PA: Settlers exhume graves, spray racist graffiti

NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers on Monday exhumed a number of graves and sprayed racist graffiti in the Sawiya village in Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who heads the PA settlement activity file, said settlers from the Alia settlement were responsible for the damage.

He added that a plant nursery and two tractors, belonging to local Abdel Azziz Nasserallah, were also damaged in the attack.

The attack follows clashes on Saturday in the Burin village in Nablus, when dozens of settlers marched into the village.

One villager in Burin was slightly hurt in the hand by a stone and another passed out from tear gas fired by Israeli troops trying to separate the two groups, an AFP journalist said.

The military said that Israeli soldiers also fired rubber-coated bullets, lightly wounding a Palestinian who was given first aid on the spot.

An Israeli army spokeswoman told AFP that about 50 settlers and 20 Palestinians were involved in the confrontation.

The settlers came from Yizhar, a notorious settlement known for being home to Jewish extremists.

Yitzhar settlers also clashed with Palestinians in another neighboring village, Urif, but no injuries were reported, AFP reported at the time.

Tensions have been high in the northern West Bank following a stabbing attack which killed a settler from Yizhar on April 30.

Settlers started over 50 fires across the West Bank following the stabbing, and attacked a mosque and burned tires at junctions in Nablus.

Israeli forces rarely prosecute settlers for violence against Palestinians and their property, which is routine in the occupied West Bank.

Settler terrorists strike again in their daily assault against the indigenous Palestinian population.

Setters uproot 150 trees near Nablus

NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers on Tuesday uprooted over 150 trees belonging to Palestinians south of Nablus, a local official said.

Settler monitoring official Ghassan Daghlas told Ma’an that several settlers attacked Sbeih mountain area between Beita and Yatma villages and destroyed over 150 olive and fig trees.

Malawi’s Radio Islam Slapped With Fine For Saying “Jesus is not the Son of God”

If the converse happened in a Muslim majority country and a Christian program was fined for saying Muhammad wasn’t the last prophet, you can be sure there would be spitting vitriol in the Islamophobic looniverse, whole seminars would be dedicated to the topic at Conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation.

Interestingly when it comes to freedom of speech in this regard they are rather silent.

What if they were Muslim?:

Malawi’s Radio Islam punished for demeaning Jesus Christ

By Yankho Msukwa, Nyasa Times April 9, 2013 (NyasaTimes)

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) has slapped Radio Islam with a $625 (about K260, 000)  fine for denigrating the Christian religion, mostly stating that Jesus Christ is not the son of God.

Macra has imposed the fine on Radio Islam for breaching Clause 2(a) of the Third Schedule to the Communications Act and Clause 10.1.3 of its Licences by denigrating other religion beliefs.

“In January, 2013 Radio Islam aired a programme where they denigrated the Christian religion by among other things stating that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God and all people who follow him shall perish in hell.

“Upon hearing representations from Radio Islam, they admitted to have aired the program in breach of both the Communications Act and the Licence terms and conditions.

“Radio Islam has been warned before for the same conduct of denigrating other religious beliefs. Therefore, pursuant to Section 54(5)[c] of the Communications Act, the Authority has imposed the fine of $625 on Radio Islam which is a quarter of their Licence fees,” said Macra Director General, Charles Nsaliwa.

Real News: Israel’s New Generation of Racists

Nigerian Christian Group To Launch Terror Campaign Against Muslims in “Defense of Christianity”

Guardian

Nigeria could face a battle between rival terrorist groups after Christian militants threatened to attack Muslim targets in response to bombings carried out by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), the umbrella body of armed groups in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, said it would launch a new terror campaign “in defence of Christianity”.

“The bombings of mosques, hajj camps, Islamic institutions, large congregations in Islamic events and assassinations of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate will form the core mission of this crusade,” the Mend spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an emailed statement.

The group appears to be responding to the ongoing attacks against churches and Christian populations in northern Nigeria, which some estimate have killed more than 1,000 people, including Christians and Muslims, in recent years.

The threat of a new round of violence, which Mend said would be codenamed Operation Barbarossa, comes a week after the Christian group claimed responsibility for the ambush of a boat in Bayelsa state, southern Nigeria, in which 13 police officers were killed.

The statement prompted concern in Nigeria, although there were questions about whether Mend had the capacity to launch widespread attacks on Muslim targets.

