Damascus Countdown: Iran & Syria Vow Retaliation After Israeli Airstrike — Is Something More Catastrophic Coming?

By Joel C. Rosenberg – “What will be next?

As the implosion of Syria continues unabated, Israeli officials are increasingly worried that weapons of mass destruction positioned on Syrian soil will be used against the Jewish state. Or that they will fall into the hands of anti-Israeli forces. Or be handed over to anti-Israeli forces. Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF top brass are also deeply concerned about Iran’s efforts to use the chaos in Syria to divert international attention away from stopping Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. As I’ve written before on this blog — and explore in more detail in my forthcoming geopolitical thriller, Damascus Countdown — the corridor between Tel Aviv, Damascus and Tehran is the most dangerous corridor on the planet at the moment. Iran is getting closer to building The Persian Bomb. More than 40,000 people have been slaughtered inside Syria. The world is not taking decisive action to stop any of this. And there is a growing fear in the region that a countdown may have begun to something even more catastrophic happening in the not-too-distant future. I pray that it doesn’t. But governments are increasingly on edge, and for good reason.

Here’s a snapshot of the latest developments in the last 48 hours:

‘Israel bombed a suspected shipment of antiaircraft missiles in Syria on Wednesday, according to regional and U.S. officials, in its most ambitious strike inside its neighbor’s territory in nearly two chaotic years of civil war there,’ reports the Wall Street Journal. ‘The early-morning strike in a border area west of Damascus targeted a convoy of trucks carrying Russian-made SA-17 missiles to Hezbollah, the anti-Israel Shiite militant and political group in Lebanon, according to a Western official briefed on the raid.’

‘Syria maintained that the accounts of a strike on an arms convoy near the country’s border with Lebanon were wrong. Instead, Syria’s military said, Israeli jets had attacked a military facility near Damascus,’ the Journal reports. ‘‘Israeli warplanes violated our airspace at dawn today and directly struck one of the scientific research centers responsible for elevating resistance and self-defense capabilities in the area of Jamraya in the Damascus countryside,’ Syria’s military said in a statement carried by the official Sana news agency. The attack killed two workers and injured five others, it said, and ’caused significant material damage and the destruction of the complex’ and an adjacent parking lot. Syrian activists say the Jamraya site is in a mountainous area of military facilities and training camps located on a heavily guarded road just off the main Damascus-Beirut highway. Later Wednesday, a U.S. official said the accounts of two targets—a convoy of weapons, and a military site—weren’t mutually exclusive. The U.S. believes Israeli warplanes bombed a Hezbollah-bound convoy of antiaircraft missiles, U.S. officials said. The vehicles may have been close to a military facility, they said, cautioning their information remained incomplete.’

Meanwhile, ‘Iran threatened that a reported Israeli strike in Syria would have

Pakistan: Christians Held At Gunpoint And Threatened With Death, ‘You Are Christian Insects … We Will Burn Your Houses And Church’

Pakistan Christian Post – “Today dated 27 January 2013, Mr. Shamoun Patras with some other Christians of Phool Nagar came to LEAD’s office and told to Chief of LEAD Mr. Sardar Mushtaq Gill the incidence that happened with Patras, his family and other Christians of the area.

Mr. Patras is working as stitch operator in a Factory, on Eid-Ul-Muladul Nabi he was on holiday and he was at home with his family members. Some Muslims men, who are drug sellers, passing in front of his door at near about 5:30 PM evening .They opened fire at his door and when he came out from his house to see what happened. He was also fired at by them and he ran away from the site for saving his life.

Mr. Patras told this incident to other Christians. Some Christians thought that they should tell the other respectable Muslims and their parents so that they would stop them to doing such dangerous activities. Mr. Patras along with some other Christians went to some respectable Muslims, those Muslims again opened fire at all of them and made them forced to stand in a row. They also threatened that if any one of you would submit any application against them in police station, they will kill him. They also threatened by saying ‘you are Christians insects and have no power to do anything against us’, and ‘you are slaves and trivial and tiny before us’ and ‘we will burn your houses and church’ told Mr. Patras.

Some other Christians told that they were under threats and pressure of such drug sellers. They also told that they always remained under pressure and fear that how their honor and belonging would be saved from such dangerous persons.

