was expelled as punishment for his disobedience. God’s promise to illuminate the path for those who desire to worship Him, will be fulfilled and the righteous will inherit the kingdom that Adam was temporarily denied. The Qur’an says those who enter the garden will be dressed in garments of green silk and brocade, and they will wear jewels, and sit upon thrones. The Qur’an says they will be fed the purest of foods and they will drink the most satisfying drinks while enjoying the companionship of the best and most beautiful of God’s creation. By contrast the wicked will be covered with burning tar that will cover their faces and bodies and they will burn until they are completely destroyed only to be reconstituted to be burned and destroyed over and over again. The Qur’an says they will drink a drink of the draining of wounds like puss.

The Muslim Ummah or community of Muslims exists in the world today as a sanctuary for those who believe, and who have the desire to return to the garden and to receive their inheritance and to live in peace in proximity to their Creator. I use the word sanctuary to suggest that within the company of Muslims it is accepted to believe in God, and to worship Him and to love Him, and to serve Him, unlike in the world without God. This ummah, which is not defined by geography or race, or color, but only by belief stretches across God’s earth. There is not a place on earth where there are not Muslims. We can imagine that this is due to the fact that we are carriers of something that no other people possess, and that is the truth, and the last message. What is that message? It is that mankind must repent and return from false worship of idols back to the worship of the One True God, or on the Day of Judgment the rebellious soul will be condemned to hell. It is the knowledge of God, His laws and His way that is the barrier to the complete dominion of God’s earth by the wicked and this is why they are at war with Islam. It is because darkness and light cannot co-exist. God said in the Qur’an that He hurled the truth and knocked the brains out of falsehood and that when truth arrives falsehood perishes because it is the nature of falsehood to perish. Falsehood is an illusion, like the power of Pharaoh, sorcery and illusion, while God’s power is real, perfect and complete, and it will not only destroy the Pharaohs of this world, it will destroy their sorcery and illusions, thereby freeing the human being from enslavement to falsehood and fear.

It is this message, this hope, this salvation that has made Islam the leading system of faith and life in the world. It is this power, this hope and opportunity that has caused Islam to be the fastest growing religion in the world. It is this brotherhood that is providing the comfort and the protection of the believers and it is this brotherhood that is organized to oppose and to defeat the forces of evil that seek to destroy belief in the One True God, and His laws, and to wipe out those who worship Him and Him alone.

The Hajj is a reflection of the state of the Ummat. When we see that it is well organized and orderly, and that the people are there in great numbers, it is the fulfillment of God’s promise to the prophet Muhammad (sa) where he said “Call them to the pilgrimage and they will come…” This is referring to the believing people. The Qur’an says they will come by any way possible, and will be lean on account of the distance and hardship of the journey. This doesn’t only that they are physically under nourished, but rather that they are a people who have traveled from a state of ignorance to truth and they have shed all of the excesses of life that impair the journey, or return to God, such as lusts and greed for anything except God.

The Hajj is the physical and spiritual manifestation of Ummah since it is where we gather in this world as we will, Insha Allah in heaven. We are all the same in dress, all the same in appearance, different only in name and experience and desire and need. We all come to Hajj for repentance, we all come to Hajj seeking nearness to God, seeking brotherhood, seeking peace, seeking forgiveness of sin, and also seeking guidance and restoration of our power. The rituals of Hajj are purifying because this ummah should be pure. We should not be committing sin and violation of God’s laws knowingly and purposefully. We should not be aiding others to carry out sin and to obscure the truth or to destroy and persecute the innocent. We should not be aiding the wicked to destroy God’s laws, or to abolish His order and replace it with a secular world order. We are a sanctuary and our presence should be saving and sustaining the believing people, and God’s earth.

In the Qur’an God cautioned the prophet Muhammad to be careful of the leadership of this Ummat. He told the prophet Muhammad to be careful about who is given authority in the mosques. He commanded the prophet Muhammad to replace the wicked, whose prayers are not answered and whose worship in the mosque is equal to whistling and clapping of hands, with the pure and pious who will strive and fight in the way of God, and not merely give water and creature comforts to pilgrims, and those who attend the mosques. The mosque is the center of Muslim ummat, and it must be kept clean, and it must be pure and it can only be led, and cared for by the righteous servants of God who have achieved proximity to God because God said about these people that he would hear their prayers and make their efforts successful, while he said about the hypocrites and the sinful unrepentant soul that it will be ineffective and all of its efforts would fail.

This ummat is in a perpetual state of Hajj, even when we are not in Mecca we are convening the lesser Hajj every Friday Jummah in the mosques. It is the time for repentance of sins, fellowship and guidance. It is the time for discussion of community affairs and settling disputes and distributing charity and visiting the sick and those who have been imprisoned.

The world is at war with Islam, but we are at peace. They are lying and hiding behind words that only fool people who have no God. The Qur’an says that those who God guides no one can mislead them, and those who God empower, no one can defeat them. The state of this Ummat is strong, yet it can be stronger. In spite of the loss of life and destruction of property, and the continuous attempts at our destruction, the believing people continue the journey, inviting every human being to take sanctuary with us, because God did create this Ummat as a sanctuary for mankind. As they kill millions of Muslims, the numbers of Muslims grow by millions. God says in the Qur’an about those who return to God in such circumstances, that even if they had been at home peacefully sleeping their beds and the time to transcend this life had come, they would have left us. It is only the circumstances of the illusion of their deaths that concern us, because these circumstances were allowed to challenge us and to test our abhorrence for injustice and sin, and mistreatment of the poor and weak. We will not exact justice because it appears that they died. We will exact justice because they were killed unjustly.

The prophet Muhammad (sa) taught us that no one should ever fear treachery from us, or theft from us, or violence and rudeness or offense from us. God told us in the Qur’an to even help the wicked and our enemies towards righteousness and cautioned us not to cause evil by provocation, incitement and misguidance.

It is very sad that Satan has sunk his stinger deep into the heart of the United States and other supposedly great powers and caused them to be used to attempt to wipe out Islam by killing its adherents and destroying their countries while attempting to confiscate our wealth and resources. They will never succeed, but worse and sadder is the fact that the innocent blood spilled has a price and the soul an owner who will demand His right and payment. Who will be able to pay?

We must remove our love and hearts from this world. We must enjoy the blessings of this life and the next, but not in sin. The material things should never mean more to us than salvation and nearness to God and eternal home in paradise. We must remember who we are as an ummat, and our purpose and we must be about this business of ours.

Make the word of God, which is the truth, available to all of mankind by every means except compulsion. Purify the mosques and establish the daily prayers. Attend the Jummah and use this day for all of its special attributes. No longer tolerate that any except the pure and righteous believers have authority over our mosques and our affairs. We must be guided by love, and desire for all of mankind to be spared hardship. We do this with charity, kind speech, personal and communal cleanliness, orderliness and minding our own business. The single should marry, and the married should procreate. Those burdened by vices and sins and addictions should never despair of God’s mercy and we should not cast them out for Satan to devour. Let them be part of the fellowship so long as they do not advertise or openly and promiscuously advocate sin and rebellion. In all of this let us remember that God said in the Qur;an that He has created a sanctuary for mankind so that mankind will be safe from being picked off and snatched away by Satan and the desires. We, this Ummat is that Sanctuary.

Allah bestows peace and blessings on the prophet Muhammad, his family and companions. Allah forgives this Ummat and guides us and blesses us. Oh Master, give us the wisdom and strength to bear the challenges with which you test and purify us and give us the grace to lead and protect the righteous. Make your Ummat a sanctuary for the sick, the poor, the frightened and the weak, and those who are seeking to know you and to worship you and you alone. Bless us with kind hearts and do not curse us to be cold hearted and violent. Make us exemplary to the world and a testament to your power and glory. Temper our anger and lusts for kingdom and immortality and make us accepting of your authority, your Decree, and your law. Make us successful, and give us refuge from the torment of the grave and from the hellfire. Ameen.

The State of the Muslim Ummat (Community)

2009-05-14T04:45:00.000-07:00

With the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

As we look around at the world today, it is almost impossible to escape the feeling that something is tremendously wrong, and out of balance. Never before in our life times have things seemed more chaotic, while at the same time seeming to be orchestrated, shaped and imposed by a power or influence that is extremely dark and negative. Who ever imagined that one day the United States of America would be embroiled in wars whose aims are not to safe guard freedom, nor to address gross injustices or to defend itself from an imminent threat? Who among us would have ever dreamed that the United States of America would one day come to represent an oppressive, and occupying power that has set itself on a collision course with more than 1.5 billion people based upon what they believe. Who among us would ever have believed that the United States of America, a country founded by monotheists seeking a place where they could worship God freely and without fear of government persecution, would one day invade countries and kill people simply because they believe that there is only One God, and that Muhammad ibn Abdullah of Mecca is the last of His prophets, and that a Book called the Qur’an, that was revealed to that illiterate and humble man living in a desert over 1400 years ago, is God’s last Divinely revealed message to mankind. Who would ever believe that the United States of America would become the worldly power used to forcefully impose a New Secular World Order upon God’s earth, the aim of which is to reorder God’s creation, to abolish His laws, and to establish new manmade laws whose purpose is to bring mankind into submission to the darkest inclinations of the human soul, which are greed for wealth, violence and lust for kingdom, dominion, and immortality.

A country whose Constitution once guaranteed the rights of all men to
believe in God freely and to express that belief freely openly, has become a country that goes to war and kills people because of what they believe about God, and his message to mankind. What is even more starling and unbelievable is that many Arab and Muslim governments have aligned themselves with these Secularists, and irreligious fanatics in their attempt to reorder the human society and to recreate it according to their laws and desires. They even help to kill and to starve Muslims and our children, looking for power, favors and protection from the godless.

A country whose Constitution was once the gold standard for social contracts that recognized and sought to protect the God given and inalienable rights of all human beings, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is now a country that spends days and weeks and months and years publicly debating whether or not torture works, and whether or not we should adopt and endorse the use of torture, even though it is against our laws, and traditions and is clearly not only illegal, but also immoral. Imagine that one of our country’s faith leaders would submit to that debate, the idea that we are not to contemplate what Jesus would do in a ticking bomb situation, but rather what Jesus would expect us to do and how far he would expect us to go to save innocent lives by torturing people to get information from them. This is the thinking and logic of one of the leaders of a religious organizations that professes the belief that Jesus Christ gave his life on a cross where he was tortured, because he would not forsaken his belief in One God, and in the message that he taught, which was revealed to him by that God. According to this imposters belief, Jesus Christ was tortured an died upon a cross for what he believed, yet he would expect his followers to torture to save lives. This failed logic also ignores the simple truth that you cannot know if someone has information about a ticking bomb unless you already have that same information. Even a lie detector test will fail in a situation where a person is being tortured. The truth is that they are sadist and they enjoy hurting others, especially Muslims.

The logic of that man is not the logic of Jesus, it is the the logic of the Pharisees, who felt that Jesus deserved to be scourged and killed because he refused to submit to their authority, and because he would not compromise his message to the Hebrew people, calling them to repentance for the false worship of men they had adopted after entering a covenant with God to worship him only, and to preserve the Book and the laws that had been revealed to the prophet Moses. Jesus gave hope to those of other tribes saying that God would send them a prophet, and described the prophet Muhammad (sa) who did receive a Divinely revealed and universal message for all of mankind.

