Whores Turn Him Down, Battered Wives Walk Out, Western Journalists Harass Him

The other day, a pediatric nurse in New York City refused to dance with Mbarek Lafrem, a Moroccan man, in a New York City bar. What did Lafrem do? He followed her into the women’s bathroom where he attempted to rape and savagely beat her. The woman was found unconscious and is now hospitalized. She required 50 stitches to close just one of her lacerations; she also suffered a broken eye socket, a broken nose, skull fractures, and a busted jaw.

The media pointedly refrain from telling us that he is a Muslim, but with a name like “Mbarek” or ‘Mubarak,” what religion are we talking about? Lafrem now claims that she started it, that the nurse “berated him when he barged into the women’s restroom shortly after she’d rebuffed him on the dance floor.”

To a certain kind of man, from a certain kind of culture, women are always supposed to say yes, and when they say no they are provokers and deserve a beating. More: If the woman is a naked-faced infidel and dances with strange men in a public setting—she is, by definition, a prostitute and is not entitled to say no. Saying no is a “provocation” and deserves a beating. Or worse.

Now, let’s shuffle off to Buffalo, where Muzzammil ”Mo” Hassan—remember him?–is about to stand trial for beheading his wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan. Guess what this monster’s claiming? That he’s the victim, that he was a “battered husband.” Guess what this crafty self-promoter has been doing from his jail cell? Writing letters to the media in his mother’s name in which he paints himself as the “abused” spouse. Mo’s letters also refer to an “epidemic” of battered men.

Thank God for journalist Sandra Tan of the Buffalo News who, today, reveals the extent of Mo’s depravity. According to a 21-page statement that Aasiya wrote to the court, she “painstakingly chronicled her years of torment.” In addition to numerous beatings and threats, Mo “made (Aasiya) sign memos authorizing him to punish her if she talked with the police and Child Protective Services and threatened her with the loss of her children whenever she tried to break free.” In truth, Mo used his size and weight against the much smaller Aasiya; on separate occasions he literally sat on her, imprisoned her, punched her repeatedly, drawing blood, dragged her down the driveway, tried to run her off the road in his car, and refused to allow her to seek medical treatment for her injuries.

In addition, Mo wrote emails to Aasiya’s court appointed psychologist in Aasiya’s name and from her computer account. As Aasiya, he denies being battered. “What nonsense. Complete hogwash. I have always been a strong woman and a high achiever.” Mo also drafted letters as if the psychologist had written them which he states that “Aasiya does not have the personality of an abused wife.”

Mo’s attorney, Frank M. Bogulski, has claimed in open court that his client was a “battered spouse,” and he promised a “revolutionary defense.”

A third and final example.

Hege Storhaug, of Norway’s Human Rights Service (HRS), has sent me this amazing photo and asked me to pass it on. I am hereby doing so. However, the photo is probably not a real one but rather, represents the frustrated longing of many people who are eager to stand up to the Iranian President. The American President has not done so. A woman, pictured as a young, lone woman now symbolizes our planet’s hope for freedom from tyranny.

What else is there to say? Well, at least two things.

First, that HRS is in danger and that I will soon write about this. Bruce Bawer has already done so. Please read it. This is very important. HRS is the first, and perhaps the only newspaper in Europe that is focused on the Islamist threat to Europe. European leftists—Norwegian leftists–despise this and have been engaged in a legal cabal to silence it. Shame on them! They are appeasing Norwegian Islamists in their midst who only recently called for “the execution of homosexuals” and who have been “threatening another 9/11 on Norwegian soil for failing to respect Muslim sensitivities.”

Second, that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Navanethem Pillay, has weighed in with her own special contribution to Israel Apartheid Week by likening South African Apartheid to Israeli Apartheid at a speech before the Permanent Committee on Human Rights of the Foreign Affairs Committee. First, Pillay harshly criticized Italy for its “policies on immigration and what she considers the criminalization of illegal immigration.”

What she is really saying is that Muslims have the right to populate and then dominate Europe and that no progressive country dare stop them. (Shades of Jean Raspail, Oriana Fallaci and Bat-Ye’or!)

