RUTHFULLY YOURS

I certainly hope so. Calls for genocide are bad enough. But prejudiced calls for genocide are even worse.

After getting stuck in London traffic, Rashal Miah got out of his Mercedes and started shouting that he would “kill all the Jews” at an Orthodox Jewish school-bus driver in front of a bus full of young children.

During Miah’s sentencing, Judge Murray Shanks in the UK called the driver’s behavior “horrible.”

“I accept this was mainly driven by you being wrongly angry and suffering from road rage, as well as being arrogant about what you were entitled to do on the road,” Shanks told Miah. “I hope it doesn’t indicate some underlying prejudice.”

Surely shouting “Kill all the Jews” because you’re angry at a Jewish bus driver in no way indicates some underlying prejudice.

“If this was the other way around and Muslims were being insulted, I have a good feeling you would feel strongly. You need to understand that before you open your mouth,” the judge said.

Well of course he would feel strongly. But that’s different. Because Muslims are the Master Race.

These condescending liberal lectures are great, but Muslims don’t see themselves as a minority. Our friend Rashal has been informed by the Koran that Jews are accursed by Allah. He recites this every day in his prayers. His preachers tell him the Hadiths that the apocalypse won’t come until Muslims kill all the Jews.

Open Doors, an organization that advocates for persecuted Christians, recently released its latest World Watch List—a report that highlights and ranks the 50 worst nations to be Christian. It found that 2015 was the “worst year in modern history for Christian persecution.”

Who claims the lion’s share of this unprecedented persecution? Muslims—of all races, nationalities, languages, and socio-political circumstances: Muslims from among America’s closest allies (Saudi Arabia #14 worst persecutor) and its opponents (Iran #9); Muslims from economically rich nations (Qatar #21) and from poor nations (Somalia #7 and Yemen #11); Muslims from “Islamic republic” nations (Afghanistan #4) and from “moderate” nations (Malaysia #30 and Indonesia #43); Muslims from nations rescued by America (Kuwait #41) and Muslims from nations claiming “grievances” against the U.S. (fill in the blank __).

The report finds that “Islamic extremism” is the main source of persecution in 41 of the top 50 countries—that is, 82 percent of the world’s persecution of Christians is being committed by Muslims. As for the top ten worst countries persecuting Christians, nine of them are Muslim-majority—that is, 90 percent of nations where Christians experience “extreme persecution” are Muslim.

Still, considering that the 2016 World Watch List ranks North Korea—non-Islamic, communist—as the number one worst persecutor of Christians, why belabor the religious identity of Muslims? Surely this suggests that Christian persecution is not intrinsic to the Islamic world but is rather a product of repressive regimes and other socio-economic factors—as the North Korean example suggests and as many politicians and other talking heads maintain?

Here we come to some critically important but rarely acknowledged distinctions. While Christians are indeed suffering extreme persecution in North Korea, these fall into the realm of the temporal and aberrant. Something as simple as overthrowing Kim Jong-un’s regime could lead to a quick halt to the persecution—just as the fall of Communist Soviet Union saw the end of religious persecution. The vibrancy of Christianity in South Korea is suggestive of what may be in store—and thus creates such fear for—its northern counterpart.

In the Islamic world, however, a similar scenario would not alleviate the sufferings of Christians by an iota. Quite the opposite; where dictators fall (often thanks to U.S. intervention)—Saddam in Iraq, Qaddafi in Libya, and ongoing attempts against Assad in Syria—Christian persecution dramatically rises. Today Iraq is the second worst nation in the world in which to be Christian, Syria fifth, and Libya tenth. A decade ago under the “evil” dictators, Iraq was ranked 32, Syria 47, and Libya 22.

Last week, opposition figures Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beytenu and Yair Lapid, leader of Yesh Atid, convened an emergency conference in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) under the banner “Fighting for Israel’s International Status.” Lieberman charged that, “Netanyahu (Israel’s Prime Minister) is trying to take the Israeli Foreign Service and destroy it by force.” He added, “The Foreign Ministry is no one’s private property, including the Netanyahu family, you can’t take it and destroy it completely.” Lieberman served as Foreign Minister in Netanyahu’s previous government as did Lapid, who served as Finance Minister. Both could have received the Foreign Ministry portfolio had they joined Netanyahu’s coalition government. The conference did not include the leader of the opposition and chairman of the Zionist Camp, Yitzhak Herzog. Both Lapid and Lieberman seek to replace Netanyahu as prime minister.

Lapid’s criticism was less personal and more issue oriented. He stated that, “The deterioration of the situation is dramatic. The BDS Movement is gaining power, the international institutions and the UN as well, are leading an anti-Israel line. There is a crisis with the American administration, there is a crisis with the European Union, the world media is leading a serious slanderous anti-Israel line, aided by anti-Israel organizations.” Lapid added, “Our international standing has never, throughout the state’s history from 1948 until today, been so bad. What makes the situation worse is the fact that the Israeli government won’t admit it.”

