Today we are all Palestinians

Today was the 16th day of Israel's murderous Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. In order to stop Hamas and other rockets that, over the last several years, have killed 13 Israelis (including three children), the Israeli government has, to date, killed over 800 Palestinians. According to Palestinian Ministry of Health figures accepted by the UN, as of 8 January, the Israeli offensive had killed 257 children and 56 women. And who knows how many of the men killed by Israel were civilians? So who is the terrorist?

I am certainly not taking any kind of ambiguous stance towards the killing of civilians. When Hamas or another Palestinian militant group kills even one Israeli civilian, that is wrong. But what happens when Israel blatantly kills hundreds of Palestinian civilians in a few days? When are we all going to admit that an innocent Palestinian life is just as precious as an Israeli one? When are we going to proclaim loudly that killing a hundred Palestinians is no less evil than killing one Israeli?

As we are told by our Creator in the Qur'an,

We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people (Qur'an, 5:32; Abdullah Yusuf Ali's interpretation).

This is something that Hamas would do well to remember. But, in the current circumstances, these words from the sacred text of Islam apply especially to those who are mentioned in them in the first place. Over the years, the thing that has angered me the most about Hamas is their refusal to draw a distinction between the Israeli armed ("defence") forces and Israeli civilians. According to Hamas's logic, since most Israelis, at one time or another, serve in the armed forces, they are all legitimate military tactics. This interpretation, IMHO, very clearly runs counter to the long-established Islamic tradition of limiting warfare to clear military targets. However, Israel, which, despite its occupation of Palestine, has, for decades, been claiming the moral high ground on the issue of terrorism, is now, quite obviously, deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians in order to make Hamas look bad in the eyes of its civilian supporters.

This is an exceedingly slippery slope. Pretty much the only sympathy Israel enjoys outside the US is related to its civilians coming under attack every once in a while from Palestinian extremists. It has now proven that it is willing to do the same to the Palestinians, and on a massively higher scale. It may well be that the only well wishers Israel will have left if it continues down this path are going to be American Republicans.

Meanwhile, the mood on the streets of the world is decidedly pro-Palestinian. A demonstration here in Montréal, which my wife and I attended yesterday, drew "almost 10,000 people" according to the normally pro-Israeli Gazette. This time around, even the Gazette looked decidedly pro-Palestinian. And in London, somewhere between 4,000 and 15,000 pro-Israeli, largely Jewish, demonstrators, demanded a cessation of hostilities.

Olmert said to the Israeli Cabinet today that "Israel is nearing the goals which it set itself." If that goal is the destruction of Hamas, Israel has, in fact, taken a step back. If it is a secure future for Israel, Olmert has taken one giant leap back. One can only hope that he'll come to his senses.

Russian neo-Nazi beheading video appears to be genuine

According to Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Investigation Committee of the Russian federal prosecution office, a video showing the murder of two men by Russian neo-Nazis is not fake, as was previously claimed (Газета.ru).

The video, which first appeared on a blog run by a neo-Nazi called Viktor Mil'kov on 12 August 2007, showed a Tajik and a Dagestani being executed by neo-Nazis in a forest. Prior to the execution, one of the victims is heard saying "We were arrested by Russian national socialists." Two men in camouflage then give Nazi salutes, and murder the victims, one by decapitation and the other by shooting.

The family of a Dagestani man named Shamil Udamanov, who has been missing since August 2007, is claiming that the Dagestani shown being executed in the video is none other than Udamanov. The Russian prosecution started examining the case in earnest after Shamil's father Artur Udamanov wrote a letter to ex-President Vladimir Putin asking him to intervene.

The case is currently under investigation by the Russian Interior Ministry and German police.

Meanwhile, Mil'kov is serving a one-year prison sentence for initiating the distribution of the video on the Internet.

A previously unknown group which calls itself the Combat Brigade of the National-Socialist Party of Rus took responsibility for the execution in August 2007. In a statement sent to a Chechen separatist website, the group declared "armed war against black colonists" and "bureaucrats of the Russian Federation" who help non-ethnic-Russian immigrants. The terrorist group promised to "deport all Caucasians and Asians from the territory of Rus" (Rus being a medieval state whose successors today are Belarus, Russia and Ukraine).

The whole thing is thoroughly sickening. I wonder what the German connection is.

Dunkin' Donuts gives in to anti-Palestinian prejudice

After pressure from the right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin, Dunkin' Donuts has cancelled an online ad featuring TV host Rachael Ray wearing a keffiyeh.

Malkin described the piece of Arab men's headdress as "a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists".

According to Dunkin' Donuts, "no symbolism was intended" by the silk keffiyeh. Malkin has praised the company for its decision, saying that the picture of the scarf could have led to "the mainstreaming of violence" (BBC).

