Arab Lecturer Admission On Palestinian TV: Part Of Our Identity Is To ‘Attack’, ‘Beat’ And ‘Kill Women’

Qur’an Sura 4:34, “Men have authority over women because [Allah] has made the one superior to the other… Good women are obedient… As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them…”

And if they don’t obey you, things will surely be taken to a whole new level …

Israeli-Arab Yusuf Jabarin, Lecturer: “Part of our identity is to kill women, for example, to kill women, to beat women … Part of our identity is to attack women — we must acknowledge it. Every society has its defects and its charms. Palestinian identity has its charms, but there are things that we have adopted from Arab culture for centuries that harm the individual and the woman. For example, in recent months, look how many women were killed in Lod, in Ramle, and in Acre, and so on. That’s part of our identity.”

Sweden: Experts Baffled By ‘Mystery’ Illness Killing Elk, ‘There Is No Scientific Explanation’

“A unexplained illness has been plaguing the elk community of southern Sweden, with experts perplexed as to why so many are being found dead or dying.

The elk population around Blekinge in southern Sweden has been threatened by an unexplained disease.

14 adult elk have recently been found in the woods in severe states of paralysis, emaciation and blindness.

The blindness has resulted in some falling victim to traffic accidents; however experts have been left scratching their heads at to what is actually causing the illness.

‘There is no scientific explanation,’ said Lennart Balk of the Stockholm University to the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Balk has been researching the mortality of elk, and has pointed to the tens of thousands of wild birds that have also died in the area by a lack of thiamine, or vitamine B1, as a possible link.

‘We see that the elk are infected with the same clinical symptomatology, but it is too early to say whether it’s the same disease,’ he said.

Meanwhile, the National Veterinary Institute (Statens veterinärmedicinska anstalt, SVA) is making an investigation into the deaths, but is yet to find any concrete results.

Viral and parasitic infections have been ruled out, and so have possible contaminants in the environment.

‘It’s a mystery. These are animals that are in good condition. They are confused, and the one bull we had in was emaciated. We don’t know what’s causing it,’ said Torsten Mörner of the SVA to the paper, adding that it’s ‘strange’ that something would stop an elk from eating over the summer.” Source – SOTT.

Guam: Large Fish Kill Discovered At Pago Bay, ‘The First Time It’s Ever Been Noticed … To Have A Fish Kill Like This’

By Clynt Ridgell, Pacific News Center -“Guam – Last week dead fish were found mysteriously washing up along the shores of Pago bay. Today PNC went to Pago Bay to investigate the possible cause of this unusual phenomenon.

On Thursday of last week a student at the University of Guam’s marine lab noticed a lot of dead fish along the short in Pago bay. He took pictures of the fish and forwarded them to UOG marine lab professor Dr. Jason Biggs. ‘Well one of the things that set up a red flag for me is that this is the first time that it’s ever been noticed for Pago bay to have a fish kill like this,’ said Dr. Biggs.

Department of agriculture fisheries biologist Brent Tibbats also examined the photos. He says they appear to be shallow water fish that live in the reef flats and sea grass. Based on the photos, which show that many of the fish died with open mouths, Tibbats believes that natural causes are the most likely culprit…

However, as Dr. Biggs has pointed out this is the first time that they’ve seen this at Pago bay. ‘Over the past we’ve noticed areas where it happens commonly actually are Tumon bay is one and down along the southeast coast kind of from Ipan beach park down to first beach those areas something about them seems to be where fish kills repeatedly during these low tides during the middle of the day,’ said Tibbats.

Nevertheless Dr. Biggs is concerned that something else maybe the cause of this strange event.” Read more.

Texas: Thousands Of Dead Fish Litter Galveston Beaches, ‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It’

By Larry Seward, KHOU 11 News – “JAMAICA BEACH, Texas – Thousands of dead fish are washing ashore along the Texas coast from the Colorado River to Galveston Island and Parks and Wildlife biologists suspect low oxygen levels off shore may be to blame.