The Morning After: Updated Coverage

Lori Lowenthal Marcus, the gutsy and determined founder of Z Street, was one of the main organizers of last night’s pro-Israel demonstration outside the Waldorf Astoria. (I did not realize this last night and am formally apologizing to Lori here and now). Philadelphia-based Marcus is the one who called the New York Police Department and got “the Haters” moved from in front of the hotel to a block away. She tells me that she “sent out well over a thousand emails and brought Col. Bentzion Gruber, a commander from Operation Cast Lead.”

Marcus also notes that many of the pro-Israel organizations listed did not show up or send people. Despite that, the pro-Israel attendees were far more numerous than the last time. In her words, there were “multitudes more.”

Pro-Palestinians, All in Black, Stage A Nazi Rally

As I write this, the forces of darkness are gathering to battle the forces of light. It’s happening two miles away from where I’m sitting, right here in Old New Yawk.

The Waldorf-Astoria has hosted debutante balls, grand parties, weddings, crowned heads and heads of state, the idle rich and the world’s hardest working celebrities. Tonight, the Israeli Defense Force is being honored there. The IDF Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, is the keynote speaker.

Of course, as part of the sixth Israeli Apartheid Week, the infamous International Solidarity Movement (ISM)—the very group responsible for the death, martyrdom, and exploitation of Rachel Corrie–is staging a protest. Thirteen groups will participate, including National Lawyers Guild—NY chapter (always a left-wing group), Adalah-NY, Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews Say No! Code Pink, Women in Black-Union Square, and Women of a Certain Age (them I do not know). Of course, the ISM website accuses Israel of having committed war crimes in Gaza.

This is a Big Fat Lie.

But it makes me sick that Israelis should have to be faced with such hatred wherever they go—and spewed by the slickest and most cunning of homicidal liars; by those who insist the “Islamophobia” is the real problem, even as Muslims persecute and slaughter Christians, Hindus, and Jews.

Israel has the legal, moral, and human right to defend herself and that is precisely what she has done. From the moment impoverished, persecuted Jews sought to return to their ancient homeland, the Arabs, most of whom were Muslims, hated and opposed them because they were Jews. In addition, the Arabs also envied and tried to copy Jewish ideas about nationalism.

Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi

Israel has never been a “colonial, apartheid” state. Please read an excellent article, recently published by Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf, which carefully and brilliantly addresses the question of whether Israel is a “colonial state.”

I am glad that the Friends of the IDF have decided to hold this event right now at an upscale location. And, I am very glad that pro-Israel groups have promised to be there. These groups include: Z Street, Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI, Get Out The Facts, Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam, National Council of Young Israel, Shalom International, Stand With Us, World Committee for the Land of Israel, and the Zionist Organization of America/ZOA.

I have troops on the ground. They will be calling me with reports, photos, videos, interviews. Stay tuned for their fine work.

Live At the Waldorf:

Journalist Fern Sidman has just called in her first report. (Much thanks Fern!)

She says there are approximately 300 loud, angry, well choreographed anti-Israeli protesters (and the usual contingent of Marxists and Maoists) waving large Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine.” Here is a sampling of their inflammatory signs:

“Nuremberg Justice For Israeli War Criminals;” “Free Palestine From the River to the Sea;” “Israeli War Crimes Feast at the Waldorf;” “Boycott Zionism;” “Jail Askenazi the Butcher of Gaza”; “Israeli Forces Shot at Women and Children Holding White Flags;” “Israeli Soldiers: Arrogant, Sadistic, and Cruel.”

I can assure you that Israeli soldiers are among the most moral on earth. Please read what I wrote about the non-massacre that never took place in Jenin and about the twenty three young Israeli soldiers who died–because they were sent into Jenin on foot; at the time, Israel did not want to further offend a dangerously Jew-hating world and instead, was forced to sacrifice their young, their finest, to armed and bloody terrorists who were hiding among Palestinian civilians.

Sidman tried to interview some Maoists who absolutely refused to talk to her (“Yes,” one finally said, “I’m an anti-Semite and I won’t talk to you.”) A Palestinian supporter told her, matter-of-factly that “The U.S. Government is ruled by Zionists,” “that we can never have peace in the Middle East because of the Israeli Occupation;” “The Jewish state is inherently racist in nature.”