‘There were already many criminal cases against them and they did not care about such cases and what will be benefit if I will submit an application in Police station against them’ told Mr. Patras. He also added that he was worried about his new generation. Some Christians told that such incidences often happened with them and they had no way how to avoid from such things. They also told that they were not safe in Pakistan and their honors and belongings were also not safe.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Worrisome’: The Role of Drug Trafficking in Promoting and Financing Today’s Global Terrorism – “Speaking at a recent conference in Istanbul, ‘The Role of Drug Trafficking in Promoting and Financing Today’s Global Terrorism,’ jointly organized by Turkey, the United States and Colombia, UNODC Senior Terrorism Prevention Officer Irka Kuleshnyk said that ‘While it is difficult to establish how widely terrorist groups are involved in the illicit drug trade, or the breadth and nature of cooperation between these two criminal groups, the magnitude of the numbers involved make the relationship worrisome.’ According to the UNODC’s World Drug Report 2007, the total potential value of Afghanistan’s 2006 opium harvest accruiing to farmers, laboratory owners and Afghan traffickers reached about $US3.1 billion.” Read more.

Colorado: Outrage As High School Recites Pledge Of Allegiance In Arabic Saying ‘One Nation Under Allah’

Here’s an update on yesterday’s news out of Rocky Mountain High. What wasn’t pointed out is that in order to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic, students must use “Allah” in place of “God.” Although the word “Allah” can also mean “God” in Arabic in a generic sense, the insinuation of its usage is loud and clear and creates America into one nation under the god of Islam, not one nation under the Judeo-Christian God of the founding fathers …

By James Nye, Mail Online – “Fury is brewing at Rocky Mountain High School, in Colorado, after a multicultural student group were encouraged to recite the Pledge of Allegiance over the loudspeaker in Arabic – replacing ‘one nation under God’ with ‘one nation under Allah’.

Following Monday’s pledge, Principal Tom Lopez has been inundated with complaints from outraged parents concerned that saying the Pledge in any language other than English is unpatriotic.

Standing by his controversial decision, Principal Lopez has said that despite the irate telephone calls and emails, he is not in any way or form trying to push an Islamic agenda at the Fort Collins school.

‘These students love this country,’ said Lopez to Fox News.

‘They were not being un-American in trying to do this. They believed they were accentuating the meaning of the words as spoken regularly in English.’

At the school, the Pledge of Allegiance is recited once a week and on Monday, a member of the Cultural Arms Club at Rocky Mountain High School read out an Arabic version.

The pupils sought the permission of Principal Lopez, who previously had allowed the Pledge to be read out in French and Spanish.

However, the backlash began from students hours after the recital and has continued through the week as angry parents have waded into the controversy…

The issue for some parents and pupils at the school is that in an Arabic translation of the Pledge of Allegiance, ‘one nation under God’ is replaced with ‘one nation under Allah’.

‘Obviously in Arabic, you would use the word Allah, but Christian Arabs would use the word Allah,’ said Ibrahim Hooper, of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

‘It’s not necessarily specific to Islam and Muslims.’

Principal Lopez has borne the brunt of the criticism of the decision to allow the recital – and some have gone as far as to label him as a traitor…

Other parents have accused him of ‘pushing a Muslim Brotherhood agenda – to push Islam into the school.'” Read more.

Flashback: Islamic Religious Authority: The Name “Allah” Belongs Only To Muslims, Denotes The Muslim God – “Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria today told non-Muslims who insist on using the word ‘Allah’ to refer to their Gods to convert to Islam if they refused to accept that the word belongs only to Muslims… ‘Christians should not interfere with Islam, they’d be better off taking care of their own religion. If they want to use Allah, convert into Islam.’ … Datuk Dr Ismail Ibrahim was reported as saying that non-Muslims should stop demanding to use the word ‘Allah’ as the Arabic word is fundamental to Islamic belief and therefore exclusive to Muslims… ‘The name ALLAH is still something basic and fundamental to Islam. The name Allah … is not equal with the name Tuhan, God, Lord and so on in the usage of other religions,’ he was quoted as saying … In recent years, the Christian and Muslim religious communities have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the word ‘Allah’, with the latter group arguing that its use should be exclusive to them on the grounds that Islam is monotheistic and the word ‘Allah’ denotes the Muslim God.” Read more.