What tides are bringing in on Jamaica Beach is making people pause.

‘I hope it’s nothing major,’ said Mark Gannon, who took his family to the beach Sunday.  ‘I hope the water is safe.’

Thousands of dead shad litter the sand.

‘Any idea what it is?’ asked Gannon’s wife Alexia.

Her children tried to explain the problem.

‘At night time, the waves pull up really far so the fish can’t handle that, so they get up on the shore,’ said Abby Gannon.

Authorities said the answer is not so simple. Biologists with the Parks and Wildlife Department began testing ph, saline and oxygen levels in water samples taken along the coast.

‘When something’s affecting one [fish] then usually a lot of them are being affected at the same time because it’s such a big group [swimming in schools] together,’ said Steven Mitchell of Texas Parks and Wildlife.

He suspects low oxygen in the water is a problem. However, he won’t know for sure until biologists are able to test water up to 10 miles off shore. That could take several days.” Read more.

Japan: More Than 10,000 Earthworms Found Dead In Parking Lot In Komatsu

Fukushima Diary – “In Komatsu city Ishikawa, more than 10,000 earthworms found dead in a parking lot. Ishikawa prefecture is facing Japan / Korea sea.

Mr. Kobayashi is living near the parking lot. He comments he found earthworms dead in the evening of 8/5/2012. It kept increasing and now it’s scattered around in the 250 m2 of the area.

There are about 500 dead worms in the space for one car. Because 16 cars can park there, more than 10,000 worms are dead in the whole area including the passageway.

Former director of insects museum visited the place to comment it is rare to see this many worms dead at once. It’s an ordinary type of earthworm. He assumes they came from the near greenery to the parking lot for water because of the intense heat and died there.

Citizens nearby the area talks, ‘I haven’t seen such a thing. Is this because of the intense heat ?’ or ‘It may increase more.'” Source – Fukushima Diary.

Senior Cleric In Iran Praises Arab Spring, Says Nations Surrounding Israel Will Annihilate The Zionist Regime

Joel 3:11-12, “Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations.”

“TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran’s provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami underlined the importance of this year’s International Qods Day rallies, and said the revolutionary nations of the region are able to annihilate the Zionist regime.

‘The nations of the region, which have toppled dictators, also have the power to annihilate the Zionist regime,’ Ayatollah Khatami told FNA on Monday.

He stressed that the spread of the Islamic Awakening in the region heralds annihilation of the Zionist regime, and said, ‘Severance of ties with the Zionist regime has been one of the primary causes and ideals of those countries in which a revolution has started, even though they may have not yet attained their goals.’

Ayatollah Khatami also described the International Qods Day rallies as a symbol of unity among the Muslim nations.

The last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan is dubbed as ‘the international Qods Day’ during which worldwide Muslims stage demonstrations to voice their strong protest and outrage at the occupying regime of Israel.

The International Qods Day was started by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, as a way of expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and underscoring importance of Qods to Muslims.” Source – Fars News Agency.

UK: ‘Kids Go Wild’ Toddler Center Bows Down To Allah, Forbids Men From Premises To Avoid Offending Muslim Women

By Nathan Rao – “A CHILDREN’S play centre was at the centre of a sexism row last night after banning fathers from the premises to avoid offending Muslim women.

Kids Go Wild is Britain’s first toddler group to introduce a women-only policy. Managers defended the decision, claiming that Muslim mothers welcomed it for ‘cultural reasons’.

But it has angered both Muslims and non-Muslims and led the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate after dozens of fathers complained.

One father turned away from the centre branded the move ‘disgusting’ and ‘sexist’.

He said: ‘To turn me away because I’m a man is against the Equality Act.’

A poster outside the centre, in the predominantly Asian [Muslim] area of Sparkhill, Birmingham, reads: ‘Ladies and children only. No boys over nine allowed.’ The newly-formed group advertises itself as ‘the UK’s first ladies and children’s only soft play centre’.