Now, 20-30 members of the Iranian-funded Neturai Karta (disguised as Hasidic Jews) have just joined the pro-Palestinian side. Al Jazeera is filming, as are student filmmakers. Some members of a Jewish Voice for Peace are wearing kipahs. They are the only ones moving back and forth between the pro-Israel side and the pro-Palestinian side. They are marching, carrying carefully printed signs which read: “Palestinians Hunger for Justice” and ‘Stop Israeli War Crimes.”

The forces of darkness (so to speak) have an excellent sound system. Their followers know how to chant. And to keep chanting. One wonders from whence their funding flows…can it be the Saudi Lobby? The European Union?

And now, the stalwart Sidman tells me, the pro-Palestinian side has doubled, even tripled and comprise 500-600 people. Joining them is the Green Party of New Jersey and the Islamic Thinkers Society. Members of the National Lawyers Guild are wearing baseball caps which read: “Legal Observer.” Their task? To monitor possible police harassment of the Palestinians.

By now, the 125 pro-Israel supporters have left. It was a miracle that they ever came.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus of Z Street and AFSI's Helen Freedman

Allow me a deep, deep sigh. The pro-Israel troops were valorous, heroic, committed–and smart, really smart–but they were far, far fewer in number, lacked a sound system, (the police would not allow the pro-Israeli side to have a sound system). They lacked the knack of leftist chanting and urban street theatre. Their signs were good and read: “Suicide Bombing is Mass Murder;” “Hamas Targets Civilians, Israel Targets Terrorists;” “The IDF Protects Jews, Christians, Muslims, Ba’hai.” A sign of an injured Israeli child reads: “Sderot Boy, Hamas Victim.” “Remember our Six Million. Never Again.” One is a sign for peace in 20 languages.

Dear friends who were there did not want me to mention this. Look: At least I’m mentioning this last.

The pro-Palestinians all wore black. They were told to do so. They followed orders. They had marshals keeping them in line. Is it important to be able to do good fascist-style or 60s-style or ACT-UP-style demonstrations? Are the large organizations obligated to take to the streets to combat this Nazi show of blood lust?

Fern Sidman: You are a hero. Kudos to you.

Kudos to Marvin Belsky of HRCARI who also called in a first report.

Sidman, writing today in the Intellectual Conservative has these choice quotes:

“The Israeli army is the most moral and ethical fighting force in the world,” declared Rabbi David Algaze of Congregation Chavurat Yisrael of Forest Hills, New York. “They have displayed the utmost restraint when battling Hamas terrorists, murderers and criminals and the lies that are being spewed forth by misguided Jews and the forces of radical Islam must be confronted in the strongest of terms. Let the world know that the Jewish people will not be intimidated by those who seek to demonize and delegitimize Israel. We are exceptionally proud of the members of the IDF and we will continue to support the right to defend ourselves from those who seek to eradicate us.”

Helen Freedman, president of Americans for a Safe Israel, said, “Why is it that the oppressed has been turned into the oppressor? The world knows that Hamas intentionally used their own women and children as human shields in Gaza in order to vilify Israel. The world knows that Hamas is an Iranian proxy and is being bankrolled by oil-rich Islamic countries. The world knows that countless Jewish lives in Israel and around the world have been snuffed out by Islamic suicide bombers and the world remains deafeningly silent.”

Arish Sahani of the Indian Intellectuals Forum and a member of the Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam said, “The Palestinians are inciting war against Israel and Israel has every right to defend herself and her citizens just like any other country in the world would. Why is Israel held to a higher standard and why are Jews compelled to be constant victims. Why aren’t they given the right to fight back against sworn enemies just like everybody else. ”

Dr. Marvin Belsky, the chairman of the Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam, said, “The tragedy of today’s demonstration lies in the fact that we are severely outnumbered by our enemies. Every Jewish establishment organization was informed of this counter-protest and none of them showed up to support Israel and the Jewish nation. The HRCARI is a nascent movement who has its collective finger on the pulse of radical Islam and we are cognizant of the dangers to the Western world that such a movement represents…Make no mistake about it: if the world remains mute while Israel is being raked over the coals, the US, Europe and the rest of the free world will be next. ”

Fighting Gender Apartheid Laws in Iran

Madame Secretary Clinton: Where are you on this? For that matter: Christiane Amanpour, your father is Iranian, you grew up in Tehran, you are proudly “ethnic” — where are you on this? How are either of you working to free the women prisoners of Tehran?