This Secular World Order that is advancing like a storm, rumbling across the landscape of God’s earth has a history, and it goes back to the beginning, back to the story of creation where a disobedient entity that felt it had the right and power to challenge God for dominion over God’s creation said to God in rebellion, that he would not bow down to man, but rather should rule mankind because he was created of fire, and man from dust. These are metaphors representing the power to destroy over the power to procreate. It represents the power of fear used to subjugate mankind, in competition with the power of love as an incentive for life and the loyal worship of our Creator. Fire cannot create or give life, it cannot nourish or advance life, and it can only frighten and destroy unless it is controlled by a benevolent spirit that is of greater power. Thus, we have the quintessential battle between good and evil, acted out for us as the battle between Satan, the rebellious entity and Adam, the worldly father of mankind, created of love and dust, life giving and sustaining substances that are more powerful than fear of destruction, and lusts for kingdom and immortality in a darkened soul. So the objective of the rebellious entity is to prevent illumination, because the light shows mankind the pathway to God, our sustainer and source of real power.

Most of us who are familiar with religious texts and ways of thinking, look out at the world and see the fulfillment of prophecies, and those of us who seemingly recognize the times we are living in as the proverbial Last Days, will also realize, or rather remember that such days do not portend the end of the worlds, but rather they portend the coming of a day that the Qur’an says will be a Day that no one can put back, meaning it is Day that is unavoidable, the date for its arrival being fixed and will not be changed.

It is the arrival of this day that those who love God and who trust in Him await with fear, and it is a Day that the wicked and rebellious soul does not recognize, believe in, or fear, and it is this lack of belief or concern for the destination of their souls after death that will be the cause for their punishment and destruction. God told the prophet Muhammad in the Qur’an to remind the wicked of this Day, so they might learn to fear God. It is a day when every soul will be called to account for its violations of Gods laws and sins, and it is a Day where the righteous souls who have born the hardship of struggle towards God in a world wrought with evil, will find its relief, and its salvation.

The Qur’an says the angels will greet the righteous and say this is the promise of God fulfilled, so enter the garden with happiness in security. The righteous will return to the Garden from whence our father Adam was expelled as punishment for his disobedience. God’s promise to illuminate the path for those who desire to worship Him, will be fulfilled and the righteous will inherit the kingdom that Adam was temporarily denied. The Qur’an says those who enter the garden will be dressed in garments of green silk and brocade, and they will wear jewels, and sit upon thrones. The Qur’an says they will be fed the purest of foods and they will drink the most satisfying drinks while enjoying the companionship of the best and most beautiful of God’s creation. By contrast the wicked will be covered with burning tar that will cover their faces and bodies and they will burn until they are completely destroyed only to be reconstituted to be burned and destroyed over and over again. The Qur’an says they will drink a drink of the draining of wounds like puss.

The Muslim Ummah or community of Muslims exists in the world today as a sanctuary for those who believe, and who have the desire to return to the garden and to receive their inheritance and to live in peace in proximity to their Creator. I use the word sanctuary to suggest that within the company of Muslims it is accepted to believe in God, and to worship Him and to love Him, and to serve Him, unlike in the world without God. This ummah, which is not defined by geography or race, or color, but only by belief stretches across God’s earth. There is not a place on earth where there are not Muslims. We can imagine that this is due to the fact that we are carriers of something that no other people possess, and that is the truth, and the last message. What is that message? It is that mankind must repent and return from false worship of idols back to the worship of the One True God, or on the Day of Judgment the rebellious soul will be condemned to hell. It is the knowledge of God, His laws and His way that is the barrier to the complete dominion of God’s earth by the wicked and this is why they are at war with Islam. It is because darkness and light cannot co-exist. God said in the Qur’an that He hurled the truth and knocked the brains out of falsehood and that when truth arrives falsehood perishes because it is the nature of falsehood to perish. Falsehood is an illusion, like the power of Pharaoh, sorcery and illusion, while God’s power is real, perfect and complete, and it will not only destroy the Pharaohs of this world, it will destroy their sorcery and illusions, thereby freeing the human being from enslavement to falsehood and fear.

It is this message, this hope, this salvation that has made Islam the leading system of faith and life in the world. It is this power, this hope and opportunity that has caused Islam to be the fastest growing religion in the world. It is this brotherhood that is providing the comfort and the protection of the believers and it is this brotherhood that is organized to oppose and to defeat the forces of evil that seek to destroy belief in the One True God, and His laws, and to wipe out those who worship Him and Him alone.

The Hajj is a reflection of the state of the Ummat. When we see that it is well organized and orderly, and that the people are there in great numbers, it is the fulfillment of God’s promise to the prophet Muhammad (sa) where he said “Call them to the pilgrimage and they will come…” This is referring to the believing people. The Qur’an says they will come by any way possible, and will be lean on account of the distance and hardship of the journey. This doesn’t only that they are physically under nourished, but rather that they are a people who have traveled from a state of ignorance to truth and they have shed all of the excesses of life that impair the journey, or return to God, such as lusts and greed for anything except God.

The Hajj is the physical and spiritual manifestation of Ummah since it is where we gather in this world as we will, Insha Allah in heaven. We are all the same in dress, all the same in appearance, different only in name and experience and desire and need. We all come to Hajj for repentance, we all come to Hajj seeking nearness to God, seeking brotherhood, seeking peace, seeking forgiveness of sin, and also seeking guidance and restoration of our power. The rituals of Hajj are purifying because this ummah should be pure. We should not be committing sin and violation of God’s laws knowingly and purposefully. We should not be aiding others to carry out sin and to obscure the truth or to destroy and persecute the innocent. We should not be aiding the wicked to destroy God’s laws, or to abolish His order and replace it with a secular world order. We are a sanctuary and our presence should be saving and sustaining the believing people, and God’s earth.

In the Qur’an God cautioned the prophet Muhammad to be careful of the leadership of this Ummat. He told the prophet Muhammad to be careful about who is given authority in the mosques. He commanded the prophet Muhammad to replace the wicked, whose prayers are not answered and whose worship in the mosque is equal to whistling and clapping of hands, with the pure and pious who will strive and fight in the way of God, and not merely give water and creature comforts to pilgrims, and those who attend the mosques. The mosque is the center of Muslim ummat, and it must be kept clean, and it must be pure and it can only be led, and cared for by the righteous servants of God who have achieved proximity to God because God said about these people that he would hear their prayers and make their efforts successful, while he said about the hypocrites and the sinful unrepentant soul that it will be ineffective and all of its efforts would fail.

This ummat is in a perpetual state of Hajj, even when we are not in Mecca we are convening the lesser Hajj every Friday Jummah in the mosques. It is the time for repentance of sins, fellowship and guidance. It is the time for discussion of community affairs and settling disputes and distributing charity and visiting the sick and those who have been imprisoned.

The world is at war with Islam, but we are at peace. They are lying and hiding behind words that only fool people who have no God. The Qur’an says that those who God guides no one can mislead them, and those who God empower, no one can defeat them. The state of this Ummat is strong, yet it can be stronger. In spite of the loss of life and destruction of property, and the continuous attempts at our destruction, the believing people continue the journey, inviting every human being to take sanctuary with us, because God did create this Ummat as a sanctuary for mankind. As they kill millions of Muslims, the numbers of Muslims grow by millions. God says in the Qur’an about those who return to God in such circumstances, that even if they had been at home peacefully sleeping their beds and the time to transcend this life had come, they would have left us. It is only the circumstances of the illusion of their deaths that concern us, because these circumstances were allowed to challenge us and to test our abhorrence for injustice and sin, and mistreatment of the poor and weak. We will not exact justice because it appears that they died. We will exact justice because they were killed unjustly.

The prophet Muhammad (sa) taught us that no one should ever fear treachery from us, or theft from us, or violence and rudeness or offense from us. God told us in the Qur’an to even help the wicked and our enemies towards righteousness and cautioned us not to cause evil by provocation, incitement and misguidance.

It is very sad that Satan has sunk his stinger deep into the heart of the United States and other supposedly great powers and caused them to be used to attempt to wipe out Islam by killing its adherents and destroying their countries while attempting to confiscate our wealth and resources. They will never succeed, but worse and sadder is the fact that the innocent blood spilled has a price and the soul an owner who will demand His right and payment. Who will be able to pay?

We must remove our love and hearts from this world. We must enjoy the blessings of this life and the next, but not in sin. The material things should never mean more to us than salvation and nearness to God and eternal home in paradise. We must remember who we are as an ummat, and our purpose and we must be about this business of ours.

Make the word of God, which is the truth, available to all of mankind by every means except compulsion. Purify the mosques and establish the daily prayers. Attend the Jummah and use this day for all of its special attributes. No longer tolerate that any except the pure and righteous believers have authority over our mosques and our affairs. We must be guided by love, and desire for all of mankind to be spared hardship. We do this with charity, kind speech, personal and communal cleanliness, orderliness and minding our own business. The single should marry, and the married should procreate. Those burdened by vices and sins and addictions should never despair of God’s mercy and we should not cast them out for Satan to devour. Let them be part of the fellowship so long as they do not advertise or openly and promiscuously advocate sin and rebellion. In all of this let us remember that God said in the Qur;an that He has created a sanctuary for mankind so that mankind will be safe from being picked off and snatched away by Satan and the desires. We, this Ummat is that Sanctuary.

Allah bestows peace and blessings on the prophet Muhammad, his family and companions. Allah forgives this Ummat and guides us and blesses us. Oh Master, give us the wisdom and strength to bear the challenges with which you test and purify us and give us the grace to lead and protect the righteous. Make your Ummat a sanctuary for the sick, the poor, the frightened and the weak, and those who are seeking to know you and to worship you and you alone. Bless us with kind hearts and do not curse us to be cold hearted and violent. Make us exemplary to the world and a testament to your power and glory. Temper our anger and lusts for kingdom and immortality and make us accepting of your authority, your Decree, and your law. Make us successful, and give us refuge from the torment of the grave and from the hellfire. Ameen.

Who speaks for Muslims in the US; and who should?

2009-03-31T23:50:00.001-07:00

In the 80s and early 90s prior to the establishment of the now defunct American Muslim Council (AMC), many mainstream Muslims were discussing how desperately we needed a Muslim organization that could compete with AIPAC. Others wanted a political organization that would unite Muslim Americans around social rather than political issues, and there were still others who wanted to organize and establish a national human rights organization. Whatever the particular point of view, or cause to be adopted, it was clear to many of us then, that Muslims lacked a representative voice that was not only able, but also willing to step into the ugly and sometimes very intimidating world of public policy in the US, hoping to speak truth to power from an Islamic perspective. The mission to organize and participate was seen less as a mission to garner Muslim power or influence, and was seen more as a mission to fulfill what appeared to many as a duty to help our country formulate moral policies that not only served the interest of Muslims, but also our country.

The objective of Muslim American Muslims to organize, though met with its share of suspicion by both Muslims and non Muslims, was sincerely intended by most, to be a first step in the presentation of a type of non traditional dawah or Islamic teaching that would allow our government and fellow citizens to recognize the important role that Muslims could and would play, providing sometimes missing facts, and unique perspectives, particularly in respect to US foreign policy, and humanitarianism. Contrary to what people like Steven Emerson would have our government believe, the first major foreign policy issue to galvanize US Muslims was not Palestine. It was apartheid in South Africa.