“We are on the cusp of something imaginable happening – there is a likelihood that we are going to experience some kind of Christian retaliatory killings for what’s happening in the north,” said Tolu Ogunlesi, a journalist and witness to attacks on Muslims in southern Nigeria.

“I’m just not confident it will be Mend that will do it. Just like Boko Haram, it is not a single organisation but different faces and shadows all using the same name.”

Mend has appeared increasingly fragmented in recent months. The group behind the current threat against Muslims is believed to comprise disgruntled militants who have turned against the amnesty agreed between Mend and the Nigerian government in 2009.

“Mend no longer exists in the way it has done in the past,” said Ken Henshaw from the Niger Delta-based group Social Action. “They key characters from Mend who really had the capacity to unleash mayhem have all accepted amnesty and handed in their arms. I can’t think of anyone left who can carry out the same level of violence.

“But I don’t think this threat should be handled lightly. At the moment Nigeria is so volatile, things are getting out of control,” Henshaw added. “Here is a group threatening to kill other people, it must be taken seriously.”

There have been a series of attacks or threats against Muslims by Christians in Nigeria in recent years. In 2011 a group called Akhwat Akwop – which it claimed was the Christian equivalent of the name Boko Haram – began distributing leaflets in northern Nigeria threatening terrorist attacks against Muslims, claiming it would emancipate Christians in the north.

In January there were attacks against Muslims in Rivers state in the Niger Delta, although Mend did not claim responsibility for those attacks.

“There is some precedent for attacks against Muslims in southern Nigeria,” said Adunola Abiola, founder of Think Security Africa. “And although there are real questions about whether Mend have the capability and the networks to carry out the attacks they are threatening now, it’s worth remembering that this is not just a group confined to the Niger Delta – they have operated in Lagos and Abuja before.”

Last month the Mend leader Henry Okah was sentenced to 24 years in jail after a South African court convicted him of terrorism over twin car bombings in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, in 2010.

There was speculation that the threat from Mend was at attempt to coerce the government into negotiating for Okah’s release. “The timing of this sentence suggests to me that this might be intended as some sort of proxy conflict with the federal government,” said Abiola. “But at this point in time and given the unpredictable turn of events in Nigeria, that anything is possible and they shouldn’t be ignored.”

Nigerian Christian group threatens retaliation over Islamist attacks

The “Burmese Bin Laden”

Whenever a Muslim is involved in a crime against humanity, regardless if she or he is religious or not, the mainstream media and many of the people who rely on it for an objective source of news, straight away demonize all Muslims as being collectively guilty of the crime. Calls for a public apology on behalf of the entire Muslim community are issued, along with declarations that all Muslims should be killed, deported, surveyed, or otherwise contained until they “prove” their loyalty – which can never be done, because the bar is intentionally set higher and higher whenever a Muslim does manage to fulfill all of their ridiculous criteria. But what about “huggable” Buddhism? The true “Religion of Peace”?

While Islam is seen through blood colored glasses in the West, Buddhism receives the rose colored platinum treatment. When barely covered news reports of Buddhist on Muslim violence in Myanmar began to surface, the few people who paid attention were absolutely shocked. Buddhists killing Muslims? “What did the Muslims do to them first?”, I am sure many people asked silently. This is how propaganda and stereotypes work. The mere thought of a Buddhist violently attacking a person of another faith simply makes no sense. Whereas the thought of a Muslim violently attacking a person of another faith makes perfect sense. Danios wrote an article a few months ago about the history of “Buddhist violence.” The intention of the article was not to claim that Buddhism is “inherently violent”, but simply to point out that every religion, even “huggable” Buddhism, can be used to justify religiously inspired violence.

Cue Wirathu, the “Burmese Bin Laden.”

“Burmese Bin Laden” Creating Division in Myanmar

Every religion has extremists. Buddhism isn’t an exception, as a 45-year-old Burmese Monk dubbed as the “Buddhist Bin Laden” is flaming social tensions between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by advocating for violence against Rohingyas. In doing so, Wirathu is invoking the call for a Burmese Buddhist national identity while gaining popularity in the country to help his own rise as a significant influence in Myanmar’s politics.

Wirathu is a 45-year-old Buddhist monk who has used social media channels to convey his hate-filled messages. The West’s conventional image of Buddhist followers is one of a religion of peace, yet many are shocked that in a region that has often been called one of the most peaceful in the world, there is an emergence of such hate induced actions caused by his speech.