Israel Strikes Possible Weapons Convoy Along Lebanese-Syrian Border

By Roi Kais, ynet – “‘Israeli forces have attacked a target on the Syrian-Lebanese border overnight,’ foreign and Arab media sources alleged Wednesday, saying that 12 IAF jets breached Lebanon’s airspace on Tuesday.

The US-based Al-Monitor website quoted Lebanese sources as saying the target was a weapons convoy traveling near Syria’s border with Lebanon. The report has not been corroborated by any Israeli source and the IDF refused to comment on the matter.

Earlier, Beirut’s news agency alleged that the Israeli fighter jets conducted three separate aerial incursions into Lebanon’s airspace overnight.

According to the report, the jets flew over the En Nakura area for several hours, leaving Lebanese airspace at around 2 am. The report, citing military sources, said that the first incursion took place at around 4:30 pm, when two jets flew over the village of Ramish, leaving at 9:05 pm.

As the duo was leaving – according to the Lebanese report – two other IAF jets entered Lebanon’s airspace, towards En Nakura, leaving at 2 am.

A Lebanese Army statement said that ‘Four Israeli planes entered Lebanese air space at 4:30 pm on Tuesday. They were replaced four hours later by another group of planes which overflew southern Lebanon until 2 am and a third mission took over, finally leaving at 7:55 am on Wednesday morning.’

The statement made no mention of planes entering Syrian airspace.

A western diplomat and a security source said Wednesday that ‘Israeli forces have attacked a target on the Syrian-Lebanese border overnight.’

Despite the ambiguity of Lebanon’s reports, the diplomat – who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue – insisted that ‘There was definitely a hit in the border area.'” Read more.

Number of Israelis Updating Gas Masks Nearly Triples – “The defense establishment’s concerns about the potential threat of chemical weapons from Syria and Hezbollah has not gone unnoticed by the Israeli public. The Israel Postal Serivce reported Wednesday that more Israelis are updating their gas masks and ABC kits. In fact, the number of Israelis changing their nonconventional warfare protection kits has nearly tripled over the past month. The public demand can be attributed to recent upheaval in Syria and the alarming possibility that the regime’s arsenal of nonconventional weapons may find its way to Hezbollah, as was implied by IAF Chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel Tuesday.” Read more.

Flashback: Israel Warns Of Possible Pre-Emptive Chemical Weapons Strike In Syria; Iran: Any Attack On Syria Is Attack On Us – “Israel could launch a pre-emptive strike to stop Syria’s chemical weapons from reaching Lebanon’s Hezbollah or al Qaeda inspired groups, officials said Sunday… Israel has long expressed concerns that Syrian President Bashar Assad, clinging to power during a 22-month civil war, could lose control over his chemical weapons… [Vice President] Shalom told the Army Radio station that the transfer of weapons to violent groups, particularly the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, would be a game changer.” Read more.

‘This Is Very American’: Fort Collins Students Read Pledge of Allegiance In Arabic

If “multiculturalism” is turning out to be one colossal failure in Europe, then why should we believe that it won’t be yet another colossal failure in America? In the minds of Islamists, reading anything in the “revered language of the Holy Qur’an” in a public setting is but one more step towards the Islamization of the West …

Revelation 18:3, “For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries …”

By Nick McGurk, 9News – “FORT COLLINS – A Fort Collins principal stands by his decision to allow students from a multicultural group to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic on the school’s intercom.

‘We do say the Pledge of Allegiance on Mondays at Rocky Mountain High School,’ principal Tom Lopez said.

Students have always said it in English. This year, a group with about 30 students approached Lopez with a request to translate and recite the pledge in other languages.

‘They had to go through me for approval, and I reviewed it pretty carefully,’ Lopez said.

First, the students translated and read French. Then they recited the pledge in Spanish last fall. Monday, students read the pledge in Arabic.

‘We have a tremendous amount of diversity in our school,’ Lopez said. ‘This is very American, not un-American.’

The response has been mostly positive, said Lopez, though the calls and emails from upset parents have been very negative.

‘I guess I’m getting worn down a little bit by how intense their sense of hate has been represented in some of the things they’ve written and said,’ Lopez said on Tuesday.

Lopez says Rocky Mountain High School is a place of inclusion.