Muslim Americans of all races and ethnicities joined millions of other Americans who were calling for US divestment from the South African apartheid state. Under the tutelage of Muslim brothers and sisters, mostly African Americans who had served as activists in the civil rights movement, Muslim Americans united behind the call to end apartheid in South Africa, and joined coalitions led by non Muslim African American civil rights organizations and personalities. There was very little activism or interest in the issue of Palestine, or the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine as was feared by outsiders, and there were no prominent Palestinians at the forefront of Muslim American political activism.

It wasn’t until the mid nineties, and after the release of the deceitful shockumentary Jihad in America, that Muslim interest in organized political and even humanitarian activism was publicly mischaracterized as conspiracies to commit terrorism, or support for terrorism. Steven Emerson, who produced the propaganda piece, suggested in his production, that all Muslims are either terrorists or potential terrorists, and that US mosques had been radicalized by Afghani Mujahedeen and Palestinian activists, and turned against the US. Nothing was further from the truth. What was happening was that Palestinian Muslims and other Muslims had began to attend one another’s mosque and lectures, and to fellowship with one another outside the mosque. This became an opportunity for many to learn the truth about the negative impact of our country’s foreign policies on the lives of fellow Muslims in other countries. Whereas this new awareness seemed harmless to Muslims, it was very threatening to US Jews who already knew and were perpetuating the horrors that we now know as an illegal and brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine, as well as a myriad of other injustices against Muslims in other countries, all mostly associated with the illegal occupation.

The Jewish American solution to what they feared would become a serious challenge to their monopoly over political influence, that was denied to minority groups in the US, religious and racial minorities, was to create such mistrust of US Muslims that our government and also our fellow citizens would not only come to fear us, but also to hate us. Other anti-Muslim and anti-Islam activists soon joined Emerson the Jewish American Goebbels, in his campaign to create hatred of Muslims, just as the Third Reich had created enough hatred of Jews in Germany to substantiate a Holocaust.

Muslims in the US did not experience a Holocaust, perhaps only because there is a US Constitution that protects rights, and a respect for rule of law that lingers in the hearts of US citizens, preventing us from too easily accepting that we should deconstruct 250 years of successful republicanism to accommodate the fear of exposure, and competition being suffered by American Jews. It appears that the Jewish American leadership, rather than to reach out to US Muslims in an effort to find ways to achieve peace in the Holy Land, decided they would rather employ a campaign of defamation, intimidation and psychological terrorism in the US, all as mentioned earlier, in an attempt to create fear and hatred of Muslims in the US.

At the inception of this insidious campaign, very few US Muslims had access to the media, or enough knowledge of US foreign policy and the situation in Palestine to respond to the myriad of terrifying accusations being made by the Jewish and Israeli operatives employed to undermine Muslim political activism and to poison relations between Muslims and the US government. A new organization, founded by a Palestinian and an American who was a former news reporter, an organization named CAIR, Council on American Islamic Relations, took the challenge presented by Emerson and others, and moved to the forefront of organized US Muslim activism. CAIR became the heroes of the US Muslim community, a community that had experienced only the first of a series of unexpected and vicious attacks to be launched at us by the Zionists in this country. This position was hard for CAIR to hold onto, since other Muslim organizations formed, many relocating from smaller towns to Washington DC, most hoping to earn their share of heroism, donations, and community support as CAIR had.

Following 9/11 and the inception of a horrendously evil and hateful campaign mounted by Christian Zionist and Zionist Jews in the US who had hoped to place the final nail in the coffin of Islam in America; Muslim Americans, sensing almost immediately that there was a lack of leadership, began to reach out to our government and people of other faiths, sometimes on their own, and in an unprecedented way. They were hoping to initiate dialogues with our government and law enforcement officials, and other citizens to ensure them that Muslim Americans are not a threat to our country, and that we are not a threat to Jews or Christians in the US as had been falsely charged.

Interfaith groups, and encounter groups were formed in almost every mosque, community center, Islamic center and even by Muslims generally who felt the urgency to speak out in an attempt to rebut the false accusations and slander against Islam that had become a backlash against US Muslims that included mosque burnings, violent attacks against women in hijab, and the detention of Muslims who were being entrapped in government stings for voicing anger, or making meaningless threats.

Shamefully, this was also a period in time where many Muslims turned against one another, and used the backlash against other Muslims. Sometimes this was done to seek revenge against other Muslims for all types of reasons including professional and romantic jealousy, professional competition and sometimes simply because Muslims adhered to a different school of Islamic thought than another Muslim. Not due to any fault of their own, US law enforcement became confused, and began to wonder who to believe and what to do to protect innocent Muslims from the wrath of other Muslims, as well as from what was eventually recognized as a campaign undertaken by some Christians and Jews to also defame and to levy false accusations against more vocal, and prominent Muslims and activists.

This, along with hundreds, if not thousands of interfaith dialogues where so many different renditions of Islam have been presented, has caused our government and others outside the US Muslim community to ask “who really speaks for Muslims in the US?” Even some Muslims are beginning to feel that it is necessary to reign in some of these non representative spokespersons, and to issue the call for organized and united activism that is represented by a single Muslim personality and voice, meaning that as a community we have come full circle since the founding of the first national Muslim organization. Now rather than looking for an organization, we are longing for a leader who will be given the mission to carry the Muslim political and humanitarian voice into the US market place of ideas.

There is no simple answer to the question, “Who speaks for US Muslims?” while there is a very simple answer to the question “who should?” The Qur’an and the teachings of the beloved prophet Muhammad (sa) give us a tremendous amount of guidance in respect to this question, and his Sunnah provides us with a perfect model for Islamic community and leadership. Some might ask if this is so, why we find ourselves in a situation where we lack a representative voice for our national community that is able to articulate our concerns and to protect our interests without sacrificing our rights, while simultaneously educating us and also guiding us into the mainstream market place of ideas, without frightening and intimidating our fellow citizens with our powerful message.

Before we look critically at those who are obviously vying for the positions of spokespersons for, and leaders of the US Muslim community, we must first look at ourselves and ask ourselves the question asked by a prophet who was sent to people who had been forced from their homes and who suffered from oppression at the hands of a tyrannical people. The story and the question is found in the Holy Qur’an, in Surah Al Baqarah, Chapter 2, verse 247. It says,

They said to a prophet among them, “Appoint for us a king that we might struggle in the cause of God.” He said, “Is it possible if you were commanded to struggle hard that you would not?” They said, “How could we refuse to struggle in the cause of God seeing that we were turned out of our homes and out of our families?” But when they were commanded to struggle, they turned back, except a small group of them. “Their prophet said to them “God has appointed Talut as king over you. “ They said; “How can he exercise authority over us when we are better fitted than he to exercise authority, and he is not gifted with wealth in abundance?”

The Qur’an also says, “and when they gave up hope in everything except God, God sent them leaders…”

In the Sura Nur, or “Light,” God gives us another example of a people who would not be rightly guided, not because of the deficiencies of their leaders, but because of their own lack of faith, and the diseases of their own hearts. Chapter 2, verses 46-57 say;

We have indeed sent down signs that make things manifest; And God guides whom He wills to a way that is straight. They say “We believe in God and in the apostle, and we obey” but even after that, some of them turn away, they are not really Believers. When they are summoned to God and His apostle, in order that he may judge between them, behold some decline to come. But if the right is on their side, they come to him in all submission. Is it a disease in their hearts, or do they doubt, or are they in fear that God and His apostle will deal unjustly with them? No, it is they themselves who do wrong.

The answer of the Believers when summoned to God and His apostle, in order that He may judge between them, is no other than this; they say, “We hear and we obey.” It is such as these that will attain felicity. It is such as obey God and his apostle and fear God and do right that will win. They swear their strongest oaths by God, if only God would command them, they would leave their homes, say; “Swear you not, obedience is more reasonable; verily God is well aware of what you do.

The mantle of leadership in Islam is conferred by God, and good leaders are given to communities who are ready to be guided. We must give up hope in all false gods including people, power and money and place our hope and faith in God only. God has promised us that He will send us leadership that will guide us to our desired victories when we are humble enough to be an obedient people, who fear none other than him, who have faith in His signs, or scriptures, and who are ready to take up the struggle in God’s cause, which is the struggle not only for inner purity and enlightenment, but also the outer struggle against tyranny and injustice and oppression. This is our challenge today, to become these people to whom God has promised to “change their state after the fear in which they lived, to one of security and peace” ( 24:55).

May Allah guide us to that end, and make us worthy and ready to receive the righteous leader of His choosing. And may God open the eyes of our hearts that we might recognize our leader when that time arrives.

There is a she camel in Palestine

2009-03-03T06:08:00.000-08:00

In the Qur’an there is a very interesting and telling account about a she-camel and a prophet named Salih who God sent to warn a certain people about a coming punishment that would result from their continued injustices unless they stopped committing their crimes, repented and reformed. The leaders of that town of course laughed at, and mocked that prophet, since he was someone they knew, and could hardly imagine being a prophet. They knew his family, his background, and whereas they respected his family, they had no real regard for him. He was simply a man, like other men in their eyes. He was not distinguished in any way that makes him notable among other men who were not prophets. He worked no miracles, and as far as we know, he had no book of signs to share, just a simple warning that went ignored. Of course this prophet did not merely deliver the message and take cover, or leave town. He preached and taught in the city for years prior to the impending j! udgment of which he warned. Yet, the leaders of the town not only ignored his warnings, they mocked his prophecies, calling them "tall tales." They even defied God by carrying out the very act that had been specifically prohibited by God, through His prophet, which was the killing of the she-camel. God had inspired the prophet Salih to advise the leaders of the town that this one special camel should be treated in a certain way. In reading the story, one immediately recognizes that the instructions regarding this camel were not unique, or extraordinary. There was no burden being placed upon the people to provide for the she-camel as God had commanded. God had instructed the prophet to simply advise the people that the she-camel was a sign from God, and should be granted her rights. "How?" The people wondered, could such an animal be a sign from God? What message is communicated through a pregnant female camel, a lowly beast of burden, who is distinguished from the others onl! y by her physical qualities, her color, or race, since she cannot work or benefit anyone in the same way that other camels earn their keep. God’s command was that she not be burdened, that she be allowed to graze undisturbed, and that she receive her turn for watering, and care as did the other camels, since she is destined to give birth, new life, and along with it new hope. Immediately upon receiving the message about the she-camel, the people of Salih hamstrung the she-camel in defiance. The prophet Salih recognized at that point that no more preaching was necessary, so he left the town, and soon after his departure, God’s punishment came to bear upon the Thamud.

The story begins in the Qur’an, in Chapter 7, verse 73, where it says: " To the Thamud people (We sent) Salih, one of their own brethren. He said "Oh you people worship God, you have no other God but him. Now has come unto you a clear sign from your Lord. This she-camel of God is a sign to you, so leave her to graze in God’s earth, and let her come to no harm, or you shall be seized with a grievous punishment."

"And remember how He made you inheritors after the Ad people and gave you habitations in the land. You build for yourselves palaces and castles in open plains, and carve out homes in mountains, so bring to remembrance the benefits of God, and refrain from evil and mischief on the earth.

