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Peter 1470 7259 Lod	RE: HSIG - How I Became A Hate Group 3/16/2012 8:30:36 AM
	Hello Friends, Daniel Greenfield's article "How I Became A Hate Group" is outstanding and in some instances extremely funny. Daniel is one of the exceptional writers who delves deep into the subject he writes about laden with facts and links to back up the facts he's presenting to us. So, once again telling the truth is bad and lies, bias, propaganda, racism and much more are good. This has become the norm in the MSM and all the other radical progressive liberal socialistic/Marxist organizations. The Southern Poverty Law Center declared Daniel Greenfield' "Sultan Knish" a hate group. I guess Daniel is one of the smallest groups in the world since it consists of him and his cat who he readily admits is a hater and bigot: Quote: Even when the cat is a well known bigot who hates mice, birds, car alarms that go off in the middle of the night, the plumber and sudden noises. So in essence he's a hate group of 1 plus his cat. The Southern Poverty Law Center is an organization well known for its progressiveness, liberalism. radicalism, socialist/Marxist views and beliefs that continuously adds more 'truth tellers' to the hate group list. You see once again when you can't refute the "despicable truths" these "hate groups" are "viciously" spreading around they revert to their best card and it's not the Ace but the Race card. Call someone or an organization a hate group and there will be some mindless idiots that rather then read what they are writing just parrot the "hate group" mantra and they can carry on with their oblivious existence of and in stupidity and ignorance. If that sounds a bit harsh then so be it but there is no other way to describe The Southern Poverty Law Center and those that use their lists as the gospel truth. The fact of the matter is that Truth is Good and Lies are Bad and regardless of the desire to besmirch the truth tellers with their nefarious name calling in the end the truth will prevail and the name callers won't be able to say we didn't know. Daniel's article is excellent and humorous and explains how Hate Groups of one are created. Shalom, Peter How I Became a Hate Group Posted: 13 Mar 2012 07:56 PM PDT When I went to sleep last night, little did I know that while outside sirens competed with car alarms in the symphony that is New York City, I had already been declared a hate group. Being declared a hate group wasn't in my plans for the day, but like winning the lottery, it seems to be one of those things that happens when you least expect it. Except that as the little bald man in front of the bodega tells you, you have to play to win, but you don't even have to buy a ticket to be declared an official hate group. My first response on finding out that I was now a hate group was to look around to see where everyone else was. A hate group needs the group part and one man and a cat don't seem to be enough. Even when the cat is a well known bigot who hates mice, birds, car alarms that go off in the middle of the night, the plumber and sudden noises. Still the Southern Poverty Law Center had listed, "Sultan Knish a blog by Daniel Greenfield" as one of their Active Anti-Muslim Hate Groups, alongside such other vast organizations as "Faith Freedom", a website for ex-Muslims, and "Casa D'Ice Signs", the signs on a bar located on K-Mart Plaza in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Someone with less faith in the fact checking abilities of the Southern Poverty Law Center might have thought that whoever had made up this list had no clue that "Casa D'Ice" was a lounge with signs outside, that there was no such group as "Casa D'Ice Signs" and that signs are pieces of plastic and not a hate group. But I had faith that the Center knew more than I did. Perhaps its crack team of researchers had learned that the signs had come alive and formed their own hate group, somehow arranging their own letters to form messages about illegal immigration and the need to get out of Iraq. My first thought was to wonder whether some mistake had been made in my own case, but the Southern Poverty Law Center people are experts on hate groups, even if they don't seem to know what the definitions of "hate" or "groups" or "hate groups" might be. Even if they seem to have copied their list off a forum somewhere at the last minute to have something to show the donors. Clearly I was now a hate group and with tax season upon us, I called my accountant to find out if there was a tax deduction for that. There wasn't. As a consolation though, I was listed as "active", which I took as a compliment because I had jogged a few miles yesterday and clearly the Southern Poverty Law Center had noticed. They also listed me as being in New York, which showed that the Center was well aware that it was aggressively trespassing above its jurisdiction below the Mason-Dixon Line and invading the north. The Southern