Muslim mother-of-one Ruksana Ayub said: ‘I understand why women would want a place like this where there are no men. They won’t feel they have to cover up so they might feel more able to relax and to socialise. But I’m quite modern in my outlook, so I also find it quite shocking that men aren’t allowed in. It’s a shame for kids who don’t have a mum.'” Read more.

Can Syria’s Christians Survive?

Matthew 10:22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

By BILL SPINDLE and SAM DAGHER, The Wall Street Journal – “Near the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Church of St. Simeon the Stylite commemorates the 5th-century ascetic who became an ancient sensation by living atop a tall pedestal for decades to demonstrate his faith. Krak des Chevaliers, an awe-inspiring castle near Homs, was a fortress for the order of the Knights Hospitaller in their quest to defend a crusader kingdom. Seydnaya, a towering monastery in a town of the same name, was probably built in the time of Justinian.

A nun there spoke about Syria’s current crisis from within a candlelit alcove this week, surrounded by thousand-year-old votive icons donated by Russian Orthodox churchgoers and silver pendants in the shape of body parts that supplicants have sought to heal—feet, heads, legs, arms, even a pair of lungs and a kidney.

‘It’s not a small thing we are facing,’ she said, speaking as much about the country as her faith. ‘We just want the killing to stop.’

Few places are as central as Syria to the long history of Christianity. Saul of Tarsus made his conversion here, reputedly on the Street Called Straight, which still exists in Damascus. It was in these lands that he conducted his first missions to attract non-Jews to the nascent faith.

A century ago, the Levant supported a population that was perhaps 20% Christian. Now it is closer to 5%. Syria today hosts vibrant, if dwindling, communities of various ancient sects: Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics and Armenian Orthodox.

But Syria’s Christian communities are being severely tested by the uprising that has racked the country for more than a year. They think back to 636, when the Christian Byzantine emperor Heraclius saw his army defeated by Muslim forces south of present-day Damascus. ‘Peace be with you Syria. What a beautiful land you will be for our enemies,’ he lamented before fleeing north to Antioch. In the 8th century, a famed Damascus church was razed to make way for the Umayyad Mosque—today one of Islam’s holiest sites.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Deliberate and Growing’: Christian Persecution From ‘Arab Spring’ Insurgents in Syria Becoming a Steadily Growing Reality, ‘It Will Never Be the Same Anymore’ – “Refugees who have fled to Jordan from Syria are telling mission leaders supported by Christian Aid Mission about deliberate, new persecution from the ‘Arab Spring’ insurgents who are seeking to overthrow the brutal Assad regime in Damascus. Nearly 100,000 Christians so far have fled from Homs and other cities being targeted by government forces, but it is no longer just to escape the crossfire. Now, more reports are revealing that a new wave of persecution is deliberate and growing… ‘It is over; we can’t get back what we lost,’ said one discouraged Christian refugee here in Jordan. ‘It will never be the same anymore for me or my family. We’ve lost hope.’” Read more.

Fides: US Foreign Policy Is Contributing To The Deaths Of Christians Worldwide

By Michael Carl – “Analysts and human-rights groups claim U. S. foreign policy is responsible for the destruction of the Middle East’s Christian communities.

The reasoning says the U. S. government’s assistance of the radical elements in the ‘Arab Spring’ has wreaked havoc with the region’s Christians.

The Vatican’s official news service Fides says events in Syria are proof U. S. policy and its support of jihadists is contributing to the death of the country’s Christians.

Fides reports, ‘Radical Islamist groups in the ranks of the revolutionaries sow terror among civilians in Damascus. Those who pay the consequences are those considered ‘loyalists,’ loyal to the regime of Bashar al Assad.’

‘Among the victims, report Fides sources in Damascus, there are also Christians of the suburb of Bab Touma and Iraqi refugees who occupied the suburbs of Oujaira and Sada Zanaim,’ Fides reported.