The leaders of the arrogant party among the people said to those who were reckoned powerless-those among them who believed: "Know you indeed that Salih is a prophet from his Lord? They said, "we do indeed believe in the revelation that has been sent through him."

The arrogant party said: "For our part we reject what you believe in. Then they hamstrung the she-camel, and insolently defied the order of their Lord, saying: "Oh Salih, bring about your threats, if you are a prophet of God."

So the earthquake took them unaware, and they lay prostrate in their homes in the morning. So Salih left them, saying: "Oh my people, I did indeed convey to you the message for which I was sent by my Lord. I gave you good counsel, but you love not good counselors."

The Qur’an explains the symbolism of the She-camel for us saying: " We sent the she-camel to the Thamud to open their eyes, but they treated her wrongfully. We only send the signs by way of fear, and warning from evil " (17:59). Qur’anic scholar Abdullah Yusef Ali explains this for us saying, "signs, miracles, and portents are sent by God as warning, to strike fear into the hearts of evil doers and reclaim them to the right path."

We might ask ourselves what exact crimes the Thamud were committing that led to the she-camel being sent to them as a warning sign, with God’s commandments to treat her justly. Abdullah Yusef Ali believed that the she-camel challenged the Thamud in their areas of weakness, which included greed, and arrogance, and disrespect for the rights of the poor, and those whom they believed had no value or worth equal to their own assumed value. Yusef Ali writes: " The story of this wonderful she-camel is variously told in tradition. What we are told in the Qur’an is that 1. The she-camel was a sign or symbol, which the prophet Salih used for warning to the haughty oppressors of the poor 2. There was scarcity of water, and the arrogant or privileged classes tried to prevent the access of the poor or their cattle to the springs, while Salih intervened on their behalf 3. Like water, pasture was considered a free gift, in this spacious earth of God, but the arrogant ones ! tried to monopolize the pasture 4. This particular she-camel was made a test case to see if the arrogant ones would come to reason 5. The arrogant ones, instead of yielding to the reasonable rights of the people, hamstrung the poor she-camel and slew her, probably secretly. The cup of iniquities was full, and the Thamud people were destroyed by a dreadful earthquake, which threw them prone on the ground and buried them and their houses and fine buildings."

To better understand the character of the Thamud, we need only read the narrative in the Qur’an, which chronicles their conversation and actions. In Chapter 26, verses 142-159 we read," Behold their brother Salih said to them, "Will you not fear God? I am to you an apostle worthy of all trust. So fear God and obey me. No reward do I ask of you for it; my reward is only from the Lord of the worlds. Will you be left secure in the enjoyment of all that you have here? Gardens and springs and cornfields and date palms with branches near breaking with the weight of fruit? And you carve houses out of rocky mountains with great skill. But fear God and obey me, and follow not the bidding of those who are extravagant and who make mischief in the land and mend not their ways. They (the Thamud) said: " Thou art only one bewitched! Thou art no more than a mortal like us. Bring us a sign if you are telling the truth. He (Salih) said: " Here is a she-camel, she has a right! of watering, and you have a right of watering, severally on a day appointed. Touch her not with harm, lest the penalty of a great day seize you. But they hamstrung her, then did they become full of regrets. But the penalty seized them. Verily in this is a sign, but most of them do not believe. And verily thy Lord is He the exalted in Might, Most Merciful."

There is a she-camel in Palestine. She is a Palestinian people who are being denied their rights. She is a people being hamstrung, and slaughtered by an arrogant and defiant entity that refuses to recognize the rights of all human beings, regardless of their race or religion to basic human rights, which include the right to life, dignity and sustenance, food and water, and medical care. There is a she-camel in Palestine, and she is being slaughtered while the world turns up its nose at her and asks what value she has upon which to base her claim that she has a right to live. What right can she have to share the resources, or to enjoy the rights conferred upon the chosen, by the owner of the land, who is God, since she has no identity, no definition, no government, no allies, no treasury, no fine homes, no inheritance, no oil. We cannot recognize her. Still, she is there and she is being hamstrung. She is pregnant with potential, and promise of a future, but ! we cannot see what rests in her belly, and there is no one to claim ownership, or to love her pending birth. There is a she-camel in Palestine, "And verily thy Lord is He, the exalted in Might, most Merciful."

An Open Letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak

2009-02-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

February 5, 2009

Dear Mr. Mubarak,

As Salaamu Alaikum.

The Muslim world is shocked by your realignment of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and its new status as Israeli ally, standing in opposition to the people of Palestine, refusing to open the Rafah Crossing and depriving the people of Gaza much needed food and medicines. How unfortunate that you would cause Egypt to be used and demoralized by Israel in this way. What did the Palestinian people do to you, or to Egypt that would cause you to assist Israel in starving them to death, and even worse, to kill them for no reason? From December 27, 2009, to January 23, 2009, Israel was able to slaughter more than 1000 Palestinians, mostly women and children because you would not open the Rafah Crossing and allow them to flee, and neither would you allow ambulances, medicines, or medical personnel to enter Gaza, so their lives might be saved.

I am writing this letter, to bring to your attention the fact that Egypt is in violation of the Geneva Conventions which prohibits using any type of illegal coercion to force a people suffering under an illegal occupation to surrender their rights out of duress. Your administration admitted publicly that your decision to close and to keep the Rafah Crossing closed is aimed at overthrowing the duly elected Hamas government, which is also illegal.

By closing the Rafah Crossing and refusing to allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, you are in fact violating numerous laws that aim to protect those who are being held captive by illegal occupiers, and stripped of their right to exist, to live and to be free. It is important that you understand, that according to international law, Israel is an illegal and belligerent occupier of Palestine. Your cooperation with Israel causes Egypt to possibly be acting illegally, by aiding and abetting Israel in its illegal activities. Egypt neither has the legal or moral authority to trap the people of Gaza in the territory, and then to deny any food, or medicine or other essentials for life to reach them and also to take steps to prevent them from building tunnels or creating other alternative means to sustain their lives.

Your actions are inhumane by any standard, and it is unbelievable that a Muslim and Arab leader such as yourself, could side with Israel, who refers to Arab people as “animals” and who has on numerous occasions defamed the prophet Muhammad (sa) and sought to eliminate Islam. Israel routinely kills Muslims and Arabs, and destroys our property with brutal illegal wars. Israel is seeking to expand even beyond Palestine, Lebanon and Syria into the remaining Arab and Muslim world in an effort to establish what they refer to as “Greater Israel” and you are helping them. “Why?”

The hypocrisy of the United States, the EU and others who ignore Israel’s crimes, and these countries willingness to stand idle as Israel kills, and destroys private property with impunity, confuses many people about the legality of what Israel is doing. These countries actually supplies Israel with weapons and ammunition to carry out these illegal killings and meaningless destruction of property.

The people of the world cannot believe that the Western countries who claim to be the most cultured and civilized, and who claim to adhere to, and live by the law, are able to tell any lie, and pay any amount of money to assist Israel in its genocide in Palestine. Let me assure you that what Israel is doing is illegal, immoral and wrong, and the assistance that you are lending to Israel is also illegal, and immoral and wrong.

Mr. Mubarak, in closing I appeal to you, requesting that you permanently open the Rafah Crossing. I ask that you reconcile with the government of Gaza, and work cooperatively with them to insure that Egypt’s sovereign rights, and security are not threatened or compromised in any way by the movement of goods and supplies passing through the crossing. I ask that you allow the people of Gaza to receive the aid and supplies that you are illegally withholding from them. Also, these people should be allowed to move through the crossing to attain medical care, to visit relatives, and to live as normal people live. Gaza is not an enemy to Egypt. These people are Arab, Christians and Muslims. They are women and children, students, parents, old people, all who have rights, and whose lives and blood are sacred, as is all human life. I pray that God will guide you, and that you will end Egypt’s days of darkness in collusion with Zionism, and that you will bring Egypt back into the hearts of the Arab and Muslim people who over the years looked to Egypt for security and leadership.

Wa Salaamu Alaikum,

Anisa Abd el Fattah, Chairwoman
National Assoc. of Muslim American Women

Israel should demonstrate good faith before Gaza cease fire

2009-02-04T05:06:00.000-08:00

The idea that there should be a cease fire agreement between Israel and the resistance in Gaza before the Rafah and other crossings into Gaza are opened is difficult to understand, and defies logic. After 23 days of criminal murder and destruction of property, that resulted from Israel’s and its supporter’s wrong belief that Israel can accomplish through violence what it lacks the credibility to accomplish through negotiations, the resistance is again being asked to accept once again, the idea that Israel will abide by a cease fire agreement the terms of which include the opening of all crossings and the lifting of the illegal economic blockade being imposed upon Gaza. No one has explained why the people of Gaza should accept such an agreement. Why, after suffering 23 days of an illegal Israeli military assault that resulted from a dishonest process that included a fake cease fire agreement that was never intended to yield anything more than the time necessary for Israel to plan and to carry out its December 27th attack, should the people of Gaza be willing to enter such an agreement? There has been enough written by reliable sources, suggesting that as Israel was negotiating the previous 6 month cease fire through its ally Egypt, that it was in fact already planning the recent attack carried out against the people of Gaza. The attack left more than 1000 dead, mostly women and children, and thousands more injured. Israel destroyed Gaza’s already crumbling infrastructure, and also used banned and illegal weapons against the people. The crossings were not opened during the cease fire as agreed, and they were not opened during the war, not even to allow ambulances and medicines into Gaza, so why should the people of Gaza believe that they will be opened now?

It is more reasonable, considering that Israel must not be rewarded in any way for its criminal behavior and its violations of international law in Gaza, that before any agreed upon cease fire begins, the crossings into the Gaza Strip be opened for at least one month, and Israel be made to cover the cost of all needed fuel and other humanitarian aid up to an agreed upon amount, or over a certain amount of time. This agreement to compensate Gaza in part for the destruction that Israel caused during its 23 day war, along with the opening of the crossings would be a seen as a good faith gesture, and it would go a long way in restoring Israel’s credibility, which would strengthen the agreement. To date, Israel has never kept an agreement of any kind with the people of Palestine. It has instead used a carrot stick strategy, where Israel promises carrots, yet wages war hoping that through murder and intimidation it will force the people of Palestine to submit to its will, and voluntarily enslave themselves to Israel’s criminal occupation. It was this type of fear that caused the former President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmood Abbas to declare shortly after Israel’s attack, that the only hope for Gaza was to submit to Israel and to agree upon what he called peace, and what the Qur’an calls oppression.

If indeed the international community of people and nations are committed to the restoration of international law, and are willing to conform to the Geneva Convention prohibition against forcing or compelling a people living under a criminal military occupation to negotiate away their rights, this cease fire is where we must begin.
Israel should not be allowed ever again to use violence to gain advantages over the Palestinian people. Nor should it be allowed to use the appearance of negotiations to trick the Palestinian people into surrendering their rights, simply because the international community lacks the commitment or the will to uphold the law, and to demand justice for Palestine. Recent conferences and meetings that are supposedly aimed at arranging a resolution to the current crisis through a negotiated cease fire, might very well be the veils that are covering the true intent of Israel and its patrons to use a cease fire agreement to tie Gaza’s hands, while it carries out more violent attacks, including targeted assassinations against Hamas’s leadership. The only way to insure that this is not the case, and to prove that Israel and its patrons are not again attempting to benefit from Israel’s criminal Dec. 27 assault, using fear and threats of future attacks to coerce the people of Palestine into self defeating agreements, is to compel Israel to act first in good faith, and to end its violent attacks against Gaza, open the Rafah and other crossings into Gaza for a period of one month prior to the inception of the formal cease fire agreement, while agreeing to compensate the people of Gaza for some of the hardship and loss that Israel caused during its illegal 23 day war by covering the cost of food and humanitarian aide over an agreed upon period of time, or an agreed upon amount.