Poverty Law Center's "Hate Map" (TM), which is either a map of hate groups or a map of groups that the center hates, had me floating somewhere in the East River next to the National Black Foot Soldier Network and the National Socialist Movement in Long Island. Say what you will, but I think it's a real tribute to the broadminded diversity of the city that there's room for all of us there, from Catholic Family News to the Nation of Islam to the newest massively organized hate group-- me. I had fewer members, especially if you don't count the cat, and no uniforms or jackboots, but I had to soldier on. The Southern Poverty Law Center was in desperate need of more hate groups to fight and I couldn't let them down. It's not easy running a 216 million dollar organization which has been described as the country's richest civil rights organization with misleading fundraising practices. Having succeeded in such diverse areas as being George McGovern's national finance director, Carter's national finance director and national finance chairman for Ted Kennedy's presidential campaign, SPLC head honcho Morris Dees doesn't have many options except to collect his 0.95 percent compensation and solicit more donations to fight active hate groups like me and that guy who puts up signs on his bar. I knew that I couldn't let him down. Every time the Southern Poverty Law Center sent out another begging letter asking donors to help an organization with a mere 216 million dollar endowment fight an impossible uphill battle against Bare Naked Islam, Atlas Shrugs and Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, I had to do my part so that all the poor employees of the Southern Poverty Law Center would have enough to eat that night. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which seems to have expanded beyond its core mission of using the law to impoverish people in the south, to qualify as an Anti-Muslim hate group, you had to believe such outrageous filthy things as the notion that Islam might be, "sanctioning pedophilia, marital rape and child marriage". People who believe such Islamophobic nonsense include the Ayatollah Khamenei, the Grand Mufti of Australia and whoever wrote the Koran, which says, "marry of women as may be agreeable to you, two, or three, or four". Quickly I understood that I was now part of a much bigger Anti-Muslim hate group than I had realized. This Islamophobic group included all of Islam. Was it possible for Islam itself to be an Anti-Muslim hate group? It seemed mind-boggling, but there could be no other answer. Pakistan, which had legalized the marriage of 12 year olds, was surely the base for a major Anti-Islamic hate group which was doing its best to demean Islam. It also appeared to be conspiring to depict Muslims as "irrational, intolerant and violent", which was another check box on the SPLC list. But the story didn't end there. "These groups also typically hold conspiratorial views regarding the inherent danger to America posed by its Muslim-American community." Now it appeared that Anti-Islam hate groups included the FBI and the NYPD, which were notorious for suspecting that Muslim-Americans might be terrorists and arresting them and detaining them for doing nothing more than practicing some aspects of their religion. Suddenly it wasn't just one man and a cat-- it was the entire Muslim world, the FBI, the NYPD and it didn't end there. The Southern Poverty Law Center's own website had a list of Top 10 Jihadists, slurring the names of such respectable practitioners of traditional Islam as Anwar Al-Awlaki, a Muslim cleric who appeared on PBS, NPR and many other outlets to explain the peaceful nature of Islam and Abdullah Muhammad, whom the Center outrageously suggests was conspiring to terrorize South Park for mocking the other Muhammad, the one who in a bid to make Islam look bad practiced pedophilia, marital rape and child marriage. Even the Southern Poverty Law Center had exposed itself as an Anti-Islam hate group, and how could I or anyone else trust it to assemble a reliable Anti-Islam hate group list, when it had left itself off that list. It was hard for me to accept that a group of intrepid researchers who had cluelessly listed Ann Barnhardt twice, listed Silver Bullet Gun Oil, a weapons lubricant, as a hate group, listed single- author blogs like mine, Pamela Geller's and Bonni Intall's as "hate groups" could possibly be wrong. How could an organization which wrote down "Casa D'Ice Signs" as a hate group without realizing that Casa D'Ice was a bar, make a mistake? But there was no way around it. The SPLC had proven to be Islamophobes and couldn't be trusted anymore. And so I could no longer take their word that I and my cat were a Hate Group. Though Morris Dees may have to go hungry to bed tonight, I must decline the honor of posing as a hate group in order to help him defraud his donors. But I will always remember the brief four hours when I had my own hate group.
	Peter Fogel Babylon 7
	+0