To Secretary of State Clinton’s credit, she has issued a video message which repeats the words of her 1995 speech in Beijing: “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. … Women have made great progress but there is a long way to go.”

Madame Secretary: Is issuing your old words enough? Is translating them into Persian (which you’ve done) enough? Is hosting an International Women of Courage event (which you are doing later this week), in which one awardee will be from Iran, really enough?

Secretary Clinton knows that nothing short of overthrowing Ahmadinejad and the mad mullahs will open the prison doors in Iran. And she knows that President Obama is not even sitting not on the fence on this; he is tip-toeing through the tulips, reading the lines that Stephen P. Cohen, the founder of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development, pens for him with which to address the Muslim world in Cairo. Words fail me on this one so I will remain silent.

Nah, just kidding. Dr. Cohen, a native Canadian from Montreal, is an alleged “peace profiteer” who reaped millions from his business dealings with the terrorist, Yaser Arafat. Dr. Cohen: Are you proud that America has fought for the right of Muslim girls and women to wear the hijab? Did you pen those words? Do you regret them — or stand by them now?

I do not believe that America can free the world. We have enough on our plate right here at home. And yet, to engage in symbolic gestures without admitting how little we are willing to do is simply not enough — actually, it is heartbreaking. America even lags behind Europe in terms of understanding and dealing with honor-related violence, including honor killings, which are mainly a Muslim-on-Muslim and male-on-female crime. But it is a crime that has landed on our shores. At least Europeans are trying to take a stand on Islamic gender apartheid on their own continent. They are wrestling with issues such as the burqa, hijab, and niqab. In America Stephen P. Cohen is proud that America has taken a stand on behalf of hijab.

For years now, newly arrived refugees have been contacting me. They write to tell me that they’ve lost nearly everybody they once knew. Their whole world is gone now. Some whisper over the phone. Others write long letters. They ask me how I’ve managed.

I am talking about ideological refugees from feminism, leftism, gay liberation, socialism, and progressivism.

Yesterday, I received a letter from someone in Berkeley. She tells me that, earlier this week, she was “overjoyed to see the feisty Tikvah students on the steps of Sproul Plaza giving out Israeli flags and t-shirts and dancing in circles,” and how afterwards, some “went to confront the theatre of the absurd, enacting the checkpoints.” Referring to the feminist movement in Berkeley, she asks: “Could you ever have believed it? From anti-patriarchy to pro-Hamas in a few decades?” Her letter continues:

That you exist and are doing this work means a great deal to me. So far, I have found ONE new friend who comes from the same Jewish lesbian feminist cultural lineage of the 1970s. Neither of us has many friends from the old days we can comfortably talk to anymore, although I still try. I thought I had the smartest bunch of women assembled for a lifetime but I was wrong.

Last night a friend of forty years came to visit me. She is especially dear to me because she is among a handful of people from that era with whom I can still talk. At best, the rest are frozen in amber, as they perpetually relive their own, long-ago moment in the sun. They have not evolved in history, they are relics; or, they have kept doing the same thing over and over again, thinking the same thoughts, focusing on the same issues. At worse, they have become Stalinized and “Palestinianized.” In either case, no honest conversation between us is possible. In 2005, five years ago (!), I wrote about this in The Death of Feminism; I doubt that many feminists read it.

Please understand: I am a sentimental and sociable woman and for such reasons, I might have continued to talk to the useful idiots who routinely demonize Israel and America, romanticize jihad and the Islamic Veil, and slander freedom fighters as “fascist Islamophobes.” Luckily, they condemned me. After years of kissing up, they shunned me, attacked my work, sullied my reputation—or they simply “disappeared” that work from their collective memories. They did not invite me to speak at conferences or at memorial services for feminists whom I’d once loved and with whom I’d worked for years. These conferences and funerals were all being filmed for the archives — and my fine feminist comrades needed to create a “revisionist” history, one in which no Zionists, no American patriots, no defenders of Western civilization could appear.

