Euro mayors try to keep youths from going to Syria

From his city hall under Belgium’s most imposing cathedral, Mayor Bart Somers is wracking his brains trying to figure out how to keep young Muslims from going to fight “holy war” in Syria against the Assad regime.

Through much of western Europe, scores of Islamic youths have heeded the call to take up arms for a cause that is only a few hours away by plane. The phenomenon has alarmed authorities amid signs that the insurgency is becoming increasingly radicalized, with strong infiltration by al-Qaida. European authorities see a double danger, one that’s summed up by Somers who describes the youths as “cannon fodder” in Syria — and potential “full-blown terrorists” if they make it back home alive.

But it all raises a conundrum: In a free society, how can you prevent these young people from packing up and leaving?

“The major challenge of each democrat is to see what we can do in the fight against fundamentalism without sacrificing our own democratic laws,” said Somers. “Otherwise we play into the hands of the terrorists.”

That dilemma was again put to the test two weeks ago when Belgian authorities organized a major anti-terror sweep seeking to weed out agitators inciting young Muslims to fight against the Assad regime. In a high-profile raid of four dozen homes, police put six people behind bars, raising criticism among some that they had overstepped their bounds by infringing on freedom of speech.

In the Brussels municipality of Schaarbeek, the mayor even banned a soup kitchen for the needy, among them young Muslims, fearful that the charity workers were inciting youths to fight in Syria. The action came after two Muslim schoolboys disappeared, apparently to Syria — departures that Mayor Bernard Clerfayt linked to soup kitchen recruitment.

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Saudi minister: US to remain energy dependent

Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi has called the US push for energy independence “naive,” saying the country will continue to need Middle Eastern oil long into the future.

Saudi Woman Given Lashes For Texting Stranger by Mistake

A Saudi woman has been sentenced to eight lashes by a court in Qatif for mistakenly sending a text message allegedly promoting the Shiite branch of Islam.

The 30-year-old woman, identified only as YH, has been pronounced guilty for sending an SMS to another Saudi woman, containing a group of telephone numbers under the name ‘Shiite Islamic religious services’.

Canadians Are Paying More in Taxes than Basic Necessities

Summed up, the average Canadian family faced a tax bill of $31,615 in 2012 against income of $74,113. That means 42.7 per cent of the family’s budget went to paying for government. For perspective, in that same year 36.9 per cent of the budget went to paying for food, clothing, and shelter combined. Indeed, families now pay more in taxes that they do for basic necessities.

And it doesn’t end there.

Canada train plot suspect traveled to Iran

Investigators believe one of two suspects charged in Canada with plotting to blow up a railroad track carrying passenger trains traveled to Iran within the past two years, U.S. law enforcement and national security officials said on Thursday.

Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born doctoral student, traveled to Iran on a trip that was directly relevant to the investigation of the alleged plot, the officials said.

Today in Jewish idiocy

“Gulf states ready for peace, says well-connected US rabbi.”

And closer to home: CIJA is funding a Peace Now lecture.

Paging QAIA! Lebanese mayor cracks down on homosexuality in his town

The Lebanese mayor of Dekwaneh defended his actions in an interview Tuesday after he ordered Lebanese security forces to raid and shut down a gay-friendly nightclub in the Beiruti suburb town.

Several club-goers were arrested and forced to undress in the municipal headquarters, where they were then photographed naked.

“I saw 25 men outside, or what looked like boys and men. I went inside… I saw people kissing, touching each other, and a man wearing a skirt. These homosexual acts that are happening… are scandalous sexual acts,” Antoine Shakhtoura said.

Shakhtoura had ordered the nightclub Ghost to be shut down on charges of “promoting prostitution, drugs and homosexuality.”

The closure of the club occurred “without legal notice,” said the founder of Lebanese LGBTQ rights organization Helem, Charbel Maydaa, pointing out that the police already oppress gay and transgender people.

Those arrested included “people from the Syrian community and a Lebanese transsexual woman, who was harassed and forced to undress in the municipal headquarters,” said Maydaa.

“Of course we made them take off their clothes,” Shakhtoura said referring to the people they transferred to the municipality’s headquarters who were also photographed there.