Peter

1470

7259

Lod

RE: HSIG - Muslim Persecution of Christians: February, 2012

3/16/2012 6:28:34 PM

Hello Friends,

Here's the February edition of Raymond Ibrahim's "Muslim's Peersecution of Christians" monthly report. As you can see these monthly reports cover all aspects of persecution and is a very telling condemnation of the incessant violence and other methods used against them in the Islamic world.

Needless to say other religions suffer in these same countries but there is no one willing to delve into them and document them as Raymond Ibrahim does with the Christian's persecution.

Shalom,

Peter

Raymond Ibrahim

Muslim Persecution of Christians: February, 2012

by Raymond Ibrahim
Originally published by the Stonegate Institute
March 16, 2012

http://www.raymondibrahim.com/11373/muslim-persecution-of-christians-february-2012

The Intersection

Half of Iraq's indigenous Christians are gone due to the unleashed forces of jihad, many of them fleeing to nearby Syria; yet, as the Assad regime comes under attack by al-Qaeda and others, the jihad now seeps into Syria, where Christians are experiencing a level of persecution unprecedented in the nation's modern history. Likewise, some 100,000 Christian Copts have fled their native Egypt since the overthrow of the Mubarak regime; and in northern regions of Nigeria, where the jihadi group Boko Haram has been slaughtering Christians, up to 95 % of the Christian population has fled.

Meanwhile, the "big news" concerning the Muslim world in the month of February—the news that flooded the mainstream media and had U.S. politicians, beginning with President Obama, flustered, angry, and full of regret—was that copies of the Koran in Afghanistan were burned by U.S. soldiers because imprisoned Muslim inmates were using them "to facilitate extremist communications."

Categorized by theme, February's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity.

Church Attacks

Algeria: Armed men raided and ransacked a church formally recognized since 1958, dismantling the crucifix above the premises. The pastor and his family, trapped inside, feared that "they could kill us." The pastor "has been repeatedly threatened and attacked since being ordained as pastor in 2007. In the summer of 2009 his wife was beaten and seriously injured by a group of unknown men. Then, in late 2011, heaps of trash were thrown over the compound walls while an angry mob shouted death threats."

Egypt: Thousands of Muslims attacked a Coptic church, demanding the death of its pastor, who, along with "nearly 100 terrorized Copts sought refuge inside the church, while Muslim rioters were pelting the church with stones in an effort to break into the church, assault the Copts and torch the building." They did this because a Christian girl who, according to Islamic law, automatically became a Muslim when her father converted to Islam, fled and was rumored to be hiding in the church.

Iran: Iran's Ministry of Intelligence has ordered the last two officially registered churches holding Friday Farsi-language services in Tehran—Farsi being the nation's language—to discontinue the language: "Friday services in Tehran attracted the city's converts to Christianity as well as Muslims interested in Christianity, as Friday is most Iranians' day off during the week." Banning church use of Farsi prevents most Iranians from hearing the Gospel.

Kazakhstan: A new report notes that "Churches are being raided, leaders fined and Christian literature confiscated as the Kazakh authorities enforce new laws intended further to restrict religious freedom in the country."

Kuwait: A parliamentarian is set to submit a draft law banning the construction of churches. Originally, Osama al-Munawer announced on Twitter his plans on submitting a draft law calling for the removal of all churches in Kuwait. However, he later "clarified," saying that existing churches can remain, but the construction of new ones must be banned.

Macedonia: A two-century-old Christian church famed for its valuable icons was set on fire in response to "a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men dressed as women in burkas and mocked the Koran." Earlier, "perpetrators attacked a[nother] church in the nearby village of Labunista, destroying a cross standing outside" and "also defaced a Macedonian flag outside Struga's municipal building, replacing it with a green flag representing Islam."

Nigeria: A Muslim suicide bomber forced his way into the grounds of a major church, killing two women and an 18-month-old child during Sunday morning service; some 50 people were injured in the blast. In a separate incident, Muslims detonated a bomb outside a church building, injuring five, one critically: "The bomb, planted in a parked car, was left by suspected members of Boko Haram, which seeks to impose sharia (Islamic law) throughout Nigeria."

Pakistan: A dozen armed Muslims stormed a church, seriously wounding two Christians: one man was shot and is in critical condition, the other risks having his arm amputated; another church member was thrown from the roof, after being struck repeatedly with a rifle butt. "The extremist raid was sparked by charges that [the] church was trying to evangelize Muslims in an attempt to convert them to Christianity. The community several times in the past has been the subject of assault and the pastor and his family the subject of death threats." As usual, the police, instead of pursuing the perpetrators, have opened an investigation against the pastor and 20 other church members.