‘When they pledge allegiance to United States, that’s exactly what they’re saying — they’re just using another language as their vehicle,’ Lopez said.

He says it’s likely the group will have other opportunities to recite the pledge in other languages, though he concedes it’s a wise idea to recite the pledge in English that day as well.” Source – 9News.

Israeli Intelligence Source Confirms Iran’s Fordow Nuclear Plant Crippled By ‘Mega Explosion’

Kudos to WorldNetDaily for being the first to report the news about Fordow. Hopefully mainstream media outlets will begin paying a little bit more attention to WND in the future …

By Chana Ya’ar, INN – “An Israeli intelligence source has confirmed Iran’s Fordow underground nuclear uranium enrichment facility sustained major damage in a ‘mega explosion’ that occurred last week.

Fordow, which contains at least 2,700 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, is located deep beneath a mountain near the Iranian city of Qom.

Some 200 workers were trapped inside the facility at the time, according to a report published Monday by The Times, a UK-based newspaper.

The report quoted an Israeli official as saying ‘We’re still in the early stages of trying to comprehend what happened and the extend of its significance.’ The source added that it was not yet known whether the explosion was ‘an act of sabotage or incidental.’

The official declined to reveal whether Israeli aircraft had been in the vicinity at the time of the explosion.

Iran has denied that any explosion occurred at the facility, claiming in a statement to the official IRNA news agency that reports of the blast were nothing more than ‘Western propaganda.’

News of the explosion was reported Friday by the U.S.-based WND website.” Source – INN.

U.S. Doesn’t Believe Reports of Fordow Explosion – “The United States said on Monday that it does not believe reports about an explosion at the Fordow uranium enrichment plant in Iran. ‘We have no information to confirm the allegations in the report and we do not believe the report is credible,’ White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. ‘We don’t believe those are credible reports.’ On Friday, the American WND website reported that an explosion had occurred deep within Fordow, which is carved into a mountain.” Read more.

Iran: Islam’s Goal Is To Destroy Zionism, Now Just Waits For Leadership ‘Similar To The Prophet’ To Unite The Muslim World

Although the Muslim world is anticipating the imminent arrival of the “perfect human” to unite and lead them all, the identity of the spiritual force that is already leading them is readily apparent …

IRNA – “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that all Muslims should mobilize their resources to uproot Zionism.

He made the remarks in his speech to the 26th international conference on Islamic Unity.

He said that the prime goal of the Muslims should be terminating the issue of Zionism.

‘World Muslims should forge unity in their struggle with bullying powers and by the time that the Zionist usurpers commit crimes through occupation and vandalism. It is not advisable to sit idle and take no action.’

Elsewhere in his speech, he said that it is not possible to attain unity without having a unique leadership.

The only leader who can guide Muslim World is the guidelines of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), he underlined.

‘All differences and discords among Muslims have roots in our misunderstanding of Holy Quran and guidelines of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Today we need leadership similar to the Prophet to get the Muslim World united.’” Read more.

Flashback: Ahmadinejad: World Forces Must Strive To Annihilate Israel To ‘Solve All The World’s Problems’ – “In a speech published on his website Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the ultimate goal of world forces must be the annihilation of Israel… Ahmadinejad added that ‘liberating Palestine’ would solve all the world’s problems, although he did not elaborate on exactly how that might work… He added: ‘Anyone who loves freedom and justice must strive for the annihilation of the Zionist regime in order to pave the way for world justice and freedom.’” Read more.

Flashback: Pakistani Cleric: World Peace Will Be Established Only When All The Jews Are Wiped From The Earth – “… Pakistani cleric Pirzada Muhammad Raza Saqib Mustafai argued that world peace will be established only when all the Jews are wiped out from the earth… ‘And all the troubles that exist around the world are because of the Jews. When the Jews are wiped out, then the world would be purified and the sun of peace would begin to rise on the entire world.’”Read more.

Flashback: Iranian Ayatollah: Kill All Jews Worldwide, Annihilate Israel – “The Iranian government, through a website proxy, has laid out the legal and religious justification for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of its people. The doctrine includes wiping out Israeli assets and Jewish people worldwide. Calling Israel a danger to Islam, the conservative website Alef, with ties to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the opportunity must not be lost to remove ‘this corrupting material. It is a ‘jurisprudential justification’ to kill all the Jews and annihilate Israel, and in that, the Islamic government of Iran must take the helm.’” Read more.