“We saw a scandalous situation and we had to know what these people were. Is it a woman or a man? Turned out to be a half woman and half man. I do not accept this in Dekwaneh,” he insisted.

“We didn’t fight for and defend this land and our honor for some people… to practice these things in my neighborhood, Dekwaneh,” Shakhtoura added.

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Video: Bernie Farber finally makes it out to a protest rally!

Excellent artwork courtesy of BCF

He couldn’t be bothered to protest the Islamonazis on Al Quds day, or the lunatics that had Jewish kids holed up in an office at York U fearing for their lives, or the savages in our streets screaming that Hitler had the right idea…….Now Ezra Levant, he dangerous!

Lebanese Youth Sign Up for ‘Jihad’ Against Hizbullah

Lebanese youth from the city of Saida, south of Beirut, began on Wednesday to sign up for “armed Jihad in Syria”, Al Arabiya reported.

The youth were responding to a call a day earlier by Sunni cleric Ahmad Assir, who called on Lebanese youth to fight the Hizbullah terrorist group.

Individuals in charge of enlisting the youth told Al Arabiya that “hundreds” have signed up so far and that the number is expected to reach thousands.

Two charged over al-Qaeda-supported terror plot to attack VIA passenger train: RCMP

Two suspects are in custody, one from Ontario and one from Quebec, following an RCMP counter-terrorism investigation in Ontario. RCMP say the men were plotting to attack a Via Rail passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area.

CSIS: China & Middle East countries surreptitiously recruiting future Canadian political prospects in universities

B’nai Brith’s “goy mopeds”

“It’s really shameless.

B’nai Brith Canada outright refused to support my blogger-husband when he was being sued — that is, when an attempt to silence him failed.

BUT they NEVER hesitate to steal his research revealing anti-Semitism within Canada’s Muslim community, then take credit for “bringing it to the public’s attention.”

Slaves of Qatar

LAST year, Theresa M. Dantes signed a contract with an employment agency in the Philippines to come here to work as a housemaid for $400 a month, plus room and board. But when she arrived, her employer said he would pay her only $250. She acquiesced; her family back in Quezon City depended on her earnings.

Other surprises quickly followed. Ms. Dantes, 29, said she was fed one meal a day, leftovers from the family’s lunch: “If no leftovers, I didn’t eat.” She worked seven days a week. When she finished work in her employer’s house, she was forced to clean his mother-in-law’s house, and then his sister’s.

After eight months, Ms. Dantes tried to leave. Her boss laughed. “You can’t quit,” he told her.

Why are the Israelis so Damn Happy?

A new study shows them to be among the most contented in the Western world. What gives?

I agree with Hamas!

Hamas refuses settlement of Palestinian refugees in Canada

Hamas movement renewed its affirmation that the right of
return for Palestinian refugees to their homeland from where they were
forcibly evicted is a sacred right.

It said in a press release on Friday that no power on Earth could revoke
that right, adding that the Palestinians were forced to live in other
countries on temporary basis and would never relinquish the right of return.

Hamas was responding to statements attributed to Canada’s Foreign Minister
John Baird that his country was ready to absorb 120,000 Palestinian refugees
where they would be granted Canadian citizenship and live there forever.

Hamas said that it absolutely rejects all solutions tabled by Israel and
other international parties to dissolve the Palestinian refugees’ rights and
asks all international parties to stop such “suspicious attempts” that only
serve Israel and its schemes and deepen the Palestinian people’s suffering.

SOURCE

Curtains for Hezbollah?

“From aspiring to be a pan-Islamist resistance movement, Hezbollah has been reduced by the Syrian civil war to once again being a sectarian militia.”

Help Save Jayden

The Pharaoh Weeps

Egypt is perched on the precipice of chaos.

Post-Modern Sounds of Anti-Semitism

This is the sound of anti-semitism. It knows no boundaries. The sound travels through time, crosses generations, gender, religion, race, culture, ethnicity, nationality.

Iraqi woman recruited army of female suicide bombers by having them raped… then told them martyrdom was only way to escape shame

Samira Ahmed Jassim, who is also known by the nickname ‘Umm al-Mumineen’ (the mother of believers), is believed to be responsible for persuading more than 80 women to join her cause.

Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria now Palestinian refugees in……Palestine

At least 110 Palestinian families have fled Syria to the Gaza Strip, a refugee affairs official in Gaza said Wednesday.