Wirathu was born near Mandalay, and in 2001, created a national campaign to boycott Muslim businesses in 2001. He was soon jailed 25 years for his actions. He was released in 2010 through a general amnesty.

Wirathu has been on the stump since his release, and has been associated with violence in Rakhine and in Mandalay. In Rakhine, more than 200 people were killed and 100,000 in 2012. His message of hate and violence against Muslims also led to recent violence in Meiktila, where a dispute at a gold shop led to 40 deaths, and the destruction of a Muslim community in the city.

Muslims comprise of 5% Myanmar’s 60 million people. Wirathu’s rants and tirades against Muslims in Myanmar have also culminated in the nationalist “969” campaign using the number 969 to demarcate homes so that they can identify themselves as clearly Buddhists and create remnants of a state divided not by sectionalism, but rather through religion. This has led to hate-filled speeches where he has described Muslims as both “cruel and savage” and has attacked many Muslim practices from the killing of cattle to convincing many Buddhists in Myanmar that the population boom among Muslim communities in these countries will lead to a takeover of the country.

Read the rest here: http://www.policymic.com/articles/37001/burmese-bin-laden-creating-division-in-myanmar

This is ridiculous. To be exact, this is what an Apartheid state does: state-sanctioned racism. Imagine for one second how the media will react if Muslims kicked out Jews or Christians out of a certain area because they declared the area a “live-fire training zone”, the world will create a huge media event surrounding it.

Israel Evicts Bedouins From West Bank Village

Army Declares Restricted Military Zone

Israeli soldiers evicted several hundred Bedouins from a village in the occupied West Bank on Monday after the army declared the area a live-fire training zone.

The residents of Wadi al-Maleh, a village mostly inhabited by shepherds in the arid area bordering Jordan, had almost all left their homes by an evening curfew and retreated to neighbouring villages, Aref Daraghmeh, a local leader told Reuters.

The displacement coincided with several demolitions of Arab properties in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which come as the United States is trying to revive stalled peace.

In January, villagers received a similar eviction order and left without resisting, only to return after 48 hours. Almost all of their 90 buildings, including shelters for their animals, were demolished in 2010, local rights groups said.

Israeli troops prevented outsiders, including journalists, from accessing the area saying it was a “closed military zone”. The military did not respond to a request for comment.

Wadi al-Maleh is located in “Area C,” a swath of land making up two-thirds of the West Bank under full Israeli control and where most Jewish settlements are located.

Half a million settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory captured in the 1967 Middle East War which Palestinians want for a future state.

Israeli army firing zones comprise 18 percent of the West Bank, roughly the same size of “Area A,” the land including major cities and towns which is under full Palestinian control.

According to the U.N. Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 5,000 Palestinians in 38 herding communities live on army firing zones, along with several sprawling Jewish settlements and farms.

Besides al-Maleh, 12 Bedouin villages throughout the length of the Jordan Valley have received eviction orders since 1999, according to the Association for Human Rights in Israel.

The International Court of Justice and most governments deem Jewish settlements in the West Bank illegal. Israel disputes this and cites Biblical and historical links to the land.

Israeli authorities razed two family homes in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of al-Tur on Monday morning, displacing 18 Palestinians who failed to acquire elusive building permits, local officials said.

The army also demolished a well near a Palestinian refugee camp south of the city of Hebron and cleared an agricultural area of dozens of olive trees east of Bethlehem, according to Palestinian government media. Israeli officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

IDF Rabbinate shows non-Jews the door in mezuzah book ruling

(via. Haaretz)

A book endorsed last year by the Israel Defense Forces Rabbinate says the presence of non-Jews is no reason for an army base not to affix mezuzahs to its buildings.

One ruling on Jewish law in the book, “Laws of the Mezuzah,” states: “The idea that views non-Jews as having equal rights in the state goes against the opinion of the Torah, and no representative of the state is authorized to act against the will of the Torah.”  

The book deals with questions about mezuzahs, which are fixed to doorposts by Jews as a sign of faith, on army bases, and was endorsed by the IDF’s chief rabbi, Brig. Gen. Rabbi Rafi Peretz.

One issue it discusses is whether or not mezuzahs need be installed in army bases, because rulings have been issued over the generations that in buildings where both Jews and Gentiles live, there is no obligation to put up a mezuzah, and in light of the fact that both Jews and non-Jews live on IDF bases.

The issue, according to the authors, is whether state property can be said to be a kind of a cooperative. In the latter case, “Even if we say state property is like a cooperative, since the public in general is Jewish, and in any case, as long as non-Jews have not purchased a part of the assets, they have no right to the state property.”