Everywhere I turn — or so it seems — attacks on Israel and Israelis are in process. The other day, after a long day of writing, I idly, instinctively channel surfed — and there was the infamous Christiane Amanpour grilling Israeli Foreign Minister Ehud Barak. Oh, how this half-British, half-Iranian journalist relished this task. All her questions were hostile and were meant to embarrass or castigate both him personally and Israeli policies in general. CNN’s poor excuse for Oriana Fallaci never paused to take a breath; she gave Minister Barak absolutely no quarter. Except once. That’s when Amanpour told Barak that he was still saying the same things about peace that he’d said ten years ago when she’d interviewed him, at which moment, she flashed back to that very interview.

Minister Barak said that he’d aged since then, but she seems to have gotten younger.

Many hairdressers, makeup specialists, perhaps a plastic surgeon or two may account for this, but still Amanpour smiled with embarrassed pleasure. She was looking good, better than she usually does. The flak jacket was gone, her hair was not salad-tossed, she wore an elegant suit and expensive gold earrings.

I admit: I did not watch the entire interview. I could not bear to do so. I have seen too many Israelis grilled in just this way — and too many Palestinians flattered and fawned over by the same American journalists.

From March 1st to March 14th, the sixth annual Israeli Apartheid “Week” will take place in 57 cities around the world. I have suggested that we launch an Islamic Apartheid Month because Muslims are the world’s largest practitioners of both gender and religious apartheid. The scapegoating of tiny Israel is merely a way of diverting the world’s focus away from the actual apartheid practices that characterize Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Muslim-majority regions in Africa and Asia.

Israeli Apartheid Week is the continuation of Durban by another name and is meant to insure the continued isolation and demonization of the Jewish state. The race is on for world-wide sanctions, divestment, and boycott — not of Iran or Sudan, but of Israel. At the same time, Obama’s administration is refusing to sell arms to Israel and is simultaneously refusing to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. From 2004 on, I have been writing about another attempted genocide of the Jewish people. Now, that’s what Ahmadinejad specifically says.

So: The good news matters more than ever. And there is some. Various groups (Hasbara, Christians and Jews United, Bnai Brith of Canada, and Stand With Us, among others) are joining the students at York University in Toronto to counter the lies by telling the truth. They are sponsoring an Israel Defense Forces week to explain Israel’s right to defend herself. Honest Reporting also has campus-worthy online materials to use to counter the Big Lies of Israeli Apartheid Week. So does CAMERA.

As earthquakes, tsunamis, snowstorms, mudslides, and jihad devastate our planet, I sit here reading and writing. My arrows are words, mere words, but as they say, “the pen is mightier than the sword.” Trite, but true. Today, after a hellish week of overturned cars, fallen trees, losses of power (both political and electrical), and huge piles of snow, Manhattan is deceptively quiet, almost spring-like.

But David Swindle—long may he reign!–has made my day. He is the editor over at NewsReal Blog (NRB), an offshoot of Frontpage Magazine. Mr. Spindle has initiated a new feature which he calls “Feminist Hawks.” In it, he defends my honor. Apparently, the New York Times named David Horowitz as the main, or as the only Feminist Hawk. Spindle (in Horowitz’s employ) now points out that it was sexist not to name me, since I am, veritably, the “Godmother” of Feminist Hawkdom and that to discuss this subject without naming me is “an unacceptable injustice akin to ignoring Albert Einstein were one talking about physics.”

WOW! Someone noticed, someone cared—and it certainly was not anyone from my own feminist generation of warriors who view my patriotism and Zionism as traitorous. Swindle also displays the jacket of my book The Death of Feminism. By me, it’s still Purim, everything is wonderfully upside down! The reversal of fortune is sweet.

Now, let me be honest: I no longer resemble the Super Heroine cartoon figure known as Feminist Hawk, but long ago and far away I sure did. Hell, she is still within me. In 1972, I actually wrote an academic Introduction to the reissue of Wonder Women Comic Strips which was all about Amazons. I even discussed this on the History Channel. Yes I did. But now I am, indeed, Feminist Hawk’s Godmother, maybe I could even be her Grandmother if I’d married at a very young age, which I did not do.