Egypt: Dozens Of Women Sexually Assaulted During Anniversary Of Uprising

And I wonder who could possibly be responsible for a significant number of these assaults? …

Revelation 9:21, “And they did not repent of their murders … or their sexual immorality …”

Zeenews – “London: At least 25 women were sexually assaulted during clashes in Tahrir Square amid ongoing civil unrest in Egypt, local women’s rights campaigners have said.

In a typical attack, crowds of men quickly surround isolated women, groping them and attempting to remove their clothes.

According to the Guardian, the campaigners said that some women were stripped naked and one was even raped.

Since Thursday, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets in 12 of the country’s 21 provinces to protest against President Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood, and police brutality – two years after the start of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, the report said.

Last night Morsi declared a 30-day state of emergency and curfew in the three Suez canal provinces – Port Said, Ismailiya and Suez – which are hit hardest by the latest wave of political violence.

According to the report, the president vowed in a televised address on Sunday last night that he would not hesitate to take more action to stem the latest eruption of violence across much of the country.

But at the same time, he sought to reassure Egyptians that his latest moves would not plunge the country back into authoritarianism.

More than 40 people have died and more than 500 have been injured in clashes in cities including Alexandra, Suez and Mahalla in the past four days.” Read more.

Flashback: Muslim Brotherhood ‘Paying Gangs To Go Out And Rape Women And Beat Men Protesting’ Against Morsi – “Egypt’s ruling party is paying gangs of thugs to sexually assault women protesting in Cairo’s Tahrir Square against President Mohamed Morsi, activists said. They also said the Muslim Brotherhood is paying gangs to beat up men who are taking part in the latest round of protests, which followed a decree by President Morsi to give himself sweeping new powers.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Girls Sexually Harassed ’7 Times Every 200 Meters’, Well Over Two-Thirds Of All Women Harassed Daily – “s the new school year begins next week in Egypt, school girls and their families are preparing to face yet another year of sexual harassment, this time waiting for the children outside their schools. Egyptian mothers worry about their young daughters, who are subjected to sexual harassment outside their gated schools and daughters only pray to go home safely after the day has ended. The phenomena of men waiting outside girls only schools to sneak a view, harass and self-expose themselves has made even school a difficult trip to take on a daily basis.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Women Attacked at Rally on International Women’s Day in Tahrir Square – “A demonstration urging Egypt to give women a voice in building its future was attacked by a group of men Tuesday, delivering a stinging slap to the women who helped propel Egypt’s uprising. ‘We fought side by side with men during the revolution, and now we’re not represented,’ said Passat Rabie, a young woman who came with friends, after men aggressively dispersed the protest. ‘I thought Egypt was improving, that it was becoming a better country. If it’s changing in a way that’s going to exclude women, then what’s the point?'” Read more.

Israel Warns Of Possible Pre-Emptive Chemical Weapons Strike In Syria; Iran: Any Attack On Syria Is Attack On Us

CBS News, AP – “Israel could launch a pre-emptive strike to stop Syria’s chemical weapons from reaching Lebanon’s Hezbollah or al Qaeda inspired groups, officials said Sunday.

The warning came as the military moved a rocket defense system to a main northern city, and Israel’s premier warned of dangers from both Syria and Iran.

Israel has long expressed concerns that Syrian President Bashar Assad, clinging to power during a 22-month civil war, could lose control over his chemical weapons.

Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday that Israel’s top security officials held a special meeting last week to discuss Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. The fact of the meeting, held the morning after a national election, had not been made public before.

Shalom told the Army Radio station that the transfer of weapons to violent groups, particularly the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, would be a game changer.

‘It would be crossing a line that would demand a different approach, including even action,’ he said. Asked whether this might mean a pre-emptive attack, he said: ‘We will have to make the decisions.'” Read more.

Iran Official: Any Attack On Syria Is An Attack On Iran – “Issuing Tehran’s strongest warning to date, a top Iranian official said Saturday that any attack on Syria would be deemed an attack on Iran, a sign that it will do all it can to protect embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad. Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made his comments as Syrian troops conducted offensive air raids against rebels and discovered a trio of tunnels they were using to smuggle weapons in their fight to topple Assad.” Read more.