One point made by Yair Lapid is clearly valid. He pointed out that “The Foreign Ministry is divided between six ministers and none of them knows what the others are doing. Israel’s hasbara (public relations) is divided between five government ministries, and none of them knows what the other is doing.” The Israeli government has to speak with one voice, and preferably, allow hasbara overseas to be handled by qualified PR and advertising experts, and led by a reputable NGO.

In the March 2016 issue of National Geographic it is noted that a marble dolphin with a fish in its mouth turned up at a site in the Negev Desert in Israel. The 16-inch statue was embedded in the floor of a seventh-century building. Although some archaeologists believe it may have been part of a statue of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, others maintain that “a dolphin eating a fish symbolizes the persecution of early Christians [.]”

And thus, persecution and murder of Christians continues into the 21st century. In Nigeria, violent killings of Christians are up 62 percent according to Open Doors which monitors religiously motivated violence and persecution. In 2015 there were 4,028 killings and 198 church attacks, nearly double those of the previous year. Since 2009, 11,500 Christians were killed, 13,000 churches were destroyed and 1.3 million Christians have fled to safer areas of Nigeria or have attempted to reach Europe.

According to Rose Gamble, “the persecution of Christians is carried out by three groups: Islamist terror group, Boko Haram, Muslim Fulani herdsmen; and the Muslim religious and political elite that dominate northern Nigeria. In fact, several areas of northern Nigeria have seen Christianity virtually wiped out.”

The ongoing ISIS slaughter of Christians has resulted in the European Parliament unanimously passing a resolution referring to the Islamic State’s (ISIS) killing of religious minorities under its control as “genocide” in the Middle East. But the Obama administration dithers and when asked, White House spokesman Josh Earnest claims that the word genocide “involves a very specific legal determination that has, at this point, not been reached.” This should come as no surprise since the FBI has “released a new edition of its anti-terror video game, ‘Don’t Be a Puppet’ that scrubs all references to Islamic terrorism” per the demands of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Thus, as Clare M. Lopez explains, “Islamic jihad is now excluded from a list of potential terror threats.”

SEOUL—North Korea issued a new nuclear threat against the U.S. and South Korea as the allies began major joint military exercises.

Pyongyang commonly makes threats during joint exercises—in part, experts say, to solidify support among its military for the North Korean leadership.

This year’s annual spring exercises in South Korea are some of the biggest ever, involving 17,000 U.S. troops and around 300,000 South Korean troops. Starting Monday and running through April, they are intended to ensure readiness for any North Korean attack through a combination of battlefield and computer-simulated exercises.

The simulations will include offensives against North Korea’s top leadership and its nuclear and missile arsenal in the event of a war, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported, citing unnamed South Korean military sources.

North Korea responds angrily to any suggestion that dictator Kim Jong Un would be the target of an attack. Its top military body, the National Defense Commission, said in a statement Monday it would take a “pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike” in response to the exercises. CONTINUE AT SITE

CESME, Turkey—On a mild winter day last week, Capt. Murat Yilmazarslan and his crew bore down on a dinghy packed with people making a dash across the Aegean Sea—a cheerless victory in the Turkish coast guard’s uphill battle to stop smugglers ferrying migrants to Europe’s door.

Soon, their ship—the Umut, or Hope—and two patrol boats had intercepted the dinghy, filled with dozens of Afghans and others in neon orange life jackets, as a helicopter hovered overhead. The migrants, some who wept as they were ordered to board the Hope, gave up without a fight.

It isn’t always so. Caught within sight of their goal, refugees have held babies above the water and threatened to drop them into the sea if they aren’t allowed to proceed to Greece, coast guard officials say. On occasion, intercepted migrants have held knives to their throats and threatened to kill themselves. In those cases, the officials say they alert the Greek coast guard and let the people continue their voyage.

“We have such a big weight on our shoulders,” Capt. Yilmazarslan said the next day in the Turkish port of Cesme. “Turkey is like a sponge that has been fully soaked, and we shouldn’t be left alone to deal with this refugee flow.”

The Turkish captain and his crew are at the front line of an international effort to stop the people smuggling and defuse the pressure on countries in Europe that say they are reaching, or have exceeded, their ability to take in more migrants from the east. A NATO fleet of five ships has been deployed to help overwhelmed coast guard officials like Capt. Yilmazarslan track and deter the smuggling boats, but the mission has been slowed by disagreement between Greece and Turkey over the specifics for the operation. CONTINUE AT SITE

A very worrying development is taking place. People trying to speak the truth about Islam are being silenced. Accounts of social media are being deleted without warning for the ‘crime’ of criticising Islam. Now gofundme.com a crowdfunding website has joined in the censoring of any narrative criticising Islam.