And, let me be clear. As I told David Swindle: There are real feminists out here. They are not media icons nor are they Democratic Party operatives. It gives me no joy to attack faux feminists for being exactly what they are: faux feminists. I do not recognize as feminists those Straw Women whom the media or whom politicians happily appointed because they looked “good” and were willing to follow and swallow Party Lines. I will continue to challenge real feminists who have become Stalinized or Palestinianized and who insist on romanticizing Islamic jihad and scapegoating Israel. However, while fifth column leftism and feminism is a problem, the far greater problem is that of jihadic terrorism and barbarism.

With David Swindle’s permission, I am linking to and posting his blog.

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Feminist Hawk Rising!

2010 February 27

by David Swindle

I would like to introduce everyone to a dear friend of mine. This is Feminist Hawk. She’s a new associate editor here at NewsReal Blog. She’s in charge of editing our new Feminist Hawks’ Nest sub-blog.

Feminist Hawk was created by my friend, the extraordinary artist Bosch Fawstin, creator of Pigman and author of such works as Table for One, Propiganda, and the forthcoming series The Infidel. He and I collaborated on the basics of her look and design but most of the credit for the success of her belongs to Bosch. There are several images of Feminist Hawk that Bosch has created that we’ll be unveiling and using for different purposes. (And maybe if Feminist Hawk really starts to take flight then we’ll be able to get Bosch to create some more.)

One of the most important Feminist Hawk books by the single most important Feminist Hawk author.

What does it mean to be a Feminist Hawk? Why do we use that term? The meme originates in a single issue: Islamofascist misogyny. This New York Times article identified David Horowitz and FrontPage Magazine as examples of Feminist Hawks. According to the Times‘ piece to be a Feminist Hawk was to take a hardline on Islamist regimes because of the Muslim world’s mistreatment of women. The Godmother of Feminist Hawkdom, Dr. Phyllis Chesler, was unfortunately not mentioned — an unacceptable injustice akin to ignoring Albert Einstein were one talking about physics — though she wrote about it here in a must-read essay which further defined the term. Robert Spencer, another crucial figure in this developing movement, also blogged about it here and listed numerous articles he’d written on the subject.

Here at NRB we want this to only be the starting point, though for what it means to be a Feminist Hawk. To be a Femininst Hawk is not only to champion this vital cause but also to adopt a style and an attitude. Feminist Hawks are confident, aggressive, and confrontational. They fight and will not be bullied. And our Feminist Hawk superheroine is meant to both symbolize and inspire these sentiments.

And just as NRB’s big brother Discover The Neitworks seeks to reclaim the word “liberal” from the leftists who have hijacked it, The Feminist Hawks’ Nest seeks to take back “femnist” from the Marxists who have stolen it. Who are the real liberals today? Who are the real feminists? Those on the Right who stand up for the rights of all persons, not just those of an “oppressed” political constituency.

BREAKING NEWS: Please read even more kind words from Feminist Hawk about my work.

All I can say: Is it a bird, is it a plane—no, it’s Feminist Hawk Rising.

Feminist Hawk’s Godmother, the Great Dr. Phyllis Chesler, Approves

2010 March 1
by Feminist Hawk

There are many intellectual freedom fighters who have been vital in bringing me to life but all pale in comparison to my Godmother, Dr. Phyllis Chesler, the original Feminist Hawk.

I was ever so delighted this morning as I discovered my Godmother had given me her all-important blessing in a post at her must-read Pajamas Media blog Chesler Chronicles titled “A Feminist Hawk in the Big City.” You are required to visit and read the whole thing. And make Chesler Chronicles one of your regular blogosphere stops.

If you like what my team of bloggers and I are doing here at The Feminist Hawks’ Nest at NewsReal Blog then you must dive head first into my Godmother’s intellectual work. We are mere chicks, still pecking our way out of our shells. She has been soaring on broad wings, talons bared, for decades. Read this interview conducted by my Freedom Center colleague — and favorite drinking partner — Dr. Jamie Glazov with The Godmother herself here at FrontPage. And click here to purchase The Godmother’s books.