Syria: Some 30 armed and masked jihadis attacked a Catholic monastery—unprecedented in Syria's modern history—demanding money. According to the Catholic Archbishop of Damascus, "the situation in the country is spiraling out of control as the armed opposition spreads its influence to different regions of the state."

Dhimmitude

[General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslims as "Tolerated" Citizens]

Bangladesh: Three American Christians were injured after their car was attacked by a Muslim mob that suspected they were converting Muslims into Christians: at least 200 angry locals chased the missionaries' car and threw stones at it, leaving three with cuts from broken glass.

Egypt: Rather than punishing the perpetrators who opened fire on and ran tanks over Christians protesting the constant destruction of their churches, the government arrested and is trying two priests in connection to the Maspero massacre. And although Egypt's new parliament has 498 seats, only six are Copts, though Copts make up at the very least 10% of the population, and so should have approximately 50 seats. Finally, evincing how bad the situation is, Coptic protesters organized a demonstration in front of Parliament to protest "the disappearance and abduction of Coptic girls."

Indonesia: The Islamist Prosperous Justice Party complained about the Red Cross' symbol of a cross, saying it is too identifiable with Christian culture and traditions. Red Cross volunteers and activists rejected the claim, saying that any changes to the logo would be "tantamount to giving in to the extremists."

Iran: A pastor of a major house church movement began serving a five-year prison sentence for "crimes against the order." According to one activist, "His 'crimes' were being a pastor and possessing Christian materials." He is being beat in jail and getting sick, to the point that his hair has "turned fully gray."

Israel: A mob of some 50 Palestinian Muslims stoned a group of Christian tourists atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount, wounding three Israeli police officers in the process. The attack is believed to have been instigated by the former Muslim mufti of Jerusalem.

Pakistan: Yet another Christian woman, a teacher, has been targeted by Muslims due to allegations that she burned a Koran. A mob stormed her school in an attempt to abduct her, but police took her into custody. Also, a Christian student who missed the grade to get into medical school by less than 0.1% would have earned 20 extra points if he had memorized the Koran—though no bonus points for having similar knowledge of the Bible.

Turkey: A new report notes that "Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media," adding that there is a "root of intolerance" in Turkish society toward adherents of non-Islamic faiths: "The removal of this root of intolerance is an urgent problem that still awaits to be dealt with."

Turkmenistan: A 77-year-old Christian man was detained and questioned by police for six hours after he tried to print copies of a small book of Christian poetry. He was forced to write a statement and banned from travelling outside his home region while the case is being investigated.

Uganda: Not long after a pastor was attacked with acid and blinded by "Allahu-Akbar" screaming Muslims, his friend, another pastor, was shot at by "Islamic extremists,"
in what is being described as "a new wave of persecution against Christians in Uganda."

Murder, Apostasy Issues, and More

Egypt: Two Christians were killed "after a Muslim racketeer opened fire on them for refusing to pay him extortion money." The local bishop "hold[s] security forces and local Muslims fully responsible for terrorizing the Copts living there, who are continuously being subjected to terror and kidnapping."

Iran: After enduring five months of uncertainty in a prison, a Christian convert who was arrested in her home by security authorities has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Authorities further arrested six to ten Christian converts from Islam while they were meeting for worship at a home in the southern city of Shiraz.

And Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani awaits execution for refusing to renounce Christianity.

Nigeria: A 79-year-old Christian woman and choir singer was found dead at her home, her throat slit with a note in Arabic left on her chest reading: "We will get you soon," a message believed to be directed at her son, a pastor at a local church.

Somalia: Al-Shabaab Muslims beheaded a 26-year-old Muslim convert to Christianity who had worked for a Christian humanitarian organization that the terrorist organization had banned. He is at least the third apostate to Christianity to be beheaded in Somalia in recent months.