Any cease fire agreement that does not require that Israel perform good faith gestures to somewhat restore its credibility as a serious and realizable party to any agreement, will be nothing more than an agreement that is aimed at binding the people of Gaza to another unilateral cease fire, while Israel will not be compelled to keep its agreements, and just as before, while Gaza keeps its end of the agreement, Israel will be carrying out targeted assassinations hoping to remove the Hamas leadership, and imposing Mahmoud Abbas’s illegitimate authority over Gaza.

Of course it is reasonable for the people of Gaza to have a desire to avoid more of Israel’s disproportionate violence, knowing now that not only are the US and EU likely to permit Israel to attack Gaza again, but will also turn their heads as Israel returns to its illegal targeted assassination policy, and that many of the Arab and Muslim governments will join them in such a conspiracy. No one could fault the resistance for feeling pressured to accept any cease fire agreement that might hold off another “all out attack.” There is only one thing different that the resistance can rely upon now, that it could not possibly foresee from Gaza, and that is that the people of the Muslim world will not stand by and allow Gaza to suffer again as it did before. Also, there are Muslim governments who are prepared to condemn Israel, and even to take steps, using their stature to demand that the international institutions take action to prevent further Israeli aggression. Whereas before the US, EU and Israel were able to stave off any opposition to Israel’s lawlessness and violence, it is not likely that they would be able to silence or control a Muslim world that will likely erupt should Israel ever attack Gaza’s people again.

NAMAW congratulates Obama; calls for end to war on terrorism

2009-01-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

Dear President Barack Obama,

The National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) congratulates you on your inauguration as the United State's 44th President.

With heartfelt sincerity we wish you a successful presidency, and we look forward to working with you and the members of your cabinet in a joint effort to get our country, and the world on the path to peace and prosperity.

In our opinion the first step towards that end must be ending the US/Israel war on terrorism.

The US/Israel war on terrorism that began following the tragic attack on our country September 11, 2001 has been a misdirected war to kill people who have been tagged Islamic "radicals" and "extremists." It is a war that is aimed at killing and depriving Muslims and Arabs of human and legal rights.

The US/Israel so called war on terrorism, is a war that is based upon anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and also anti-Islamic propaganda that began to saturate the world media even before 9/11, almost as if an environment of hatred against Muslims and Arabs and Islam was being created purposefully to yield the ugly backlash inflicted upon Muslim and Arab people following 9/11. This backlash includes the war on terrorism.

There is enough proof now, showing that the 9/11 attacks were not carried out by Muslims. There is also enough proof that the religion of Islam does not condone terror, nor does it compel its adherents to act violently, or to carry out acts of terrorism and political violence. There is also widespread belief that whoever did carry out the attacks on 9/11 used Muslims, Arabs and Islam as scapegoats with the hope of dragging the US into what would become an endless and perpetual war whose real aim is to create what the former Bush administration called a New Middle East. A Middle East whose natural resources are controlled by the US and Israel, and whose people are subjugated to Israel, and its indiscriminate violence.

The US/Israeli war on terrorism is an act of collective punishment that has taken the lives of millions of innocent Muslim and Arab people, including 650,000 innocent Iraqi children who were starved to death and who died from curable diseases as a result of an inhumane economic embargo placed upon Iraq by the US, that mimics almost exactly the criminal and inhumane economic embargo that Israel has imposed for 18 months upon the Gaza Strip in Palestine.

The recent Israeli assault on Gaza that has resulted in more than 1000 deaths, mostly women and children, and the almost complete destruction of Gaza's infrastructure is also reminiscent of the US invasion of Iraq, and the destruction that has been wrought upon Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. Ironically none of these countries had anything to do with 9/11, and neither did Palestine.

It is time for the US/Israeli so called war on terrorism to end and for the US and the Muslim and Arab people of the world to begin a new relationship, one that as you stated in your inaugural speech, is based upon mutual respect.

We hope that you will make ending the war on terrorism one of your administration's first priorities along with initiating a US/Muslim dialogue that is aimed at resolving the differences, real and imagined that have led to the present state of regrettable and tragic affairs.

Again we congratulate you on your inauguration, and we pray that it is the beginning of a new era of peace and prosperity for the United States and the entire world.

With Best Regards,

Anisa Abd el Fattah, Chairwoman
NAMAW

It is time to end Israel's criminal assault on Gaza

2009-01-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

As the war rages in Gaza so called “moderate” Muslims and their Arab government counterparts are working feverishly to figure out how to reward Israel for its two weeks of carnage in Gaza. The idea that they should focus on ending Israel’s criminal onslaught is lost on these perhaps well intended, but misguided souls. All they can see is an opportunity for Israel to win, and for Hamas to be defeated. In their confused minds and amoral judgment, Israel may not have been justified in killing so many Gazans; still Hamas had no right to fight back. In fact, as far as many of them are concerned, Hamas has no right to even exist. Keep in mind that there is no record of these same people having ever called for a security force to protect the Palestinians. They have never made an effort to insure that the people of Palestine ever had a defender or a security force dedicated to protecting Palestinian rights and life. Now we know why.

Even if you attempt to bring to their attention the fact that negotiating behind the scenes with Israeli intelligence, and operatives while Palestinian children are being burned to death with white phosphorus, and Israel’s Lieberman is calling for an all out nuclear attack on Gaza, is wrong, they argue that the Palestinians cannot possibly win and so the only solution is to give Israel what it wants with a few concessions for Gaza, like an international pro-Israel peacekeeping force. To mention that Israel should not be rewarded for what it has done and should be stopped makes one an “extremist” in their lopsided view. Their objective is to end the war on Gaza by figuring out what it is that Israel wants, and seeing that Israel gets what it wants, in spite of the fact that what Israel is doing is a monumental crime that demands an international military response, similar to the NATO attack on Serbia that allowed the Bosnians relief from a similar onslaught, carried out against them for similar reasons by the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

The only way to end Israel’s violence is for an international force to engage Israel militarily and force Israel to end its attacks on the people of Gaza. This should happen unless the Arab governments want to be faced with riots and revolutions the likes of which have never been seen in the Arab and Muslim world. As for the rest of the world, it seems reasonable to expect that as we stand by and do nothing while Israel continues to slaughter Palestinians that this will eventually result in all out attacks on Jews outside of Israel. This happened after Ariel Sharon’s massacres in the second intifada, and there is no reason to expect that the killing of Palestine will continue without there being some type of similar response.

There have been suggestions that Israel, fully expecting that at some point the international community, or that Muslims will act, has been threatening a repeat of the Masada. This is perhaps what has moderate Muslim and Arab governments working so hard to give Israel what it wants. It does not matter to them that Palestinians are also human beings with equal rights, and that it is wrong to sacrifice Palestinian life to save the lives of Israelis who are threatening to kill themselves unless the world stands by idly while they are allowed to kill Gaza.

Everyone already knows what happened to the Arab governments and the so called moderate Muslims who legitimize their treason and give them moral and intellectual sanction. We understand why they serve Israel. They have been tamed by the war on terror, which is what Israel and their neoconservative movement predicted. But what happened to the US? We have become an unrecognizable place where racial hatred has taken on new proportions, as has religious extremism and hatred. I guess we can thank the likes of John Hagee, Rod Parsley and Pat Robertson for our country’s flirtation with the dark side. Gone are our days as a beacon of light and hope for underdogs and the teeming masses yearning to be free. Those so called men of God are in fact prophets of hatred and death that have led the US and Israel to this juncture in history. They claim that they are espousing God’s prophecy when they call for nuking Palestine and death to all Palestinians, when in fact they are the mouthpieces for the Satan that has possessed them and driven them, and all of those who follow them, Jews and non Jews to absolute evil and madness.

It is time for the US and Europe to decide what they will do about the Holocaust taking place in Gaza.. The choice is not whether to allow Israel to continue, or to stop Israel’s criminal invasion and war on the people of Gaza. The choice is whether they want to stop it, or if they want the war to expand. The situation we are all in is that simple, and also that tragic.

Liars, Liars!, Why Gaza is on Fire

2009-01-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

It should be clear now to anyone who follows international events that the Israeli attack on Gaza and the subsequent and ongoing massacre there was a planned event that had, and has broad international support among the so called powers of the world and their lackeys in the Arab and Muslim world.

They have become experts at carrying out such charades, but this time God has not allowed them to fool the people of the world. The streets are filled with people, Muslim and non Muslim, who know that it is these governments, the US, the EU and their so called Middle East Quartet, along with the United Nations, Egypt and other Arab and Muslim countries including possibly Saudi Arabia, that gave Israel the green light to carry out an all out attack on Gaza. This attack and war are aimed at toppling Hamas, traumatizing, demoralizing and terrifying the people of Gaza,and all for the sole purpose of imposing the leadership of the traitor and collaborator Mahmoud Abbas, head of the failed and corrupt Palestinian Fatah faction that the people of Palestine rejected in their national election, upon Gaza.

The news is reporting that the UN has called all international parties to work to transfer power in Gaza to Abbas as a way to end the Israeli aggression on Palestine. Abbas is on his way to New York to receive his crown. Abbas and the UN want us to believe that this is a spontaneous decision that was reached as a last resort effort in their quest for peace with Israel. They are liars. It has always been their plan, along with US and the Quartet, to impose Abbas’s authority upon Palestine, and that is why they recruited and trained a Palestinian security force that is loyal only to Abbas, and that was organized not to protect the people of Palestine or to enforce the Palestinian basic law, but rather it was organized and trained to protect Israel, and the illegal and terrorist Israeli settlers from Palestinians. Abbas’s security forces were also trained to arrest, detain, imprison, interrogate and torture Palestinians, and to recruit and train Palestinian spies, and informants.

For the better part of the past twenty years, the UN in collusion with the US and EU and their Arab quislings in the undeveloped world, have carried out such massacres. This is always their fist step in their regime change schemes and when they want to reconfigure and realign the world to increase their domination and control over any country, or people. We saw them carry out this plan in Rwanda, and in Bosnia and also in Algeria in Chechnya, Somalia and in other places where the people were in any way resistant to their lies and schemes. The of these world powers are all designed for economic exploitation, military domination and political tyranny. These powers are the real axis of evil in the world.

We, the people of the world, who should be able to see now who the real threats to world peace are, must work cooperatively to put an end once and for all to this global conspiracy against freedom and life.

Yesterday US president George W. Bush said that Hamas efforts to defend Palestinian lives are acts of terrorism. The truth is that under the Clinton and Bush administrations the US became a state sponsor of terrorism, and complicit in an international effort to accelerate the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, hoping to end the Palestine/ Israel conflict once and for all through military might rather than negotiations, or according to the solution that is provided by international law. The leaders of the US have become little more than war criminals and facilitators of war criminals and they are arrogantly funding and facilitating their god Israel with absolute disdain for US and international law, public sentiment and morality.