The authors cite biblical verses whose message is that, if a mezuzah is in a Gentile’s possession, there is the fear that “it will be desecrated.”  The question thus arises: What should be done on military bases? The authors state, “As the owner, the military establishment must see to it that mezuzahs are installed in all dormitory rooms, including those where Gentile soldiers live.

Nevertheless, in places where there is the danger that the mezuzahs might be desecrated, the unit’s rabbi must see to it that the unit’s commanders sign the required form signifying that they are personally responsible for the mezuzahs so that they can be placed on trial should there be a need for doing so and so that the danger of the mezuzahs’ desecration can be prevented.”

The authors also address another issue: What is to be done with the mezuzahs on the buildings in a military base when a battalion of Gentile soldiers arrives to assume operational responsibility for the area?  Their response: “If mezuzahs have been installed on a structure that has been transferred to the jurisdiction of Gentile officers, the rabbi’s unit must brief the soldiers on their arrival in the area regarding the importance of keeping the mezuzahs intact and must see to it that the unit’s commanders sign the required form signifying that they are personally responsible for the mezuzahs so that they can be placed on trial should there be a need for doing so.”

The chief editor of the book, which was published 14 months ago, is Col. Rabbi Eyal Karim, formerly of the Sayeret Matkal ‏(the general staff’s elite special-operations force‏).

The book was written by three other rabbis, Capt. Alexander Rones, Capt. Dov Berkovich and Capt. Hananiah Shafran.  The book also deals with the question of affixing a mezuzah to the door post of a dormitory used for female soldiers.  “Must a mezuzah be installed in a dormitory where female soldiers live and can a senior female officer affix a mezuzah when a new building is officially opened on a military base?” it asks.

The book’s authors rule that is that the commandment regarding mezuzahs applies to females as well as males and that most rabbinical authorities have ruled that a woman is permitted to install a mezuzah. However, the authors point out, since IDF bases constitute a public area, “it would be preferable to be strict on this point” and to prohibit a senior female officer from installing a mezuzah.

The reason, they note, is that, as is it is written in the Book of Psalms, “All glorious is the king’s daughter within the palace” (45:14); thus, they write, “in a public area, it is much more suitable for a male to install the mezuzah.”

In response to a query on the book, the IDF spokesman’s office said: “The book ‘Laws of the Mezuzah’ is a clearly a book on Jewish law dealing with questions that are part of the daily reality in the army. Although the quotes presented are in response to specific questions, the answers cannot be viewed as relating to a specific group; the answer given is true for any unit in which there is concern the mezuzah will be disrespected.

Related:

Ex-IDF Chief Rabbi Who Put Together Book Saying It Was OK to Kill Gentiles in War Without Regard to Age Says Recently IDF Publishing of Jewish Discriminatory Law Was Mistake

Burundi: Catholic sect ‘clashes with police kill six’

(bbc.co.uk) (H/T- Sir David)

At least six people have been killed and 35 wounded in clashes in northern Burundi between police and a Catholic sect, an official has said. The violence broke out after police tried to block followers of 30-year-old Zebiya Ngendakumana from praying in Kayanza region, the official added. Ms Ngendakumana says she sees visions of the Virgin Mary on the 12th day of each month. The authorities are worried her sect could threaten public order. The sect, formed more than a year ago, has developed a following across the country and in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Kayanza Governor Athanase Mbonabuca said hundreds of sect members, some “armed with clubs and stones”, resisted police attempts to prevent them from meeting on a hilltop on Tuesday, the day Zebiya Ngendakumana said she would see her visions, AFP news agency reports. ‘Sanctuary destroyed’ “There were violent clashes. At least six people are dead and 35 wounded,” he is quoted as saying. All the dead are believed to be followers of Ms Ngendakumana, with four policemen seriously wounded, AFP reports. The sect has had a tense relationship with Burundi’s government since its formation, says Florentine Kwizera of the BBC’s Great Lakes Service. Last year, police destroyed a sanctuary of the sect in Kayanza – its stronghold – and its followers retaliated by breaking up a Sunday service at a local Catholic church, she says. Most Burundians are Catholic and the official church has distanced itself from the sect. The sect has also urged its followers to boycott the government’s community service programme. It is not clear why it is opposed to the programme, which sees residents of towns and cities engage in activities such as cleaning streets and refurbishing schools every Saturday.