I have been trying to raise money for three victims of Islam on gofundme.com and out of the blue my account has been permanently deleted. The fact is that whilst I had to of course explain WHY the victims of Islam needed help (one was a child grooming gang victim and two were ex-Muslims seeking to escape Muslim countries) I only presented the facts and the truth about their situation. For this my account has been deleted and I can no longer raise money to help these people.

One victim was an ex-Muslim convert to Christianity whose very own family had tried to kill him by beating him up and setting his house on fire. He cannot seek help from the Muslim police as they will also want to kill or imprison him for the ‘crime’ of leaving Islam.

Another victim, Emily was a victim of Muslim rape gangs in Peterborough for 20 years – the truth of this is horrendous, she has chronic physical ailments and PTSD from the years of gang rape and sexual exploitation she suffered. I was trying to raise cash for her to see a private psychotherapist as the ones offered by the NHS were always Muslim, and as you can imagine that would not have been right for her. In fact her home town of Peterborough has an extremely high Muslim population, and she cannot even take taxis as the vast majority of drivers are Muslim. The third was Serkan Engin a Turkish ex-Muslim who was no longer being given work due to his outspoken criticism of Islam. He too was trying to leave Islamic Turkey.

The horrific slaying took place in western Nineveh in Iraq

ISIS terror thugs have forced a 12-year-old girl to execute five women including a doctor who refused to treat their wounded fighters.

The horrific slaying took place in western Nineveh in Iraq yesterday.

One of the victims was alleged to have been a doctor who refused to treat terrorists wounded by anti-ISIS coalition airstrikes.

It is though to be the first incident of its kind in Iraq where a young girl has been forced by ISIS to execute civilians in public.

The open letter from the World Council of Churches (WCC) should have first quoted the three points from my article, then answered them one by one. Such a letter, however, was impossible, because all three points are simply and obviously correct. Instead, the WCC wrote a letter that completely ignored Tveit’s mistakes and falsely claimed that he was using only UN sources, apparently trusting that nobody would read my article.

If the WCC is truly thirsty for Palestinian water justice, why has it not rushed to the defense of Najat Abu Bakr?

Suppose, however, that the WCC wants to start a dialogue based on truth rather than “narratives.” Then there is a way for it to do so.

Two recent Gatestone Institute articles were addressed to the current campaign of the World Council of Churches (WCC) called “Seven Weeks of Water 2016.” In response, the WCC has issued an open letter to Gatestone. This author is responsible only for what his article stated. Conversely, we can examine the WCC’s response exclusively as referring to that article.

The article concerned the “sermon” preached by the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Olav Fykse Tveit, when he launched the campaign in a Jerusalem church. The sermon can be downloaded from the WCC’s website.

From this viewpoint, the WCC’s open letter contains a plainly false statement. It says: “The information and statistics we employ in the campaign are derived from United Nations sources. None are from the Palestinian Water Authority.”

Read the sermon from beginning to end and back, and you will find only one reference to a United Nations source: that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 100 liters of water per day per person (a target that is missed in many parts of the world). Regarding Palestinian water, Tveit’s “information and statistics” are drawn, as the sermon explicitly says, from the “advocacy group of Palestine, EWASH” (that is, from the Palestinian website “Thirsting for justice”). So, contrary to what the open letter states, Tveit’s sermon, which constituted the opening statement of the campaign and sets the tone for whatever follows, is based on a source openly engaged in pro-Palestinian agitation.

The Tapanila gang-rape shocked the quiet Helsinki suburb, and all of Finland. Many wondered why these second-generation Somalis, citizens of Finland, would carry out such a savage attack.

The rapists were eventually brought to trial. One was sentenced to a year and four months imprisonment, two were given one-year prison sentences and two others were acquitted. Penalties were softened due to the age of the rapists.

“1,010 rapes were reported to the police in 2014, according to the Official Statistics of Finland. The number of suspected immigrants in these cases is about three times higher than of the suspected natives in relation to the population.” – Finland Today.

Hate speech is problematic: there is no clear definition, a lapse that leads to confusion and debates. Finns believe that freedom of speech should be absolute. Unsuccessful attempts to deregulate blasphemy as a religious crime took place between the 1910s until the 1990s.

Finland — an open country that prides itself on respecting different ways of life, cultures and religions — is being greatly tested by the wave of Middle Eastern asylum seekers.

Finland is a homogenous country that has roughly 5.5 million inhabitants, about 4% of which are foreign[1]. Twenty years ago, thousands of Somalis immigrated to Finland. In the last decade or so, more international students came to study, and more foreigners came to live and work.

Finnish universities and the academia are of a high level, and most Finns speak some English. But it is not easy for foreigners to find jobs. The barrier is the language: Finnish, like Hungarian, is a part of the Finno-Ugric languages, and difficult to learn.