The goal of these people has been to eliminate the Arabs and Muslims from Palestine, and other parts of the Arab/Muslim world, and to establish military outposts in that region under the guise of establishing a Jewish Only state, and several supportive Arab and Kurdish satellites. The poor ignorant European Jews who were originally settled in Palestine, were sent there to serve as cover, and cannon fodder for this scheme. They were sent there to be deterrents to attacks or other attempts to dismantle the Israeli military outpost through military operations. That is why they allow Israel to have a nuclear weapons program, and advanced military equipment, supposedly to protect these Poor Jewish lives. It is also why Israel is allowed to use banned and experimental weapons on the Palestinians, because Israel carries out weapons tests as part of their agreement with their partners in war crimes in exchange for exemption from the law.

The Holocaust and the Poor Jews narrative, which is the sentiment behind the Anti-Semitism accusation against anyone who would dare criticize Israel or the Jews, has been a bigger protection for Israel than its US and European facilitators military arsenals. It has staved off all criticism of Israel and any demand that Israel abide by international law. And more importantly, it has been used to argue that no other people have any rights when and if recognizing their rights causes us to say or do anything that is disliked by the Poor Jews.

Theodore Hertzel admitted to the power of the Antisemitism and Poor Jews approach. He knew that public sympathy and opinion could serve as powerful deterrents to exposure and international condemnation of Israel, and would serve Israel better than any amount of independence or military power. Fortunately people are shedding their Poor Jews complexes and fear of being called anti-Semites.

Hertzel has seemingly won his Jewish Only State, and as a result, we have the brutal ethnic cleansing of Palestine, along with numerous massacres and fake peace schemes including Oslo and the Annapolis peace charades that were all aimed at wiping out the Palestinian people in one way or another, and putting whatever few Palestinians who are willing to remain in what will be a symbolic Palestinian state, under the authority of any secular Arab regime, or Arab flunky they can find to play as their water boy.

This is why it was necessary for them to initiate a war on terrorism that is aimed at vilifying and demonizing Islam as a terrorist religion, and all uncooperative Muslims as radicals and potential terrorists. They passed laws that give them the right to kill and detain people whom they call “ticking bombs” or “enemy combatants” people who are in reality simply unafraid of their claims to be all powerful and the sole possessors and controllers of rights. They also passed laws that give them the right to preemptively strike other countries that defy their plots and refuse to participate in their violent schemes to carry out regime changes, and build empires.

Today the people of the world are awake, and we see clearly the unfolding of a Satanic plot that seeks again to massacre large numbers of innocent Arabs and Muslims, and other people for no reason except to terrorize, and ethnically cleanse not only Palestine, but eventually the entire Muslim world and to put those who survive these military onslaughts under the domination of Western, including Israeli power either directly, or through the rule of their puppet Arab governments.

The people of the Western worlds should also realize that they we are not safe from the wicked schemes of these rogue governments and institutions, the US, the EU and their primary facilitator, the UN. Their economic schemes, their increasing political tyranny, and use of domestic force against civilians, are all aimed at bringing their own citizens to their knees to be used as cheap labor, and consumers who have no rights, no freedom, and no choices.

History is no longer a mystery waiting to be decoded. The truth has arrived and falsehood must flee. The future is up to us. We can either continue to bury our heads in the sand out of fear of the truth, or we can embrace these truths and the God who revealed them, and resist the movement of renegade governments and institutions against the rights of people, most especially the right to life.

It is time for the people of the world to decide and to act, “Will the 21st century be the century of consolidation of power and world domination of the satanic forces, or will the people of God and faith resist and fight to establish just societies?” The first test of our will and choice is Palestine. May God guide, help, protect and make us successful.

Open letter to Condoleeza Rice

2008-12-29T00:03:00.000-08:00

An Open Letter to Condoleeza Rice
From Anisa Abd el Fattah

December 29, 2008

Dear Secretary. Rice,

Since there was no one to respond to your December 28th statement condemning Hamas for launching rockets into Israel, and blaming Hamas for the end of the cease fire with Israel, and Israel’s subsequent massacre in Gaza, it seems appropriate that I respond to you since I follow the Palestine/Israel conflict closely and I happen to know that neither the facts, or international law agree with your statement, and neither do most of the people of the world.

As an American woman, and also a woman of African American descent, I am shocked by your total disregard for the loss of innocent human life taking place in Gaza. Obviously the history of your own people has had little effect on your sense of justice, and even though you are Secretary of State, you also seem to have absolutely no knowledge of, or respect for international law.

According to the law, Israel is a belligerent and illegal military occupier of Palestine. This might not agree with your Zionist Christian view, but it is the view of those human beings who respect law and justice, and who realize that there can never be peace without these two essentials. Hamas is not bound by Talmudic or Biblical law, and neither are they bound by US law. They are only bound by international law which includes the Geneva Conventions, a treaty to which the US is a signor. We signed this treaty with the intention to serve all of humanity equitably, and not only Jewish people, or Israel.

Israel not only failed in its duty to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, which is only part of their Geneva Convention obligations, Israel went so far as to actually impose an illegal economic blockade upon the Gaza Strip that resulted in the deaths of 251 people. It did this with the approval of the Bush Administration, in violation of international law.

The US has continued to arm Israel and to provide military and security aid to Israel, even though Israel is clearly in violation of US law. The law prohibits the use of US manufactured armaments and monetary aid to carry out illegal acts of aggression, war crimes, or to violate human rights. Israel is guilty of all three of these prohibitions, yet the US has continued to turn its head to Israel’s crimes, and we continue to fund and supply Israel, and we also continue to block all attempts by the UN Security Council to bring Israel into compliance with international law.

As for the cease fire, the terms were clear. They included a cessation of Palestinian rocket fire in exchange for Israel ending the economic blockade. To impose an economic blockade, according to international law is an act of war. The Palestinians were within their right not only to launch rockets in an attempt to pressure Israel to lift the blockade, they also have a right to defend themselves, acting to deter Israeli violence which never abated even after the cease fire came into effect. Israel killed 50 Palestinians in one month, and Hamas held to the cease fire and asked other Palestinian resistance movements to do the same, hoping that the international community would convince Israel to abide by the cease fire agreement. It never happened.

Israel is not justified in its brutal attack upon Gaza that has so far taken more than 300 innocent lives, and injured 1000 others. Whether or not the US and Israel are able to understand this, the facts of these matters have been documented by numerous human rights organizations, including Israeli human rights organizations, and are available to any interested party. The fact is that Israel is carrying out one of its numerous acts of illegal military aggression, and war crimes in Gaza, and your administration has given Israel tacit approval, and possibly even made the US complicit in this act.

During your 4 year tenure as Secretary of State, the United States has suffered the greatest loss in credibility and international prestige in our country’s history. The US veto of the UNSC resolution calling for Israel to end its military aggression against Gaza is an example of why this loss occurred, and your statement blaming Hamas for Israel’s violence is another.

Ultimately, neither my opinion of the facts or yours will make much difference in respect to what will be the verdict of an international court, once any willing court takes up the case of Israel’s 50 year illegal occupation of Palestine, genocide, and the US role in that genocide

As international public opinion continues to mount against Israel and its continued violence and militarization and destabilization of the Muslim world, you should keep in mind that it is also mounting against the US. The US and Israel have been voted “the greatest threats to peace” in the world. This should make it easy for a judge or jury to reach the appropriate conclusion as to who violated the cease fire, and who has a right to self defense.

One can only imagine our country’s founders crying in their graves at the very thought that our country, once an independent and powerful beacon of light to the oppressed, and those longing for freedom, has become a quisling and sycophant of a brutal and lawless occupier, that is destroying the birthplace of Jesus Christ, which is in Palestine. That Israel chose to carry out this carnage only days after Christmas is very telling. Perhaps it is indicative of how much Israel appreciates the loyalty and support of America’s “new” Christian Zionist Jews and their American Zionist Jewish counterparts.

Everyday is Ashurah; Now Gaza is Karbala

2008-12-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

The story of Imam Ali's son Hussein and his death at Karbala is a story that touches the heart of anyone who hears or reads it. It is the story of a man, who like his father and grandfather before him had immense love for God, and God's creation. Whereas Imam Hussein is the grandson of the prophet Muhammad (sa), and was born to the prophet's daughter Fatima, and his first cousin Ali, himself an Imam and successor to the leadership of the Islamic community, Imam Hussein was not a conceited, or spoiled and selfish man, as many might expect that a person of such esteemed lineage might be.

According to Islamic history, Imam Hussein lived a quiet and simple life of service in Medina, aware of the controversy surrounding his family, and the role they might play in the growth of Islam, and in the leadership of the Muslim community established under his grandfather's and father's tutelage and guidance, along with other faithful men.

Unfortunately the rift that had occurred in the Muslim leadership following the prophet Muhammad's transcension of this life had not healed itself, and the assassination of Imam Hussein's father Imam Ali, and his brother Hasan had only worsened the situation. For some, even though the Caliphate continued, the question of legitimate leadership over the Muslim community remained unanswered.

Many Muslims were complaining about the Caliph Yazid's corruption, ill treatment and oppression, and many were also dismayed by the lack of character and lack of respect for Islam demonstrated by Yazid who was known for public drunkenness and debauchery. It was the pleas of the Muslim ummah for relief, for justice, and for Islam that called Imam Hussein to Karbala.

For the sake of brevity we will say that Yazid as Caliph raised a myriad of important questions regarding the legitimate leadership of the Muslim community, particularly since it had been argued and accepted by the Muslim community following the prophet Muhammad's transcension, that succession in the Caliphate could not be based upon blood lineage, even though God's promise to the prophet Abraham was that the prophethood and leadership of the monotheist movement would be the right only of his descendants, which suggests blood lineage succession, qualified by the Islamic character and suitability of any contender for leadership of Muslims. Even if Yazid escaped rejection as a blood heir of the previous Caliph Muawiya, Yazid's public and well known violations of Islamic law, and his open disdain for Islam, and oppression of Muslim people, disqualified him from holding the position of guardianship and leadership of Muslims that was the Islamic Caliphate.

For days before their deaths, Imam Hussein and his family and followers, who had set up camp at Karbala, were surrounded by Yazid's army and prevented from leaving. They were denied food, and water until they grew weak from starvation and dehydration. When Yazid felt finally that they were too weak to fight, he unleashed his entire army against Imam Hussein's family and 72 of his followers and killed them.

The story of Karbala is the story of a power usurping Satanic system of corruption and evil, represented by Yazid Ibn Muawiya, that employed as a tactic to destroy the legitimate authority of God conscience and righteous men over God's community of Muslims, the restriction of their movement, the denial of food and water, and later the denial of care for the wounded, even among the children. These righteous people, the family and supporters of Imam Hussein, were rushed upon in a final assault by Yazid's army, and brutality murdered and left to die on that battlefield. Imam Hussein's surviving family members were paraded to Yazid's capital, where the Imam's sister Zainab was chained and stripped of her Islamic covering.

Contrary to what Yazid had hoped for, a celebrated day of victory and consolidation of his power, the people, when they saw Imam Hussein's flag, and family, and heard Zainab's condemnation of Yazid, and her condemnation of the apathy and cowardice of the Muslim people, and her brother's brutal murder, they wept, screamed and fainted at the realization that the Imam, grandson of the prophet Muhammad (sa), and a righteous man, had been martyred so brutally for their sake, and for the sake of Islam.