Flashback: Shock Video Shows ‘Syrian Rebels’ Testing Chemical Weapons, ‘This Is Your Fate … I Swear By Allah To Make You Die’ – “A shocking You Tube video shows alleged Syrian rebels testing chemical weapons on lab rabbits before making threats to use them against Syria’s pro-Assad Alawite population. The video is particularly pertinent given reports yesterday that claim President Bashar Al-Assad has ordered the Syrian military to load ‘the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs,’in preparation for fighter jets to drop the bombs on the civilian population.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Expect Bigger Surprises’: Iran Arms Hezbollah With Chemical Weapons, ‘From Now Onward, We Will Support … Any Groups Fighting Against The Zionist Regime’ – “As the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas faction is escalating and rockets are hitting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Iran announced Friday that its missiles were being used against the Jewish state. Rockets hit Tel Aviv Thursday for the first time since the 1991 Persian Gulf War when Iraqi scuds threatened the city. On Friday, Jerusalem also came under rocket fire from Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. According to a source in the Revolutionary Guards intelligence division, Iran has large stockpiles of chemical and microbial weapons and it has armed the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah with them. It also has Quds Forces in Gaza and other Palestinian territories to help Hamas and Islamic Jihad in setting up underground rocket facilities while training and supervising the Palestinians in launching attacks on Israel.” Read more.

Egypt: Muslim Group Threatens Christians, Promises Jihad Against Military If They Do Not Move Against Copts

By MidEast Christian News – “An armed Islamic movement calling itself the ‘Brigade of Muslims’ released a statement on Saturday threatening Egypt’s Coptic Christians and asking them to pay tribute.

‘Egypt is an Islamic country and will be ruled according to Shariah,’ the statement added.

The movement threatened all Egyptian media professionals who ‘mock religion and Islamic rule,’ adding that it has a special list of media professionals and their persistence in mocking will result in the ‘shedding of their blood in the ugliest way.’

The movement explained that it has been established because of the strife being plotted against the country and the plans of enemies of Islam, both at home and abroad.

The movement accused Copts of trying to create a ‘separate Coptic state,’ accused the National Salvation Front of involvement in the burning of Egypt, and accused the so-called corrupt media of distorting the image of Muslims and Islamic rule.

The movement noted its approach is jihad, and it would fight the Egyptian army and Interior Ministry if they do not stand up to ‘Copts and their helpers.’

‘Let the unbelievers and the hypocrites know we are as keen on dying for the sake of God as they are keen on life,’ the movement confirmed.” Source – CP Africa.

Flashback: Egypt: Rising Islamic Leader Declares ‘We Will Launch a Campaign of Islamic Conquest Throughout the World’, ‘Exterminate’ Christians Who Get In the Way of Sharia – “A rising leader in the radical Islamic movement in Egypt that has become a major political player since the demise of Hosni Mubarak’s regime says Christian churches may need to be blown up and Christians exterminated to allow the advance of Islamic law, or Shariah. The comments come from Sheik ‘Adel Shehato, a senior leader with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist group… The sheik, a senior jihadist leader, responded to a question about using violence against Christians, who make up a substantial minority in Egypt.” Read more.

Flashback: Muslim Cleric Issues New Fatwa To Christians: Choose Islam Or Be Killed – “An Advent of light and shadow for Iraq’s Christians, who are celebrating the reopening of the cathedral of Baghdad but at the same time subjected to new – and heavy – threats from a radical Shiite Muslim leader. From studies of a television broadcaster based in Egypt, an Iraqi Ayatollah launches a fatwa against the religious minority on the eve of Christmas: ‘Conversion to Islam or death.’” Read more.

Turkey: Planned Assassination Of Christian Pastor May Signal Further Attacks Against Turkish Christians

By BARIŞ ALTINTAŞ, CAHİT KILIÇ, Today’s Zaman – “One person was arrested last week in Kocaeli on charges of planning an attack on the İzmit Protestant Church to assassinate its pastor following a round of detentions in the town shortly after the Kocaeli Police foiled the alleged plot, which has brought fears that an illegal group behind many attacks on non-Muslims in 2006 and 2007 is currently highly active.

The discovery is not only very important because it prevented a potential attack, but also shows that groups looking to trigger a coup d’état and who have planned and carried out attacks in the past against non-Muslims as part of a larger plan against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government are still operating.