Coming to a City Near You

Guess who’s coming to California State University at Sacramento? None other than CAIR — only this time they’re pairing Japanese American students with Muslim American students for a three hour workshop: “Voices Unite in Solidarity; Japanese American Students and Muslim American Experiences Post-9/11.”

Makes sense, given all the recent and multiple Japanese-American underwear, shoe, and body-cavity bombers. Gotta stop those Japanese jihadists.

On March 2, 2010 (smack-dab in the middle of the by-now infamous Israeli Apartheid week), California students will be helped to understand that the racist views that led to the 20th century internment of Japanese American citizens during Word War II is, come to think of it, happening all over again. But this time it’s happening to Muslim American students who are being persecuted and treated as badly as Israel allegedly mistreats the Palestinians and as America once treated the native Indians, the African slaves, immigrants, the impoverished — the way Americans and Israelis have always treated all the innocent, noble underdogs.

God bless the internet. God bless Pajamas Media. Why? Because of our most excellent readers. A reader, one Ibn Rawandi, wrote to me about this very workshop in Sacramento. With his permission, allow me to share his letter with you:

Dear Dr. Chesler,

I’ve been reading your blog for over a year now and it’s been a wonderful source for eye-opening stories that never get the light of day. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights and they’ve been much appreciated. A little background about myself and I’ll make my point very quick. I’m currently studying Liberal Arts and I’ve already completed my minor in Science. This to me is a wonderful achievement given that I was born in Saudi Arabia. I am now an ex-Muslim atheist living in the U.S.

I wish only that those who are oppressed can see that Islam curtails freedom. I think Islam has oppressed people for too long and it does not deserve the type of luxurious treatment that the PC world gives it, including the academics. Recently, I learned that our campus is holding a 3-hour long workshop — a joint Japanese American and Muslim American event. The idea behind the workshop is to draw similarities between treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II and Muslim Americans after 9/11. So members from the Japanese American group and also members from CAIR are going to be doing this joint event. I find this troubling. Now, I do understand that Muslims have been discriminated against but it’s not just them. What about us ex-Muslims who’ve had to face Muslims outright hatred of us. We’ve been discriminated against and alienated. What about us ex-Muslims who get attacked for being non-believers? Will the university ever acknowledge that Muslims do this to us? Hard to say.

CAIR is co-sponsoring the event so there’s going to be Muslims trying to win over people by playing the Islam is peace-card. Do you see a problem with this type of event? At least the message? The event is being held at our campus Multi-cultural Center. As an ex-Muslim I really feel that the professors who should be there to protect my freedom have abandoned me. I felt suffocated as a Muslim without any freedom and when I left Islam and broke free from the chains I was able to breathe again. And I thought that I would never have to face Islam again. I waved goodbye to it and life was great. But, little did I know that this would be short-lived. The liberal left seems to be siding with those who had me silenced for 20 years. I can’t seem to accept this type of appeasement.

I don’t talk to many Muslims anymore. They represent a really bad history for me. But yet they aren’t going away. Instead, they are infiltrating my arena, my school. The arena where critical thought is supposed to be held in high esteem. Regardless, I can cleverly hide from the enemies knowing that they could do harm to me. Being a shadow cleverly moving among those who oppress me has been both hard and easy. I enjoy the fruits of knowledge and feel protected under the U.S. Constitution, but yet fear that Sharia law could be implemented and fear losing my freedom of choice. Unfortunately, this event, and others like it, leave me fearful. I’d like your thoughts on this please. Am I alone? Are these fears genuine?

I immediately answered Ibn Rawandi and told him that his fears were well founded. I asked him whether I could share his letter and, under his adopted pseudonym, he quickly agreed.

Based on Freedom House's 2010 "Map of Freedom" (Courtesy of CAMERA)

Divestment and the War Against the Jews, Part 2010.

The Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUSA) is about to release a report which denounces Israel as a “racist” nation which has absolutely no historical, covenantal, or theological right to the Holy Land. The report calls for the United States to withhold financial and military aid to Israel and for boycotts and sanctions against Israel. That’s not all. The report also endorses a Palestinian “right of return” and “apologizes to Palestinians for even conceding that Israel has a right to exist.” According to the press release, it also states that Israel’s history begins only with the Holocaust and that Israel is “a nation mistakenly created by Western powers at the expense of the Palestinian people to solve the ‘Jewish problem’.”