The political backdrop of Karbala has lost much of its relevance to today's generation of Muslims, many who live in non Muslim countries, or in Muslim nation/states that are ruled by elected governments and monarchs. The Islamic caliphate has ceased to exist. Yet, the humanitarian aspects of the story continue to haunt the souls of Muslims until today, as we ponder the meaning of Imam Hussein's death, and the humiliating treatment that he and his family and followers suffered before their deaths at Karbala.

As we reflect upon what happened at Karbala, we should also reflect upon what is happening to the contemporary Muslim community today, and ask ourselves “why?” We must look out at the Muslim world, and see if there are any patterns that might suggest that there is a Karbala taking place in our time, and like the Muslims during the time of Imam Hussein, perhaps we are ignoring or failing to respond to the call to stand and to fight against the enemies of Islam, as they attempt to remove any semblance of Islamic authority from this earth, and who routinely deny Muslims civil and human rights that are recognized as the inalienable rights of other people.

Today, there is a place where a legitimate Muslim government was elected. There is a place where that government and the people who voted for them have been isolated and trapped, and are being denied food and water, just like at Karbala. Just as during the time of the Karbala massacre, today the people of the Muslim world complain about the corruption of their governments, their greed, repression and the deprivation of human and civil rights, and their collaboration with the enemies of Islam. In response to the cries of their people against the “Yazid's” of our time, the Islamic movements have competed for the restoration of the right of the Muslim people to Islamic inspired government.

Today, Karbala is in Gaza. Several years ago, this same tragedy played itself out in Algeria. This same story is also playing itself out in Somalia, and anywhere that a legitimate Islamic government, or Islamic movement attempts to establish itself through legitimate elections as a righteous authority over Muslim people, and are met with violence.

As we can see clearly in respect to Israel, and the support it receives from the Arab governments in its persecution and genocide being carried out in Gaza, this is not a matter of conflicting races, or differences in religion. The issue today, is as it was at Karbala is who has the right to authority, leadership and guardianship over the Muslim ummah? Is it Israel? Is it the US, or the UN, or the corrupt Arab governments that have helped and supported the US and Israel as their patrons and who assist them in killing, torturing, and eliminating through slow genocide, the Muslim and Christian people of Gaza?

Today, Gaza is Karbala. Where are the supporters of Abraham's covenant, and the right of the Islamic movements to exist, and to bid for the leadership of the Muslim ummah? Where is the so called “democracy” of the US and Israel? Where is the loyalty and the commitment to Islam of the Arab leaders who are today calling for normalized relations with Israel, while Israel is killing through ethnic cleansing and genocide the people of Gaza? Do they have a right to lead us, to control our wealth, to sell our lives for money and acceptance by the US and Israel as friends and allies?

The time has come for the Muslim people to take the responsibility to end the illegal siege on Gaza. We must act to save the people of Gaza, and to break the siege not only upon Gaza, but upon Muslims everywhere who have been denied rights, persecuted, murdered, tortured and humiliated all for the sake of eliminating the Abrahamic covenant that is the basis of legitimacy for anyone who bids to lead, or to hold any authority over monotheist people, and its heirs.

Today, it is our turn to answer the call of Imam Hussein. Who will go to Karbala? Who will stand with the 1.5 million people of Gaza who are being killed today because they voted an Islamic movement into power? Who will stand for the Qur'an which says that we must oppose those who kill and deprive people of rights, and who would starve innocent people to death because they don't share their opinion or world view?

Today, just as during those days of Karbala, the question is being asked in heaven and earth, who will choose the leaders of the Muslim people? Who are the legitimate leaders of the Muslim people? Who will save the people of Karbala?

US/Israeli war on terrorism is a war against the US Constitution and citizen rights

2008-11-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

The US/Israeli war on terrorism is a war on the US Constitution and citizen rights
Anisa Abd el Fattah

Zionist columnist, and seeming Islamophobe Diana West wrote an article published by the Washington Times earlier this month, implying that due to my previous association with a pro-Palestinian think tank named UASR, that I am an Hamas operative living and working in the US on behalf of Hamas. West claimed that UASR's former Executive director Ahmed Yousef fled the US, fearing indictment in the Fawaz Damra case, suggesting not only that Yousef is a criminal of some sort, but that my association with Yousef implies that I am too. Ahmed Yousef, a US educated PH.D, is a Palestinian who was born and raised in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza. He presently serves as Senior Advisor to the PA Foreign Minister.

West's article also mentioned Dr. Mousa Abu Marzook, a Palestinian, and a member of the Hamas politburo in Damascus. Marzook, was one of the founders of UASR four years prior to his association with Hamas. He did not begin his association with Hamas until after he had ended his relationship with UASR. After being detained in the US during the Clinton administration without charge, he was released from custody after Israel was unable, and unwilling to charge Marzook with any crime. Marzook was later deported from the US and released into the custody of Jordan. It was in respect to the Marzook case, which was heard in a New York district court under the jurisdiction of the present US Attorney General Michael Mukasey, that a US District court judge Kevin Duffy, wrote that it is the duty of the judiciary to act in concert with the foreign policy objectives of the Executive branch. This was the first neo-conservative challenge to the US Constitution's separation of powers doctrine, and also the first judicial attack on the idea of an independent judiciary, a hallmark of the Bush administration.

Fawaz Damra, who Diana West attempted to use as the the lynch pin, along with guilt by association to condemn Ahmed Yousef, is a Palestinian cleric who was detained, and later charged during Bush administration witch hunting, with lying on his immigration application. He was deported for checking a box on his immigration application, saying that he had never had any association with illegal, or terrorist organizations while in his native country. Damra had completed the application, and immigrated legally to the US prior to Clinton's illegal Executive order, classifying Hamas a terrorist organization. Clinton issued this order, even though the Geneva Conventions, in quite clear and unambiguous language protects the rights of people living under illegal military occupation to self defense, and resistance, even violent resistance. While the American Jewish community argued that the Geneva Conventions were created to protect Jewish life only, most scholars of international law agree that the Geneva Conventions aim to protect the lives, and property of all people, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or nationality.

The United States is a party to the Conventions, having both signed and ratified the Conventions, having done so with the protection of US military and civilians during periods of armed conflict in mind. Unfortunately, no legal challenge has ever been presented to the Clinton order, asking if it is possible for a sitting president to issue an Executive order that not only violates international law, but that also criminalizes, and at the least violates treaties that the US is party to. Note that the violation of treaties signed by previous US administrations was also a tactic employed by the Bush administration, and even more ironic, it is one of the conditions that the US placed upon Hamas, that it recognize all previous PLO signed agreements and treaties.

Bill Clinton's willingness to violate the Geneva Conventions in order to remove the rights of Palestinians to defend themselves against what was already a brutal and vicious Israeli genocide and attempted ethnic cleansing, was part of his policy of US “unconditional support” for Israel. His criminal executive order effectively criminalized Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups, making Israeli targeted assassinations legal, since it was deemed part of the strategy and one of the tactics employed by Israel in its fake war against terrorism. By issuing his illegal Executive order, Bill Clinton sought to remove the human and divine rights of the Palestinian people by not only making acts of resistance against the Israeli occupation criminal, but also membership in any organization that had ever sought to defend or to protect Palestinian life against illegal Israeli aggression, and war crimes that were being carried out almost daily in Palestine with impunity.

While the implications and effects of Clinton's Executive order criminalizing Hamas are well known in respect to the rights of Palestinians to organize to defend their lives, and to resist the genocide being carried out by Israel with unconditional US support, and financing, few understood how that Executive order would effect the lives of American citizens here in our own country, who oppose the current US policy towards Palestine, and US unconditional support for Israel.

After West's article was published, my life, and even perhaps the lives of my family have been in jeopardy. Helicopters routinely fly around my home, almost daily someone is at my door, using various tactics to learn who lives at my address and at what time we are home or not at home. We receive constant telephone calls where people hang up after hearing my voice, or where they ask for various family members by name, in an attempt to determine who is at home, and when. We receive veiled death threats in the mail almost daily. These include offers for cemetery plots, and funeral insurance, etc. My son was forced to leave college because of being robbed and threatened almost daily on his trips to and from campus. When we advised the University about the threats to his safety they refused to do anything to help, and so he withdrew.

My family and I have been followed, and we have had strange incidents take place where our personal property has been vandalized. Perhaps the most startling and troubling offenses have taken place over the past few weeks, where we have been very obviously followed, approached by strangers with requests to identify ourselves, and just this weekend our telephone was temporarily disconnected late at night for no apparent reason. When we left home to go out for dinner, a car that set suspiciously at the end of our street made it quite clear that whoever was in the car was watching, and also following us. My bank illegally over drafted my account by refusing to make funds available even though the funds were deposited, causing checks to bounce, and adding fees until the account could not be redeemed. When the Zionist in America said that no one who opposed them would be allowed to have a home, a job,or peace, they meant that they would use their operatives to torment and to harass any American citizen that would dare to criticize Israel, or to challenge Israel's authority over our government and rights.

Praise God that we are not a timid people, and we are not living in fear. We do not believe that these people have any power over life and death, and we have put our trust in God, and God is sufficient. My reason for mentioning these incidents is merely to allow readers to understand that our government, and not only the Bush administration has been involved in an illegal war on dissent and resistance that is not limited to Iraq, or Afghanistan, and that began long before 9/11. It has not been limited to foreigners and illegal immigrants. It is also to point out that the criminal conspiracy against rights in our country includes possibly journalists, and others who hold what appear to be the most non threatening positions in our society, including schools, universities, libraries, and post offices, as examples.

The Jewish Defense League, the Jewish Organization, the Kahane settlers movements, which are funded by synagogues and churches here in the US, even though they are also deemed terrorist organizations, but not by Executive order, operate freely and openly in the US. Their mission is to harass, intimidate and to gather information on Americans who are pro-Palestinian and who criticize Israel, and to use that information as secret evidence and to prompt law enforcement to assist them in their efforts to deprive citizens of rights and to harass. Articles have also been published recently, after the suspected murder of the pro-Palestinian activist Riad Hamad in Texas, that our government, as part of Clinton's doctrine of unconditional support for Israel, gave the Israeli Mossad the go ahead to carry out targeted assassinations in the US, of pro-Palestinian US citizens. The Bush administration has been accused of giving Israeli communications and intelligence officers the go ahead to illegally wiretap US homes, and to carry out illegal surveillance on citizens for these same purposes. Can anyone explain what the Israeli intelligence has to do with Iraq or Afghanistan, if indeed these are the theaters for the war on terrorism?

That part of the so-called war on terrorism that is being carried out here in the US, began before 9/11. It is part of the war on terror declared by Benjamin Netanyahu, prior to, yet possibly including 9/11, that sought to accelerate the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestine, using unconditional US support, and our government institutions on behalf of Israel. Our government was used to round up, detain, interrogate and torture Palestinian and other Arab and Muslim foreigners living in the US who were either politically active, or orthodox in their practice of Islam, seeking information about back home, and also to prevent them from letting Americans know the truth about what Israel does in Palestine. Its aim in the US, is also to shut down US citizen dissent and opposition to US unconditional support for Israel, and to criminalize all criticism of Israel as either anti-Antisemitism, or material support for terrorism, and to use secret evidence as a pretext for harassment, intimidation, illegal wiretapping, surveillance and even murder of US pro-Palestinian, anti-war and anti-Zionist activists. Most secret evidence by the way, has historically been provided by the media.