Recent trials involving the Ergenekon gang — a clandestine group that includes generals and officers of other ranks, both active and retired, as well as many civilians, including journalists — and several other coup plots have revealed that Ergenekon and related groups worked hard in the 2000s to create chaos in the country for the purpose of manufacturing panic about and distrust in the AK Party government. Although hundreds of suspects have been arrested in many trials, including the now concluded Sledgehammer trial, the plot uncovered in Kocaeli might indicate that they have extensions.

Details linking the murderers of three Bible publishers in Malatya in 2007, in a case known as the Zirve trial, to Ergenekon have emerged. Similar links also came up in the trial regarding the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, which also took place in 2007, and in the murder case of Father Santoro, a Catholic priest killed in Trabzon in 2006.

Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a journalist and contributor to Today’s Zaman, who was in fact targeted by a similar group according to documents found on the computer of a major general who has been arrested in connection with the Zirve murder trial, said there was no way of capturing the entire Ergenekon network without focusing on the anti-Christian activities of the group. He said: ‘The Ergenekon trial is all about anti-Christian movements. The prosecutors are far too focused on the coup attempt; the anti-Christian activity was not investigated thoroughly. There is a problem in their outlook here.’ He said attacks, assassinations and other planned atrocities, some of which have been carried out, against non-Muslims comprise the ‘core’ of the Ergenekon trial.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey: Attacked Turkish Pastor Told to Accept Islam or Die, Joins Memorial Service for Slain Christians – “After a memorial service for three Christians who were murdered in Malatya, Turkey five years ago today, an Istanbul pastor who was attacked over Easter weekend said he’s experienced hostility from Muslims nearly all his life… ‘I’ve been verbally abused for being a Christian many times, but this was the first time I was hit, so this was surprising and made me sad,’ Serkek said… The men, whom Serkek said appeared to be about 18 years old, were agitated, and when he refused to let them in they used insulting language, he said. They threatened to kill him if he didn’t recite the Islamic testimony of faith.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey: Muslims Subjecting More Christians to Discrimination and Attacks, Followers of Christ Vilified in Media, Textbooks – “… 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, according to a study by a Protestant group. In its annual ‘Report on Human Rights Violations,’ released in January, the country’s Association of Protestant Churches notes mixed indicators of improvement but states 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,’ the report states.” Read more.

Instilling Fear And Terror: Iran Unveils Machine For Amputating Thieves’ Fingers

For peaceful purposes, yet again. If they’re serious about Sharia Law, then they won’t stop at fingers. Don’t be surprised if they soon unveil (a bad word in Iran these days) the Limb Lopper of Justice and the Glorious Guillotine of Peace …

Qur’an Sura 8:12, “Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): ‘I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them.'”

France 24 – “One of Iran’s official press agencies published photos showing the public amputation of a thief’s fingers on Wednesday. These show a man getting his finger chopped off with a machine resembling a rotary saw…

We contacted many of our Observers in Iran to ask them about this machine. Some of them had heard about it before, but many discovered its existence through these morbid photographs, which were reportedly taken on Thursday. According to the INSA press agency, the man shown getting his finger cut off was charged with robbery and adultery by a court in the southwestern city of Shiraz. He was also accused of being at the head of a criminal organisation. On top of losing one of his fingers, he was sentenced to three years in prison and 99 whip lashes.

No independent witnesses were able to recount the circumstances under which this amputation took place. Four photos of the scene published by the press agency were widely relayed on social media networks. Strangely enough, the man’s face did not betray any signs of suffering in the photos, though it is possible that he might have been drugged.

Contacted by FRANCE 24, the spokesperson for Iran Human Rights, Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam, who is based in Norway, explains: ‘What is surprising about this is that not only was this a public amputation, but that photos of it were distributed by official press agencies, and that they showed a machine that we had until yet never seen images of. We have noticed that the authorities have recently being making more and more publicity surrounding cases of corporal punishment. Every time we get closer to an election, the number of these incidents increases. And we’re getting quite close to the presidential election [slated for June]. I believe this is a strategy to instil fear in the population so as to avoid any protests.

Following the amputation, Ali Alghasi, Shiraz’s public prosecutor, announced that sentences against criminals would become increasingly severe, without explaining why.” Read more.