So my question is: what was Timothy McVeigh wearing when he perpetrated his terrorist act? And if he was wearing a shirt and trousers, should everyone now stop wearing shirts and trousers? Come on now.

If you disagree with Dunkin' Donuts's decision, please contact them.

Taliban threaten mobile phone operators

The Taliban have threatened to destroy mobile phone towers and the offices of mobile phone companies in Afghanistan if the companies don't agree to stop mobile phone calls between 5:00 pm and 3:00 am each day. Zabiullah Mujaheed, a Taliban spokesman, said the movement was giving mobile phone companies three days to comply.

According to the Taliban, US forces in Afghanistan have been using night-time calls to track down members of the mililtant movement.

Mobile phones were first introduced in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban government in 2001 (BBC).

Islamic Jihad militant killed in Gaza

A bomb explosion in the Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip has killed at least seven people, among them Ayman Fayed, an Islamic Jihad leader. Fayed's wife and two of their children were also killed. Hamas, which is in control of the Gaza Strip, said that it was not clear what had caused the explosion, while Islamic Jihad blamed Israel and promised revenge (BBC).

Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks European Parliament for protection

The ex-Muslim and critic of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, formerly a Dutch MP and currently working for the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., has asked the European Parliament to create a fund for the physical defence of people threatened by extremists. Ms Ali received a death threat in 2004 from the murderer of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh. The issue of her protection has arisen now because the Dutch government is no longer to willing to pay to protect her since she lives in the US. Ms Ali herself cannot afford to pay for bodyguards (BBC).

Taliban blamed for Kandahar suicide bombing

At least 65 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on a dog fighting match in Kandahar. According to Kandahar governor Assadullah Khalid, the Taliban carried out the attack. One of the people killed was a police chief called Abdul Hakim, and he is thought to have been the main target of the attack (BBC).

Saudis attempt to reeducate militants

The Saudi government is in the process of opening up a new prison system to house inmates convicted of crimes related to terrorism. The goal of the new prisons is to reeducate the inmates and to instill in them the belief that engaging in armed jihad without the approval of one's country and one's parents is haram, or Islamically forbidden. The Saudi interior ministry has involved about 3,000 inmates in the scheme.

According to Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Centre, inmates released from the special jails have a re-arrest rate of upto 7%, while in a similar scheme in Yemen, about 70% of the released convicts have re-offended (BBC).

Al-Qaeda commander reportedly killed

According to a pro-militant website, a top-level Al-Qaeda commander, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed earlier this week in the North Waziristan Agency of Pakistan. According to a Pakistani newspaper, Libi died in a US air strike. The US suspected Libi of being behind several suicide bombings in Afghanistan (BBC).

Pope prays for peace

In his annual "Urbi et Orbi" (to the City and the World) speech, Pope Benedict XVI has called for a peaceful resolution of conflicts raging in Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Africa and other places. He also spoke out against terrorism, and against violence towards women and children.

The Pope called on politicians to "seek and find humane, just and lasting solutions" to conflicts that are "destroying the internal fabric of many countries and embittering international relations". The Pope also prayed for consolation to be given "to those who live in the darkness of poverty, injustice and war" (BBC).

Suicide bomber kills 50 worshippers in Pakistan

A suicide bomber detonated his weapon in the midst of worshippers celebrating Eid al-Adha at a mosque near Peshawar, Pakistan on 21 December, killing at least 50 people and injuring around 100. He was apparently to be targeting the Aftab Ali Sherpao, a former interior minister unpopular in some quarters in Pakistan due to the military campaign he waged against Islamist rebels (BBC).

If the perpetrators bomb fellow-Muslims on Eid, what remains to be said about the state of their morals?

Shi'ite militants demand British withdrawal from Iraq

The Islamic Shi'a Resistence in Iraq, a group that was not internationally known before its kidnapping of five British men on 29 May has demanded that Britain withdraw from Iraq, threatening to kill the hostages if the demand is not carried out.

The militant group has released a video showing one of the five captives. In a written statement shown on the video, the group asks Britain to "withdraw all the thieves and the gangs that they have brought with them to plunder and squander our wealth and resources, and to return what they have stolen".

According to the British Foreign Office, negotiations have been going on quietly for some time to try to secure the five men's release (BBC).

I certainly hope the negotiations succeed.

40 killed in Afghanistan by suicide bomber

A suicide bomber has allegedly set off an explosion in which 40 people, mostly civilians and including children, were killed in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province today.

The attacker targeted a sugar factory where a visit by a parliamentary delegation was underway. Six MPs, including the opposition politician Mustafa Kazimi, a veteran of the anti-Soviet struggle, were killed in the attack. The children who were killed were there to welcome the MPs.

The Taliban have denied responsibility for the bombing, and have condemned the attack (BBC).