It should be president elect Barack Obama's first priority to end this travesty of justice and the betrayal of the public trust that it represents. In his determination to restore our Constitution and the rights and liberties of American citizens that have been trampled upon by previous administrations who have seemingly collaborated with a foreign government to undermine the US Constitution, president elect Obama must reconsider US “unconditional” support for Israel and what that means, especially in respect to the rights of US citizens.

This article's emphasis on the US aspect of the war on terrorism is not to belittle the importance of the human and civil rights of none citizens that have also been trampled upon even though they are guaranteed under separate but equally legitimate doctrines of law. Rather it is merely an attempt to bring attention to the impact that the war on terrorism is having on the lives of American citizens here in the US, who like other Americans in our country's past, suffered similar government abuses, and injustices in their struggle for equal rights, protection under the law, and who won.

When economy kills

2008-11-08T00:50:00.000-08:00

Ma'an news agency reported from Palestine, that Mahmoud Abbas and other members of the Fatah party, entered Egypt this week through the Rafah Crossing to attend a preliminary Palestinian national dialogue meeting. Earlier in the week, it had been announced that Egypt would open the crossing for up to three days to allow Palestinians to come through the crossing, and receive medical care. It was not clear whether Abbas and company took advantage of the three day opening, or whether Egypt had made special arrangements for Fatah . Just months earlier, Egypt had denied a delegation of its own people the right to use the Rafah crossing to deliver much needed humanitarian aide to the Gaza Strip.

Looking at the picture of very well dressed, and well fed men, walking casually across the border from Palestine into Egypt, might cause readers to ask themselves “why” if it is so easy to open the crossing, and to allow people to move freely back and forth, are 1.5 million Palestinians being denied passage, and remain prisoners in the Gaza Strip, victims of an illegal US/Israeli/Egyptian economic siege? “Why” are food, medical supplies, and other items essential for normal life, being denied entry into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, yet Abbas and his Fatah colleagues are allowed unfettered passage?

The closure of Rafah crossing is only one of the many injustices presently being imposed upon the people of Gaza and the West bank by the US, Israel, Egypt and Fatah. Other countries, along with the EU have condemned the siege and have called for an end to the inhumane psychological and physical torture that results from deprivation of food and medicines. The siege was imposed originally to punish the Palestinians for electing Hamas to lead the Palestinian legislative council, and to pressure Hamas into abandoning the role it plays as the de facto government in the Gaza Strip. An Egyptian official admitted recently that Egypt's closure of Rafah crossing is also aimed at denying Hamas legitimacy. That is a fancy way of saying that Egypt is helping to starve and torture 1.5 million people because it wants to cancel the outcome of a democratic, legal and legitimate elections process.

To seal the Palestinians inside Gaza, and to deny them freedom of movement, and also food, and other life sustaining items is criminal. It is reminiscent of the illegal economic embargo that was placed upon Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion and subsequent war. Approximately 600,000 Iraqi children were allowed to die as a result of those sanctions, many from curable and treatable diseases. The Clinton administration oversaw that deliberate war crime, and when asked if the deaths of so many innocent children was worth the toppling of the Hussein government, then Secretary of State Madeline Albright answered that it was worth it. She said that regime change in Iraq was worth the lives of 600,000 Iraqi children. Today, the US, Israel and Egypt are telling us that the deaths of 255 Palestinians and the torture by deprivation of necessary food and medical supplies, and psychological distress of 1.5 million Palestinians is worth it, if it leads to Hamas being forced from power, and people being discouraged from supporting or electing Islamic movements. Is that a war on Islam?

Predictably, the US media does not mention the Gaza economic siege. The US media will not report on the 255 deaths in Gaza, caused by our government's despicable and criminal foreign policy, just as they would not report on the 600,000 Iraqi children killed by economic sanctions in Iraq, or the over 1 million innocent Iraqis that have been murdered in order to accomplish regime change and to destroy Iraq.

What is most disturbing about the use of economy to kill and to coerce political outcomes, is that it is an indiscriminate way to kill that is both unjust and immoral. It is a weapon of mass destruction. It is a way to kill, and to maim and to hurt and psychologically torture that bears no obvious expense, except life, and the cost that we pay when our moral compasses are broken by sin and shame, and our respect for the law is eroded by such a strong and demonic lust for power and control that we can kill innocents, hoping to make a political point. Keep in mind that no one is hurting us. No one is attacking us, and no one is threatening us. The illegal economic siege on Gaza is an economic war of choice and convenience. Something that we do, simply because we can.

It's ironic that the West is now experiencing an economic melt down of its own. The “crisis” as they call it was brought about by our own greed, and fraud. It may also be the result of our willingness to use economy to kill others. Was it worth it? Only time and history will tell.

Palestinian reconciliation should be guided by Palestinian basic Law

2008-10-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

If anyone were to ask what has been the most complicating aspect of the Palestine/Israel conflict, most observers would perhaps say that the complete departure from international law as a context for all negotiations and agreements has kept this dispute alive for 60 years. It is the deliberate attempt to resolve issues that are as much legal as they are political, by negotiating the wants and desires of either side, agreements that in some cases actually violate international laws, that has made past agreements mostly meaningless, difficult to understand, unjust and never adhered to. Indeed many might argue that without a legal basis or context, most of the negotiated agreements such as the failed Oslo Accords were counter intuitive and could never have succeeded, since the entire premise of a negotiated settlement that would seek to rewrite or to undermine international law would at some point be rejected by a majority of people whose concept of justice has been shaped by centuries of legal philosophy, and no where is this more true than in the Arab/ Muslim world.

Whereas very few of the Arab or Muslim countries have adopted Shariah or Islamic law as their primary law, Muslims without doubt have internalized Islamic legal philosophy and our ideals of right and wrong, what is just and unjust, and what is good and bad are shaped by the Qur'an, the Seerah of the prophet Muhammad (sa) and also by hadith litertaure. The Islamic legal philosophy is so much a part of the Muslim and Arab culture, that when confronted with choices to be made between secular civil laws and Islamic laws, many will adopt the Islamic way with full conviction that the choice they have made is both right and just, in spite of the fact that the secular civil law might have given them some advantage. To atheists and those who do not believe that there is an overarching moral authority that sets laws for humanity, this idea may sound abstract, or even superstitious. Yet, when considered objectively, it becomes somewhat obvious that such faith in what are perceived as the laws of God are no more superstition ridden than belief in laws made by men who believe in God, or to abide by laws that have been inspired by religious or other sacred scriptures such as the Ten Commandments, Talmudic law, or even the legal philosophies of men like Thomas Aquinas. In other words, there is no escaping the fact that our modern ideas of law, and its objectives and ways are not necessarily modernized by a departure from our traditional beliefs. Modernization of law might be our acceptance of the idea that law and justice are not merely intellectual creations that lend themselves to utility and expediency. For our laws to have meaning for us, and to compel us, they must satisfy our sense of justice so that once defined, our laws become our way of life. When adhered to they become our guides, our inspiration, and also our guards against our passions and our imperfections.

It may not matter that groups of people have different laws, if we can agree that on some level, laws that are accepted by a majority of people as a legitimate law, and adopted by those people as their law, should be respected, and always taken into consideration. It seems that to do otherwise will cause us to continue to repeat the mistakes of the past that should have taught us by now, that no amount of imposition, whether it be through secular education, public censure and condemnation or isolation and criminalization, can remove the natural laws of justice from the heart of the human being, even if we are able to distort these laws with relativism, or to inject into the heart such dangerous poisons as racism, supremacism and Darwinism, which by definition is a fear of extinction due to imperfection.

When two groups that each have their own legal codes by which they live find themselves in a legal and political dispute, choosing a law to guide negotiations and to serve as a context for any subsequent agreements is necessary in my view. Both parties engaged in negotiations should first agree upon which law will be adopted as the guide for what is legal, not legal and legitimate or illegitimate in respect to identifying an authority, and the rights of that authority. This might be especially important when there are also political questions to be resolved. Since politics is primarily concerned with the distribution of power in relationships between people, we cannot escape the suggestion that any negotiations that involve politics must have a clearly defined and accepted legal dimension, and description of legitimate authority. The Palestine/Israel conflict is a prefect example of how we fail when we ignore the unique legal culture of groups, and their laws.

In respect to the Palestinian internal dispute between Hamas and Fatah, there is a need to recognize that Hamas is an Islamic organization. It has presented its ideals and activism to the international Muslim community through the prism of Islamic law and culture, and is accepted and loved by most Muslims, Arabs and others based upon this presentation. This means that Hamas is legitimized not only by the majority votes of the Palestinian people, who voted Hamas into political power. Hamas is also legitimized by popular international support of people of various religions, ethnicities and political affiliations, and it is accepted by these supporters as an Islamic organization, since it has never swayed in its claim of Islamic authenticism. It's demand that the world recognize the natural right of all people to resist genocide and to resist being ethnically cleansed from the land, and also to the right to exist is an appeal for legality, and not for merely political power.

Negotiations between Hamas and the secular Fatah movement, guided by the secular Egypt, that is already playing the role of Israeli facilitator in the illegal economic siege on Gaza imposed by Israel, will be complicated just as negotiations between the secular liberal Fatah and the Talmudic Judaic society that calls itself Israel have complicated and perplexed every opportunity for peace between Palestine and Israel.

In my humble opinion, Hamas and Fatah, before seeking to reach any substantive agreement on reconciliation, must assert the relevance and the legitimacy of their own Basic Law, and the tenets of that law, including the legal timing for the end of Abbas's term as President, without exception. The negotiations should not become a pretext for undermining the Basic Law, the very same Basic Law that confers legitimacy upon Hamas, not only as a political party, but also as an organized Palestinian resistance, organized for the purpose of liberating the Palestinian lands under illegal occupation, and defending those lands that are not, and most importantly the Palestinian people themselves. International law and the Palestinian Law, which does not violate in any way the Islamic law, nor insults the Islamic sensibilities and legal culture of the Muslim people, should be the guiding laws and context within which a Palestinian reconciliation is realized.

Just as over the years, Israel has used the arbitrary nature of negotiated settlements to stave off peace until it achieves the advantage in facts on the ground, and until it has beaten down its adversary's spirit for resistance and made opposition appear hopeless, negotiated agreements about power sharing and reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah have this same potential for abuse unless they are guided by the Palestinian Basic law, and Islamic legal culture. Any terms of reconciliation or power sharing that offends the moral and legal sensibilities of the Palestinian people and the international Muslim community are not likely to succeed.

The believing people must always keep in mind the promise found in the Qur'an in Chapter 24, verse 55, where God says,

“ God has promised to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He (God) will of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance as He granted it to those before them. That He (God) will establish in authority their religion, (law and culture) the one which He (God) has chosen for them. And that He (God) will change their state, after the fear in which they lived, to one of security and peace; “They will worship God alone, and not associate anything with God. If any do reject faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked.”

So establish regular prayer and give regularly in charity, and obey the prophet that you may receive mercy.

Never think that the unbelievers are going to frustrate God's plan on earth. Their abode is the fire, and it is indeed an evil refuge.”