Turkey: A 12-year-old boy, Hussein, publicly professed his Christian faith by wearing a silver cross necklace in school. Accordingly, Muslim classmates began taunting and spitting on him. When the boy threatened to report one of the bullies, the bully's father threatened to kill him. His religion teacher beat him severely: "Like in most Islamic countries, students of all faiths are required to attend Islamic studies in school. Those who refuse to recite the Koran and Islamic prayers are often beaten by the teacher. And so it was for Hussein. He said he was punished regularly with a two-foot long rod because he wouldn't say the Islamic Shahada."

About this Series

Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of Muslim persecution of Christians that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

Intrinsically, to document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
Instrumentally, to show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (tribute); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed "dhimmis" (barely tolerated citizens); and simple violence and murder. Oftentimes it is a combination thereof.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the west, to India in the east, and throughout the West, wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Previous Reports

Peter Fogel
Babylon 7

Peter

1470

7259

Lod

RE: HSIG - SWIFT Clearing House To Cut Iranian Banks Off Network

3/17/2012 8:28:02 AM

Hello Friends,

Today, the Iranian banking system is being formally cut off from the ability to make international electronic financial transactions. The EU owned SWIFT (The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) based in Belgium is completely cutting off the Iranian banking system from the ability to make cross border payments or to receive monies for that matter.

In essence this is one of the harshest sanctions against the lunatic Iranian regime and only time will tell in what way it will effect Iran's plan to become a nuclear power. Up till now none of the sanctions seem to have thwarted Iran's nuclear agenda mainly due to the support of the Russians and Chinese governments. The SWIFT cut off is a different story and the question is will the Iranians find a way to overcome this latest sanction.

In a way I have a feeling they'll play the game as they have in the past. Make believe they are capitulating and start talks again while they carry on with their nuclear arms program. They are masters at Taqiyya. Time will tell how this will play out but in essence this sanction is turning Iran into a third world country if their banks are cut off from the major international banking clearing house.

Shalom,

Peter

SWIFT clearing house to cut Iranian banks off network

EU decision means the Islamic Republic’s banking system will be completely cut off from the electronic sytem that facilitates the bulk of digitalized global cross-border payments • Financial experts say decision sets Iran back decades, relegates it to Third World status.

Hezi Sternlicht, Zeev Klein, Shlomo Cesana, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

A hard, SWIFT kick to Iran’s economy. Iranians will not be able to conduct overseas bank transactions.

Photo credit: AFP

Starting on Saturday, the Islamic Republic’s banking system will be completely cut off from SWIFT, the banking system which facilitates the bulk of digitalized global cross-border payments.

The European Union decided on Thursday to order Belgium-based SWIFT -- the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication -- which formally belongs to the EU, to disconnect Iranian banks from its system. The consequences are far reaching because the SWIFT network is used by most banks across the globe to transfer money.

SWIFT head Lazaro Campos announced on the company’s website: “This EU decision forces SWIFT to take action. Disconnecting banks is an extraordinary and unprecedented step for SWIFT. It is a direct result of international and multilateral action to intensify financial sanctions against Iran.”

SWIFT announced that Iranian financial institutions and customers banned by the EU decision had been notified of the disconnection, which will take effect this Saturday, March 17.

The EU deliberations forced SWIFT to plan for the disconnection and over the past few weeks preparations to implement the possible decision were finalized. The step is considered extremely dramatic in financial terms as Iran partakes in ongoing trade and commerce with the world, particularly involving its oil exports.

Meanwhile, economists and financial experts have said that the decision to disconnect Iran from SWIFT in essence sets Iran back decades and relegates it to Third World country status in terms of its economic infrastructure because each money transaction instantly becomes more complicated and dangerous.

Over the past few months a new EU embargo on Iran was put in place, in addition to existing U.S. sanctions, which forbids EU states from purchasing oil from Iran. The Iranians responded quickly and began to limit oil exports to the EU. As a result, Iran has sought to increase its oil exports to the Far East, namely to China and India. The disconnection from SWIFT, however, will make it difficult for Iran to implement essential up-to-date money transfers.

In Israel the newly imposed economic sanctions were welcomed. The Prime Minister’s Office said Thursday: “This is a decision that was initiated by [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] during his meeting last week with U.S. President Barack Obama within the framework of pressures employed by Netanyahu to stop the Iranian nuclear program.”

