Lies and the Wars Against Them

You get a twofer today.  I couldn’t let either of these stories go unmentioned.  We have to know where the hatred is and what we can do about it.  These two articles are not totally unrelated, but they aren’t entirely related either.

Cartoons from the Arab World

A selection of cartoons from the media of seven Arab countries (Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Syria and Egypt) and from the Palestinian Authority is displayed below. A number of these countries are regarded as moderate or allied to the West. Most print media in the Arab world are under the full or partial control of the ruling regimes.

One picture can sometimes be deadlier than a thousand words.

— Tom Gross

The cartoon above, clearly depicting the railroad to the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau – but with Israeli flags replacing the Nazi ones – is from the Jordanian newspaper Ad-Dustur (October 19, 2003). The sign in Arabic reads: “Gaza Strip or the Israeli Annihilation Camp.” This accentuates the widespread libel that Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians have been comparable to Nazi actions towards Jews. Jordan is supposedly a moderate country at peace with Israel.

In this cartoon, from Al-Watan newspaper in Qatar (June 23, 2002), Ariel Sharon is shown watching on the sidelines as an Israeli plane crashes into New York’s World Trade Center. The Arabic words alongside the Twin Towers are “The Peace.” This cartoon restates the widely held myth in the Arab world that Israel and the Jews were responsible for the 9/11 attacks which were in fact of course carried out by al-Qaeda.

The cartoon above, from Arab News (April 10, 2002), shows Ariel Sharon wielding a swastika-shaped axe to chop up Palestinian children. Arab News is a Saudi-based English language daily which is supposedly one of the Arab world’s more moderate papers.

In September 2005, at a time when non-Arab Moslem-majority states like Pakistan and Afghanistan were making peace overtures to Israel, even supposedly moderate Arab states like Qatar were continuing their anti-Semitic approach. Above, Israeli jets over Gaza form a swastika in this cartoon published on September 27, 2005 in Al-Watan (Qatar).

This cartoon from the Internet site of Omayya Joha, portrays an Israeli soldier who, having chopped off the foot of a Palestinian man, holds up a bloody hand to the camera and orders “No photographs.” Omayya Joha is one of the staff cartoonists employed by Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, the Palestinian Authority’s official daily newspaper. Her cartoons continue to regularly appear in the official Palestinian press.

Above, Ariel Sharon is shown sitting in a large cup overflowing with blood. This cartoon, also by Omayya Joha, appeared in Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, the Palestinian Authority’s official daily newspaper, on April 22, 2003.

In this cartoon, from Al-Watan (Oman) (August 10, 2002), Jewish acts are equated with those of the Nazis. This Nazi-type anti-Semitic caricature of a Jew has a hooked nose, a hunched back, has no shoes, and is sweating.

In the above cartoon, from Akhbar Al-Khalij (Bahrain) (June 10, 2002), the anti-Semitic caricature of a Jew on the right says: “Say: ‘I hate the Arabs!’” and American president George W. Bush, made to resemble a parrot, repeats: “I hate the Arabs, I hate the Arabs.”

Above, another cartoon from the Internet site of official Palestinian Authority cartoonist Omayya Joha, showing alleged Jewish control (in the form of snakes) of the United States. The snake was often used to portray Jews in historic European anti-Semitic images.

This cartoon, from May 13, 2005 (a month when many western papers were claiming that the Palestinian Authority media had adopted a more moderate tone), shows a Jew impaling the northern region of a map of the Islamic world with the flag of Israel, with blood spurting out. At the lower end is what seems to be an Arab man hanging upside down, holding a white flag of surrender. This cartoon appeared in Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, the official daily newspaper of the Palestinian Authority.

This cartoon, from the Syrian newspaper Al-Ahram (May 29, 2002), shows an anti-Semitic caricature of a Jew with a long beard and hooked nose, fuelling the “World Media” with “Zionist Media” propaganda, while in the background bombs are falling on the Moslem al-Aqsa shrine on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. This cartoon stereotypes Jews, repeats the anti-Semitic myth that the Jews control the world media, and adds the lie that the Israeli government has damaged the al-Aqsa complex on the Temple Mount.

The cartoon above, with text in English designed for a foreign audience, was posted on the official website of the Palestinian Authority State Information Center on April 6, 2003. The Palestinian Authority State Information Center regularly posts ugly anti-Israel and anti-American cartoons, including this reiteration of the anti-Semitic blood libel that Jews kill non-Jewish children.

The cartoon above, from the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram al-Arabi (June 8, 2002), shows not only members of the Likud party murdering Arabs, but long-time Labor Party leader and Israeli “dove” Shimon Peres standing aside and applauding with bloody hands. Egypt is the second highest recipient of U.S. aid in the world. The U.S. senate has approved a $1.84 billion aid package for Egypt for 2006.