The human-rights group, Open Doors, USA analyst and spokesman Jerry Dykstra says Syrian Christians are experiencing very harsh conditions.

‘In Syria, the future of 1.5 million Christians is bleak if President Bashar al-Assad is forced out of office by the rebel force. Under Assad Christians enjoyed a measure of freedom to worship,’ Dkystra said.

‘Already many Christians have been targeted by the Free Syrian Army, which reportedly includes al-Qaeda-style jihadists and Muslim Brotherhood members. Christians likely would face even more reprisal should Assad fall.'” Read more.

Flashback: Obama Authorizes Secret U.S. Support For Muslim Brotherhood And Al-Qaida Rebels In Syria – “President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said. Obama’s order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence ‘finding,’ broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.” Read more.

‘Dysfunctional’ Obama Administration Ignoring Muslim Abuse Of Christian Women In Egypt

By Gracy Howard, The Washington Times – “Nadia Ghaly’s cousin disappeared 40 years ago. She was introduced to a Muslim man as a young woman, subsequently vanished and resurfaced later three months pregnant wearing a hijab. She was the victim of a forced marriage.

She is not alone. Coptic Christian women are routinely victimized and forcibly converted by Muslims in Egypt, Miss Ghaly says.

In its annual Religious Freedom Report, released July 30, the U.S. State Department acknowledged the problem, but at the same time appeared to downplay it. The report described forcible conversions as ‘disputed,’ asserting that while there were ‘occasional claims’ of Muslim men forcing Coptic women (and sometimes girls younger than legal age) to convert to Islam, these accounts ‘often included inflammatory allegations and categorical denials of kidnapping and rape.’

Miss Ghaly has no faith in the current U.S. administration. ‘I feel that politically the United States will look after its own interests,’ Miss Ghaly said. ‘I feel that they favor the Muslim Brotherhood and [Egyptian President Mohammed] Morsi more than the human rights of the Copts.’…

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said the Obama administration has been a ‘disaster’ for Egypt’s Christian community. He petitioned the State Department in 2010 on behalf of Christians in Egypt. He is still waiting for a reply.

‘It’s like no one’s home,’ he said. ‘The Coptic Christians have never felt the American Embassy was their friend. … I think it’s so dysfunctional that the only way to make improvement is to change the administration.'” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Thousands Of Christian Girls Being Kidnapped By Muslims, Forced Into Servitude – “A new report from George Washington University professor Michele Clark and Coptic rights activist Nada Ghaly has argued that thousands of young Coptic Christian girls in Egypt are the victim of kidnapping and forced servitude by Muslims in the North African country. ‘Women and girls who are found indicate they were befriended by friends or relatives of their kidnappers, or the kidnappers themselves, drugged and then taken in a well-organized plan. ‘Others, like a young mother who testified before the Helsinki Commission last week, were snatched by violent strangers in broad daylight.” Read more.

Egypt: Islamists Roam Sinai Waving The Black Flag Of Al-Qaeda, Residents And Police Hide In Fear

By Tamim Elyan, “(Reuters) – They came in Toyota pick-up trucks, dozens of heavily armed masked men, firing machineguns and waving the black flag of al Qaeda as terrified residents and police huddled indoors, and then disappeared again, melting away into the mountains and remote villages of Egypt’s Sinai desert.

The raid on the town of al-Arish in July 2011 was the first warning Egypt had of the strength of the jihadis in North Sinai. It was a warning largely unheeded until suspected Islamist militants killed 16 Egyptian border guards this month and drove a stolen armored car across the Israeli border before it was destroyed by Israeli forces.

Egypt is now pouring in troops to try to restore stability, and the sophistication of the border attack has finally set alarm bells ringing about the militant threat in the Sinai.

‘Sinai is ideal and fertile ground for al Qaeda,’ said Khalil al-Anani, a Middle East specialist at Durham University in England. ‘It could become a new front for al Qaeda in the Arab world.’