Issam al-Adwan, who heads the Hamas government’s refugee affairs department, said a growing number of Palestinian refugees were arriving in Gaza to escape the two-year conflict in Syria.

Al-Adwan told Ma’an that representatives of the families met with officials from the government and from UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

They asked for residence, employment and food aid, al-Adwan said.

UNRWA is providing a temporary housing allowance of $125 each month to the families and the government has provided the refugees with temporary employment, the official said.

At least 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Most Palestinians fleeing refugee camps in Syria headed to Lebanon.

SOURCE

The ‘Great Game’ in Levant

With billions of cubic meters in estimated gas reserves, the Eastern Mediterranean, or the “Levant Basin” by another name, is turning into the stage for a contemporary version of the 19th Century “Great Game,” which has as much potential for catalyzing peace, as it does for contributing to new tensions in a region already rife with conflict.

The key event this respect came on March 30, the historic date when natural gas from the Tamar field, off the coast of Israel, started flowing to the Israeli mainland, thus kicking off a process that will not only make the Jewish state largely energy independent, but also turn it into a key supplier for European markets.

The Tamar field, discovered as recently as 2009, is said to hold 250 billion cubic meters [427 billion square feet] of gas, and is the smaller of Israel’s two offshore fields, the bigger one being the Leviathan field with its estimated 425 billion cubic meters of gas, but which has yet to be developed.

Texas-based Noble Energy and the Israeli Delek Energy, the two largest shareholders in the Israel gas fields are said to be looking for a go-ahead now from the Israel government to export the larger portion of the gas, since demand in Israel is insufficient to cover the cost of developing the Leviathan field.

This is the point at which Turkey, which has already become an important energy hub for Caspian and Iraqi oil, and which consolidated its position further through recent energy deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, enters the “Game” as a major player. Turkey is clearly a country that Israel cannot overlook while trying to work out the most profitable route to export its gas.

With one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Turkey has increasing energy needs and therefore also provides a stable market for Israel gas. It is not surprising therefore that there is a lot of talk in diplomatic circles suggesting that “the energy factor” also contributed to Israel’s recent apology to Turkey for its deadly raid on the Turkish Mavi Marmara aid ship in 2010.

The fact that the Israeli apology came at a time when least expected also provides an example of how vital mutual interests can help overcome differences. Being proposed now is an undersea pipeline to the Turkish coast from Israel, which will connect with the existing infrastructure in Turkey.

The Zorlu Group, a Turkish conglomerate with significant investments in Israel, is said to be lobbying the two governments for this contract.

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Never Again

Video: I’m offended by Islam

Syrian mother wages own jihad by cooking for rebels

Shoveling branches and pine cones into the flames under her pots and pans in the middle of a field next to the headquarters of a local brigade, she says: “At home I had a gas stove in the kitchen, but here I have had to learn to cook over a wood fire.”

“This revolution has really forced me to toughen up,” she laughs.

Jordanians and Turks Are Focus of Syria’s Ire

Syria lashed out at Turkey and Jordan on Thursday for what it called their duplicitous work in fomenting the Syrian rebellion, accusing the Turkish prime minister of chronic lies and telling the Jordanians they were “playing with fire” in letting insurgents arm and train on their soil — a possible hint of retaliation.

And now, anti-drone clothing

Here’s a fashion forecast from the front lines of the battle for privacy: anti-drone clothing, aka Stealth Wear.

Adam Harvey, a 31-year-old artist living in New York City, took advantage of his background in mechanical engineering to develop a line of clothing and accessories that’s part art project, part resistance to the rise of the drones.

“Military technology is coming home from the war,” Harvey told Slate.com, referring to the dozens of uses for drones. “These pieces are designed to live with it, to cope with it — to live in a world where surveillance is happening all the time.”

Created in collaboration with fashion designer Johanna Bloomfield, the collection includes a knee-length burqa; an elegant, versatile scarf wide enough to cover the entire head; and — for the midriff-ready — a streetwise hoodie with a short cloak that covers only the upper torso.

All Stealth Wear features a silvery, metallic finish that’s not only stunning — it also thwarts the thermal-imaging cameras commonly used in surveillance drones.