In addition, PCUSA has also resolved to divest in companies that supply military equipment to the American Army, e.g. Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, etc.

In 2004, this Church became the first mainline Protestant denomination in America to “approve a policy of divestment from Israel.” This was rescinded, but in 2008 the Church “created a committee dominated by seven activists holding strong anti-Israel beliefs. The lone member sympathetic to Israel, quit in protest when he saw their radical agenda.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center notes that 46 members of the US Congress and Senate are Presbyterians and fears potentially “significant repercussions in the political domain” as well as a negative “impact on interfaith relations.” They urge us all to protest directly to the top leadership of the PCUSA “to stop this dangerous campaign which denies the legitimacy and security of Israel,” and to “reach out to your Presbyterian friends.”

Rembrandt: Assuerus, Haman, and Esther, 1660

Amalek (the eternal enemy of the Jews) has arrived, right on time for the Purim festival. The war against the Jews is precisely what Purim is about. We read the classic indictment against the Jews for the first time in full in the haunting story of Esther. Haman, the Persian King’s advisor, tells him this: “There exists a particular people, far-flung, widespread among the peoples in all the colonies of your realm. Their customs differ from those of all peoples, and they do not abide by his majesty’s bylaws; his majesty has nothing to gain by tolerating them.” Haman also points out that the Jews are wealthy and offers the King the lion’s share of the spoils.

The Jews have been looked at suspiciously, murderously before — in Egypt for example, where their prosperity, fertility, and potential of becoming a fifth column greatly worried the new Pharaoh. But even Pharaoh did not propose what Haman (and Hitler after him) proposed: send the same edict everywhere, “to devastate, slaughter, and annihilate all the Jews (Yehudim), from the youngest to the oldest, children, women, in a single day…with their booty to be despoiled.”

Esther, known for her grace and charm, as well as for her beauty, is the Queen. Esther was forcibly “taken,” and the King was “taken” with her; she did not freely choose to compete in the beauty contest to become the new Queen, especially since the King had killed her predecessor, Queen Vashti, for refusing to appear “naked” before her drunken husband and his drunken guests.

One Possible Explanation:

After murdering his daughter and attempting to murder her protector, Faleh Al-Maleki fled to the UK. A reader pointed out that perhaps the UK would not have him were he to face the death penalty. Perhaps this is the reason the prosecutors took the death penalty off the sentencing table. I have no way of knowing whether this was the case. However, the UK is bound by the European Court of Human Rights which, in the past, has ruled in just this way. For example, in the 1989 case of Soering vs UK, a German citizen committed a murder in Virginia, after which he fled to England. The United States asked for his extradition. The House of Lords approved it but Soering filed a claim with the European Commission of Human Rights. After Virginia assured the Europeans that Soering would not face the death penalty, the UK sent him back to America.

If so: Why have the prosecutors remained silent about this? And why did public defender, Billy Little, and the media present these facts as if Little’s argument had actually won the day for his client?

Arizona Prosecutors Won’t Seek Death Penalty in Honor Killing

Remember the case in which Faleh al-Maleki, an Iraqi-American father brutally ran over his daughter, Noor, in Arizona, then attempted to escape but was apprehended in Britain and returned to face justice?

Guess what’s just happened? The Arizona prosecutors have been scared off seeking the death penalty. Public defender Billy Little raised the specter of “How will it look for Christians to execute a Muslim?”

I kid you not.

Billy Little asked the judge to “take special precautions to ensure the County Attorney’s Office wouldn’t wrongly seek the death penalty because Almaleki is a Muslim.” Little called for an “open process (to) provide some level of assurance that there is no appearance that a Christian is seeking to execute a Muslim for racial, political, religious or cultural beliefs,” referring to County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ Christian faith.

Faleh and Noor al-Maleki

Whoa!

Words fail me here. Are Christian lawyers, by definition, hopelessly biased against Muslims? This is a fact not in evidence. Is the public defender Christian? Why should this matter in America? What if the judge is Christian? Does Billy Little understand that Muslim judges do not usually prosecute men who honor murder their wives, sisters, or daughters?