Diplomats and analysts say there is no evidence as yet of formal links between al Qaeda and the Sinai militants – made up of Bedouin aggrieved at their treatment by Cairo, Egyptians who escaped prisons during last year’s uprising against Hosni Mubarak, and Palestinians from neighboring Gaza.

They blend a toxic mix of smuggling, gun-running and human trafficking with the ‘takfiri’ ideology of al Qaeda – which declares all Muslims who do not follow their purist, Salafist interpretation of Islam as ‘kafirs’ – infidels. Crime and religion are soldered by ferocious opposition to Israel.

‘The Sinai has become a base for all kinds of extremist groups,’ Yitzhak Levanon, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, told Reuters. ‘Their overarching objective is to hurt us, to expel us, to set up a caliphate and shock the Middle East.'” Read more.

Flashback: Al Qaeda’s New Sinai Front Could Deepen Arab-Israeli Conflict – “The terror group’s allies have opened a new front in the Sinai Peninsula, gateway to Israel and Gaza from Egypt. With the region a tinderbox after last week’s Palestinian attack on Israel, adding Al Qaeda to the mix could be explosive, says Bruce Riedel… pamphlets were circulated announcing a ‘Statement From Al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula.’ The statement called for creating an Islamic emirate in the Sinai, implementation of Sharia, breaking the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty …” Read more.

Al-Qaeda Flags Fly Over Rebel-Held Syria

By John Rosenthal, Asia Times – “There has recently been a small stir in the American media, as media organizations from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal to the Associated Press have finally gotten around to acknowledging a ‘presence’ of al-Qaeda and like-minded jihadist groups among the Syrian rebel forces seeking to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

It is difficult to see what the cause of the excitement is. After all, such a presence has been blindingly obvious for many months: whether as a result of the dozens of suicide attacks that have plagued Syria or the numerous videos that have emerged showing rebel forces or supporters proudly displaying the distinctive black flag of al-Qaeda.

But observations made by German journalist Daniel Etter during a recent visit to rebel-controlled towns near the embattled city of Aleppo suggest that there is no mere ‘presence’ of jihadists among the rebels: religiously-inspired mujahideen is what the rebels are. The real question is whether there is a presence of anything else. Etter’s report, which appeared in the leading German daily Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, also provides evidence that rebel authorities are subjecting civilians to arbitrary detention and torture and summarily executing captured members of the regular Syrian armed forces.

In the town of Maraa, north of Aleppo, Etter saw some 120 prisoners, apparently civilians, ‘herded into a large classroom’ in what had previously been a school. Many of the prisoners showed signs of abuse. The prison director, whom Etter identifies only as ‘Jumbo,’ refused to allow Etter to speak with them alone. Etter notes that Jumbo ‘looks like his name.’ ‘Jumbo is not someone with whom you would like to pick a fight,’ …

In the neighboring town of Azaz, Etter encountered a less didactic form of Islamism: namely, in the person of rebel commander Abu Anas. Etter describes meeting Abu Anas in his office: a Koran and a ‘silver sword’ were lying on his desk and a black flag hung over it. An Arabic inscription on the flag proclaimed, ‘There is no God but God. Mohammed is his Prophet’ ‘It is the flag that al-Qaeda also used,’ Etter remarks.” Read more.

Flashback: Al-Qaeda Plants Its Flag in Benghazi, Libya – ‘Whomever Speaks Ill of This Flag, We Will Cut Off His Tongue’ – “Earlier this week, I went to the Benghazi courthouse and confirmed the rumors: an al Qaeda flag was clearly visible; its Arabic script declaring that ‘there is no God but Allah’ and a full moon underneath. When I tried to take pictures, a Salafi-looking guard, wearing a green camouflage outfit, rushed towards me and demanded to know what I was doing. My response was straightforward: I was taking a picture of the flag. He gave me an intimidating look and hissed, ‘Whomever speaks ill of this flag, we will cut off his tongue. I recommend that you don’t publish these. You will bring trouble to yourself.’” Read more.