This cartoon is from Al-Watan (Qatar), May 13, 2003. The U.S. and Israel are shown eating from two sides of an apple that represents “the Arab states”. This cartoon is also noteworthy since it was published in Qatar, home to the influential Al Jazeera TV network. Qatar is considered by many in the U.S. State Department to be a U.S. ally and a relatively moderate state.

The cartoon above, from Arab News, depicts rats wearing Stars of David and skullcaps. They scurry backwards and forwards through holes in the wall of a building called “Palestine House.” Arab News, an English-language daily widely read by expats in Saudi Arabia, is widely-regarded as a moderate publication. It is published by a state-owned Saudi corporation. The imagery in the cartoon may well be inspired by a well-known scene from the Nazi film “Jew Suess,” to which it bears a close resemblance – a scene in which Jews are depicted as vermin to be eradicated by mass extermination.

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Battling with a Billboard

By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, December 22, 2008

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Tom Trento, Director of the Florida Security Council, a state-based organization that assists the general public in properly preparing for and responding to the threat of Radical Islam.

FP: Tom Trento, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Trento: Grazie! Good to be here.

FP: You are producing a Sharia Billboard. Tell us about it.

Trento: Jesse Petrilla, founder of United American Committee (UAC) had the very creative idea for a simple, but effective billboard to be strategically placed close to a Muslim population center. He asked me to help with the project and be the spokesperson.

FP: Expand for us a bit on why a billboard is needed and what exactly it is saying.

Trento: Billboards are excellent communication tools to direct controversy in a controlled manner, for educational purposes. The philosophical assumption behind that sign is that most American Muslims absolutely reject efforts to replace the US Constitution with the Qu’ran by Islamist clerics and pseudo- rights organizations like CAIR. We believe these American Muslims are intimidated by the Islamist thugs, who act more like two-bit gangsters then religious men, so our billboard is there to assist the good Muslims to stand against the bad Muslims.

FP: So what exactly is on the billboard? You removed a noose graphic, yes? How come?

Trento: Sharia Law Threatens America. That’s what it says and it says it all.

Each word was carefully selected for maximum emotive power and accurate legal analysis. Once Americans wake up and realize that “Sharia,” effectively means “religious,” that is, the “law of the religion of Islam,” the average joe-on-the-street usually responds by saying: “Are you %#@&*^ kidding me!?”

No American wants religious Islamic law, or the law of any religion, to replace the US Constitution. On one of our design drafts we had a powerful graphic of a hangman’s noose coming down over the top of the billboard. The idea was to illustrate the deadly threat this jurisprudential system poses to America, but our focus testing indicated that the noose was interpreted in so many different ways that it became a distraction to our basic message. So, we “cut down” the noose.

FP: Where is the billboard located? What reactions have you received?

Trento: The 48 foot anti-Sharia billboard is up and located on Interstate 75 just south of Detroit. Specifically, just south of Luna Pier Rd. on the south bound side of the Detroit-Toledo Expressway.

The response is actually better than we anticipated. The billboard drives traffic to the UAC web site and our educational process begins at that point. We have been doing radio and TV interviews regularly and of course, there has been the occasional “hate-mail” from angry Muslims. The “official” Muslim response has been non-existent, which is very strange for the loud-mouthed “protectors” of Islam.

I don’t think the Islamist organizations (CAIR, MPAC, ICNA, etc) want to touch this because it’s an absolutely toxic public relations issue. From the Islamist perspective, Sharia must be injected into the veins of dumbed-down Americas in a surreptitious, stealthy manner. Once we put a gigantic sign up in the air for the public to see and shine a light on the insidious nature of Sharia…the bad guys go limp. Conversely, the response from middle-America has been extremely supportive and encouraging. Our Sharia project has initiated creative thinking in many organizations to do similar advertising in their areas.

FP: Tell us about Sharia in Europe.

Trento: Sharia in Europe is like cancer in your stomach. As much as those of us on this side of the pond enjoy practicing the high art of ridicule directed at our western brothers and sisters, the global fact remains that Europe is a fundamental and absolutely necessary part of the American “body.” If Islamic law metastasizes in Europe and becomes dominate in any manner, catastrophic consequences will be felt in New York, Los Angeles, Butte, Aspen and every other part of America. If we run a billboard campaign overseas it would be entitled, “Sharia Law is Killing Europe.”

FP: Your thoughts on Sharia and the Muslims of America

Trento: I make a serious distinction between the Muslims of America and American Muslims. The former desire the implementation of political Islam in America through Sharia and jihad (if necessary) whereas the latter simply desire to worship Allah, while pledging allegiance to America and all for which she stands. Herein lays the secret that Muslims do not want revealed. American Muslims are being intimidated by the (phony) Muslims of America through the tightly controlled Islamic communities and Mosques and forced to remain silent about any views that counter or challenge the clerics, imams or anything related to the Muslim Brotherhood.

FP: How about some examples of Sharia in America?