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz added: “A state can’t maintain a modern economy without an international clearinghouse while under increasing financial siege. The Israeli government, specifically the Finance Ministry, will continue to promote economic steps in Israel and abroad in order to make it difficult for Iran financially and economically.”

Following Obama’s warning on Thursday toward the regime in Tehran that the window for a diplomatic solution was closing, the White House also congratulated the newly imposed sanctions. White House Spokesman Jay Carney said the move “is part of a process of tightening sanctions. It is part of the process of isolating Iran and making clear to the Iranian leadership that there is a price to pay for their intransigence.”

Carney pointed to the Iranians’ “refusal to abide by their international obligations, their refusal to adequately reassure the international community that its nuclear intentions are peaceful and non-weapon-related. And we have made clear, as we did earlier this year, that when it was the case that we had already implemented the harshest sanctions with the broadest international coalition in history, that we were going to continue to ratchet them up. And this is certainly, as part of the international effort, this is part of it.”

Meanwhile, Obama also sent a warning to India, saying he would consider placing sanctions on it because it was continuing to trade with and purchase Iranian oil.

Overseas Iranian businesses said the move might strangle their operations. One said he had been expecting SWIFT to act in a few months, and was surprised at the news on Thursday.

“It will make life even more difficult for us than before, because this is like our lifeline to the outside being cut,” Naser Shaker, who owns an oil and gas trading company in Dubai, told Reuters by phone. “All the transactions will be stopped. Through the banks, there are no more options.”

Another forecasts the collapse of businesses dealing with Iran.

“If Iranian banks cannot exchange payments with banks around the world, then this will cause the collapse of many banking relations and many businesses,” said Morteza Masoumzadeh, a member of the executive committee of the Iranian Business Council in Dubai and managing director of the Jumbo Line Shipping Agency.

“This is devastating news for our businesses, but what can I do? Do we have any options?” he said.

The announcements coincided with news that major money exchange houses in the United Arab Emirates, an important trading hub for Iran, had stopped handling Iranian rials over the past few weeks.

Peter Fogel
Babylon 7

Peter 1470 7259 Lod	RE: HSIG - PA Declares Church in Bethlehem to be Unlawful 3/17/2012 12:06:40 PM
	Hello Friends, It's well known that Christians in the Palestinian Authority and in Gaza have suffered and are persecuted making their existence almost unbearable in these 2 areas. In Gaza under the Hamas rule their numbers have dwindled and very few are left. In the areas ruled by the PA the same is true but not in the same manner. In the past I've written about the Christians of Bethlehem who were the majority in that city. Today they are the minority after many have fled and emigrated to other countries. The latest in the Bethlehem saga is that a very old Baptist church there has been declared unlawful and will no longer have rights as a religious institution. Meaning that birth certificates and marriage licenses will be deemed as illegitimate. Imagine, a church that's been in Bethlehem for many years is all of a sudden taken off the rosters as a religious institution. It's incomprehensible and unheard of unless ........ you're part of the jihadi agenda of the Palestinian muslims. You can read more about it in the below article. Shalom, Peter PA Declares Church in Bethlehem to be Unlawful PA: Bethlehem Church will no longer receive rights as a religious institution; birth certificates, marriage licenses deemed illegitimate. By Rachel Hirshfeld First Publish: 3/14/2012, 11:25 AM Baptist Church israel news photo: Flash 90 The Palestinian Authority declared a Baptist Church in Bethlehem to be unlawful and said that it will no longer receive rights as a religious institution, Algemeiner reported. This decision comes a week after Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told an audience of Evangelical Protestants that his government respected the rights of its Christian minorities. “They said that our legitimacy as a church from a governmental point of view is not approved,” said an assistant pastor at the First Baptist Church. “They said they will not recognize any legal paper work from our church. That includes birth certificates, wedding certificates and death certificates. Children are not even considered to be legitimate if they don’t have recognized paperwork.” The messianic church was subjected to an ongoing onslaught of attacks by Arabs during the height of the First Intifada. At a recent gathering of Evangelical Protestants, Prime Minister Fayyad said that ensuring the rights of the Christian minority to access their holy sites is, in part, what it “means to be a Palestinian.” Pastor Reverend Naim Khoury noted, however, that animosity towards the Christian minority in areas controlled by the PA continues to get increasingly worse. “People are always telling [Christians], ‘Convert to Islam. Convert to Islam. It’s the true and right religion,’” Khoury said. The Algemeiner explained that the “church’s message of reconciliation flies in the face of the propaganda that permeates Palestinian society. Muslim clerics routinely offer up anti-Semitic rants on PA television and so-called peace activists have turned the concrete sections of the security barrier in Bethlehem into a canvas for their propaganda, which in some instances proffers a troubling fatalism to its viewers.” Rev. Khoury noted, “The First Baptist Church in Bethlehem has demonstrated its value to the community over the years and proven itself to be a law-abiding church.” He said he will speak to members of the U.S. Congress to draw attention to discrimination that is occurring in Bethlehem, perpetrated by the PA against the Christian minority. “We did let them know that we’re not going to go quietly on this. Our church deserves the right to be equally recognized amongst all the other recognized denominations in the PA.” After Judea and Samaria were restored to Israel in the Six-Day War, the Israeli government opened up churches and holy sites, reversing the policy of Jordan, which closed all Jewish and Christian holy sites during its occupation after the War for Independence in 1948.
	Peter Fogel Babylon 7
	+0