I am inclined to believe the Taliban on this one, mostly because how far away this attack was from their usual area of activity. However, I wouldn't put it past them to do this sort of thing elsewhere in the country. The Taliban are no strangers to using suicide bombing, without regard to civilian casualties, as a means to try to evict NATO soldiers from Afghanistan.

Two women beheaded in Pakistani tribal area

The bodies of two beheaded women have been discovered near the city of Bannu in Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency. A note found nearby accused the women of "acts of obscenity", a reference to prostitution. The district police suspect Islamist militants of having carried out the attack (BBC).

Once again, this sort of brazen act highlights the need for the Pakistani government to take charge in areas like North Waziristan. At present, the government seems incapable of protecting its own citizens; what is needed is not a bloodbath like at the Red Mosque, but a step-by-step strategy to integrate the so-called Federally Administered Tribal Areas into the rest of the country, in a way that preserves the quasi-autonomy of the region while making it hard for militants to operate there with impunity.

German police pursues ten terror suspects

After arresting three Muslim men accused of plotting terrorist attacks on several targets in Germany, the German authorities are looking for ten more people suspected of helping the three with their planning.

According to Monika Harms, a German federal prosecutor, the three men, who include two Germans and a Turk, had trained in Pakistan, and obtained 700 kg of explosives. They were allegedly planning to attack locations used by Americans, including the Frankfurt Airport (BBC).

As it is, many Germans don't have a very high opinion of Muslims. And now this. What were those three thinking (if indeed the accusations have some merit to them)? It is precisely this sort of thing that gives ammunition to those who would restrict the civil liberties of minorities, so these three people, as well as the other ten, if they are guilty, were endangering innocent people in more ways than one.

Suicide bombing in Algeria

An unknown group has carried out a suicide bombing in the Algerian city of Batna, killing at least 15 people. The attack seemed to be aimed at crowds waiting for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Although there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, Bouteflika blamed Islamist militants, adding that "terrorist acts have absolutely nothing in common with the noble values of Islam" (BBC).

Taliban release Korean hostages

The Taliban have handed over the last of the South Korean hostages they were holding to the International Committee of the Red Cross. In exchange, South Korea has confirmed that it would withdraw its 200 soldiers from Afghanistan, as it had already been planning to do, and also that it would prevent its citizens from travelling to Afghanistan for missionary activity or any other purpose (BBC).

I wonder how the South Korean government is supposed to enforce its travel ban to Afghanistan. Can't any South Korean who wants to go to Afghanistan go to a third country with an Afghan embassy, obtain a visa, and go there?

I guess one way is for it to make a deal with the Afghan government that would guarantee a blanket policy of denying Afghan visas to South Korean citizens. But then would the Afghan government be willing to make such a concession to the Taliban?

India blames Pakistani, Bangladeshi groups for bombing

The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has blamed unnamed "terrorist organisations based in Bangladesh and Pakistan" for the recent bombings in Hyderabad, which killed 42 people.

Meanwhile, Indian President Pratibha Patil has indicated that the intention of the bombers had been to harm harmony between Hindus and Muslims in the city (BBC).

Is the Indian authorities' tendency to blame most terrorist attacks on Pakistani -- and recently Bangladeshi -- groups a symptom of the fact that they do not possess adequate knowledge of terrorist groups possibly operating within their own country? In other words, why did it have to be Pakistanis or Bangladeshis, and not Indians?

The very idea that terrorists from Pakistan and Bangladesh supposedly cooperated in this attack is kind of hard to take given the sheer distance between the two countries. On the other hand, operatives representing unsavoury groups in the two countries may have met up in India, in which case someone was possibly harbouring them, and that someone might be an Indian group. So any way you look at it, blaming Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups looks like a copout.

Partial curfew imposed in Baghdad

A partial curfew of indefinite duration has been imposed on Baghdad and its surroundings by the Iraqi government, meaning that, while cars are still allowed to move, two-wheeled vehicled and push-carts are not. This is a measure aimed at protecting Shi'ite pilgrims who are due to attend a festival next week (BBC).

The question is: what good is a curfew that gives cars freedom of movement in a country where so much damage has been wrought by car bombs? Is this a failure of the imagination on the part of the Iraqi government, or just an attempt at not embittering the population further by making life even more difficult for them?

Suicide bombers strike Yazidis; scores of casualties

Several suicide bomb attacks have killed 175 or more people near Mosul. The attacks were aimed at Iraq's Yazidi minority, whose members worship Malak Ta'us, or the Peacock Angel. The attack came after a period of rising tension between the Yazidis and Muslims of the area, after an incident in April in which a group of Yazidis allegedly stoned a formerly Yazidi girl who had converted to Islam (BBC).

It looks like some people in Iraq are really determined to drive all minorities out of the country.