Trento: Organized societies are managed by institutions. Even the Muslim Brotherhood understands that axiom. Therefore keep your eyes on the subtle introduction of innocuous and “helpful” suggestions about a “new and improved” approach to building up particular social institutions.

For instance, on Thursday, November 6, 2008 the US Treasury Department working with Harvard University’s Islamic Finance Project sponsored a training seminar for government employees on managing U.S. financial assets in compliance with Sharia Law.

Ironically, when America faces one of its most serious financial challenges, there seems to be a great deal of money available from the Saudis to help us out. And the well-intended folks at Harvard want to help the US Treasury figure out how to follow some “mere” Islamic religious laws in order to get at that money.

It’s very important to understand that Sharia Compliant Finance is a program that has been described by the Islamist Muslims pushing this scam as “financial jihad” against the United States.

FP: Can you talk a bit about UAC and the Sharia educational campaign?

Trento: Head, Heart and Feet. UAC, working with a coalition of anti-Sharia organizations, is directing its educational campaign at the head, heart and feet of all Americans. For the head, we provide academic and intellectual material for serious study. For the heart, our home page features the personal testimony of Wafa Sultan and her horrendous experiences with Sharia in her home country of Syria. Once an individual studies the insidious nature of this hostile legal system and is exposed to the destructive impact Sharia has on human lives, that person usually wants to “do something and get involved.” At that point, UAC and other coalition members have a variety of opportunities, directed at getting the feet in motion for powerful and effective activism.

FP: Your thoughts on the attitude of Jewish and Christian clergy in dealing with this crisis?

Trento: But for a handful of courageous Jewish and Christian clergy, Jewish and Christian leaders have been silent or worse yet, complicit with Muslim extremists, thus expediting the eventual destruction of America.

FP: Why this fear about Jewish and Christian clergy to take a stand on Islamic jihad?

Trento: No guts. Lack of courage. Weak-minded. Historically, clergy have been on the fore-front of social action and public policy construction. Sadly, as an evangelical Christian (with degrees from a Bible College and Seminary) over the past 25 years I have seen many religious leaders do all they could to avoid any confrontation even on benign social or political issues.

If these men of God can’t find their mouth on cultural issues that pertain primarily to America, does anyone in their right mind think these folks will stand up to Islamist jihadi warriors, who have already reconciled themselves to martyrdom?

To make matters worse, the Islamists (like the spider with little Miss Muffet) are inviting Jewish and Christian clergy to “interfaith” kumbaya dialogues, so that the three Abrahamic faiths can understand, appreciate each other and work together. Though that sounds great on the surface, the fact is that the Islamists are simply constructing their foundation (by disarming Jewish and Christian leaders) to build their system of Sharia law into the American way of life and the Jewish or Christian leader does not have a clue!

FP: What about “moderate” Muslims?

Trento: After many years of racing sports cars, I still enjoy driving Porsches or Ferrari’s at a “moderate” rate of speed when conditions allow. But, when my wife is along for the ride, her definition of “moderate” dramatically conflicts with my definition.

Therein lays the essential problem when answering any question about moderate Muslims. The word “moderate” requires an objective baseline for accurate definition which, when absent, results in tremendous confusion and frustration. I have been in meetings where many sincere analysts conclude that there is no such thing as a “moderate” Muslim, because these folks are using political Islam, as defined by its leading scholars and clerics as a baseline.

Conversely, I have also been in meetings where sincere analysts conclude that a “moderate” or “American” Islam is possible, only if the political component of Islam is removed. The bottom line of this complicated issue is that there really are good Muslims who love America, reject political Islam and just want the First Amendment right to worship freely, as every other American enjoys. On both Constitutional and moral principle, we cannot abandon these folks at their greatest time of need.

FP: What is the best way we can help moderate Muslims empower themselves against the extremists?

Trento: We need to go on the offensive. We anti-Sharia fighters must intellectually attack the proponents of Sharia and absolutely demolish any hope they have for implementing Islamic law in any form, within our constitutional system.

As we beat down every consideration of Sharia, the moderate Muslims hiding in the fox holes will begin to raise their heads and make the difficult journey out…to freedom. The average moderate is frightened out of his mind by the theocratic thugs that call themselves by the religious title, Imam. These two-bit religious leaders use the exact tactics that were perfected by my gangster ancestors in their little club, La Cosa Nostra. Most Islamist communities are very close-knit and controlled by a limited of number of authoritative middle-eastern men. These bullies have perfected the use of all the tools that bad guys use to control the neighborhood, like intimidation, threats, loss of jobs, thrown out of the family, and even worse.

The moderate Muslim, by definition, does not have what it takes to stand up against the thug Imams. In order for the moderate to become empowered someone must step in and defeat the Imam’s effort at implementing a barbarian political and legal system which suppress not only the freedom of the moderate but will also obliterate the freedom of all Americans. I always wonder: Are there any brave souls out there who will meet this critical challenge?

FP: Tom Trento, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.

Trento: Glad to help and stay tuned.

Liberal Thought