Peter 1470 7259 Lod	RE: HSIG - A Filmmaker’s Second Thoughts 3/17/2012 12:55:32 PM
	Hello Friends, There are many people who come to Israel with preconceived anti Israel ideas and notions. In most cases it's due to political organizations they belong to, reading all the venomous anti Israel propaganda in so many of the MSM and the rise in antisemitism and anti Zionist diatribes heard both online and offline. Here's a story about a filmmaker who hated Israel and thought the radical liberal progressive left was always right but this filmmaker had a 180º change of heart while in Israel preparing a documentary. Read the full story in the below article, it's an interesting read and an eye opener. Shalom, Peter A Filmmaker’s Second Thoughts Posted by Nicky Larkin Bio ↓ on Mar 14th, 2012 The following article was originally published by The Sunday Independent. I used to hate Israel. I used to think the Left was always right. Not any more. Now I loathe Palestinian terrorists. Now I see why Israel has to be hard. Now I see the Left can be Right — as in right-wing. So why did I change my mind so completely? Strangely, it began with my anger at Israel’s incursion into Gaza in December 2008 which left over 1,200 Palestinians dead, compared to only 13 Israelis. I was so angered by this massacre I posed in the striped scarf of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation for an art show catalogue. Shortly after posing in that PLO scarf, I applied for funding from the Irish Arts Council to make a film in Israel and Palestine. I wanted to talk to these soldiers, to challenge their actions — and challenge the Israeli citizens who supported them. I spent seven weeks in the area, dividing my time evenly between Israel and the West Bank. I started in Israel. The locals were suspicious. We were Irish — from a country which is one of Israel’s chief critics — and we were filmmakers. We were the enemy. Then I crossed over into the West Bank. Suddenly, being Irish wasn’t a problem. Provo graffiti adorned The Wall. Bethlehem was Las Vegas for Jesus-freaks — neon crucifixes punctuated by posters of martyrs. These martyrs followed us throughout the West Bank. They watched from lamp-posts and walls wherever we went. Like Jesus in the old Sacred Heart pictures. But the more I felt the martyrs watching me, the more confused I became. After all, the Palestinian mantra was one of “non-violent resistance”. It was their motto, repeated over and over like responses at a Catholic mass. Yet when I interviewed Hind Khoury, a former Palestinian government member, she sat forward angrily in her chair as she refused to condemn the actions of the suicide bombers. She was all aggression. This aggression continued in Hebron, where I witnessed swastikas on a wall. As I set up my camera, an Israeli soldier shouted down from his rooftop position. A few months previously I might have ignored him as my political enemy. But now I stopped to talk. He only talked about Taybeh, the local Palestinian beer. Back in Tel Aviv in the summer of 2011, I began to listen more closely to the Israeli side. I remember one conversation in Shenkin Street — Tel Aviv’s most fashionable quarter, a street where everybody looks as if they went to art college. I was outside a cafe interviewing a former soldier. He talked slowly about his time in Gaza. He spoke about 20 Arab teenagers filled with ecstasy tablets and sent running towards the base he’d patrolled. Each strapped with a bomb and carrying a hand-held detonator. The pills in their bloodstream meant they felt no pain. Only a headshot would take them down. Conversations like this are normal in Tel Aviv. I began to experience the sense of isolation Israelis feel. An isolation that began in the ghettos of Europe and ended in Auschwitz. Israel is a refuge — but a refuge under siege, a refuge where rockets rain death from the skies. And as I made the effort to empathise, to look at the world through their eyes. I began a new intellectual journey. One that would not be welcome back home. The problem began when I resolved to come back with a film that showed both sides of the coin. Actually there are many more than two. Which is why my film is called Forty Shades of Grey. But only one side was wanted back in Dublin. My peers expected me to come back with an attack on Israel. No grey areas were acceptable. An Irish artist is supposed to sign boycotts, wear a PLO scarf, and remonstrate loudly about The Occupation. But it’s not just artists who are supposed to hate Israel. Being anti-Israel is supposed to be part of our Irish identity, the same way we are supposed to resent the English. But hating Israel is not part of my personal national identity. Neither is hating the English. I hold an Irish passport, but nowhere upon this document does it say I am a republican, or a Palestinian. The problem began when I resolved to come back with a film that showed both sides of the coin. Actually there are many more than two. Which is why my film is called Forty Shades of Grey. But only one side was wanted back in Dublin. My peers expected me to come back with an attack on Israel. No grey areas were acceptable. An Irish artist is supposed to sign boycotts, wear a PLO scarf, and remonstrate loudly about The Occupation. But it’s not just artists who are supposed to hate Israel. Being anti-Israel is supposed to be part of our Irish identity, the same way we are supposed to resent the English. But hating Israel is not part of my personal national identity. Neither is hating the English. I hold an Irish passport, but nowhere upon this document does it say I am a republican, or a Palestinian. My Irish passport says I was born in 1983 in Offaly. The Northern Troubles were something Anne Doyle talked to my parents about on the nine o’clock News. I just wanted to watch Father Ted. So I was frustrated to see Provo graffiti on the wall in the West Bank. I felt the same frustration emerge when I noticed the missing ‘E’ in a “Free Palestin” graffiti on a wall in Cork. I am also frustrated by the anti-Israel activists’ attitude to freedom of speech. Free speech must work both ways. But back in Dublin, whenever I speak up for Israel, the Fiachras and Fionas look at me aghast, as if I’d pissed on their paninis. This one-way freedom of speech spurs false information. The Boycott Israel brigade is a prime example. They pressurised Irish supermarkets to remove all Israeli produce from their shelves — a move that directly affected the Palestinian farmers who produce most of their fruit and vegetables under the Israeli brand. But worst of all, this boycott mentality is affecting artists. In August 2010, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign got 216 Irish artists to sign a pledge undertaking to boycott the Israeli state. As an artist I have friends on this list — or at least I had. I would like to challenge my friends about their support for this boycott. What do these armchair sermonisers know about Israel? Could they name three Israeli cities, or the main Israeli industries? But I have more important questions for Irish artists. What happened to the notion of the artist as a free thinking individual? Why have Irish artists surrendered to group-think on Israel? Could it be due to something as crude as career-advancement? Artistic leadership comes from the top. Aosdana, Ireland’s State-sponsored affiliation of creative artists, has also signed the boycott. Aosdana is a big player. Its members populate Arts Council funding panels. Some artists could assume that if their name is on the same boycott sheet as the people assessing their applications, it can hardly hurt their chances. No doubt Aosdana would dispute this assumption. But the perception of a preconceived position on Israel is hard to avoid. Looking back now over all I have learnt, I wonder if the problem is a lot simpler. Perhaps our problem is not with Israel, but with our own over-stretched sense of importance — a sense of moral superiority disproportional to the importance of our little country? Any artist worth his or her salt should be ready to change their mind on receipt of fresh information. So I would urge every one of those 216 Irish artists who pledged to boycott the Israeli state to spend some time in Israel and Palestine. Maybe when you come home you will bin your scarf. I did. Nicky Larkin’s ‘Forty Shades of Grey‘ will premiere in Dublin in May; www.facebook.com/fortyshades; www.nickylarkin.com
	Peter Fogel Babylon 7
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