Sunday, September 30, 2007

Human Rights Council admits wrongdoing

The president of the UN Human Rights Council has finally admitted that the council has criticized Israel unfairly.

Jerusalem Post: The United Nations Human Rights Council has not managed to deal fairly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the council's president Doru-Romulus Costea told a Spanish newspaper on Saturday, according to Israel Radio.

Doru admitted that he was dissatisfied with the fact the council had overly focused on the degree of human rights violations by Israel.

"The body which I head must examine the actions of both sides equally, and we have not done that," said Costea. "Clearly, from now on things need to change."

Israel Radio reported that earlier this week, US President George Bush criticized the UN Human Rights Council, saying that it had put too great an emphasis on Israeli actions.

It is about time. All that is needed is for the UNHRC to apologise for its previous incompetence and bias. This council has condemned Israel without fail, but rarely (if ever) chastises Hamas and Islamic Jihad for using Qassam rockets against civilians. This council has done very little about human rights abuses in Iran, China, Sudan, Myanmar, Syria, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Belarus.

The UNHRC is not a human rights organisation, because it does very little about serious human rights abuses. It is an anti-Israel organization. The UN has been anti-Israel for decades, and the Islamic countries use their numbers to sway votes against Israel.

Israeli Arabs have more rights than Arabs in many Arab countries. Firstly, all citizens of Israel are entitled to vote, regardless of their race. Many Arab countries are ruled, in part or in full, by an unelected monarch. Israel is one of the only countries in the Middle East that does not have a policy of persecuting homosexuals. In contrast, being openly homosexual in Saudi Arabia would earn you a public flogging at best and at worst, the death penalty.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Israel’s journalists ‘enjoy a freedom not found elsewhere in the region.’ Israel is the only country in the Middle East with a free press. Most Middle Eastern countries are considered by the organization to have ‘noticeable problems’, a ‘difficult situation’ or a ‘very serious situation’ when it comes to press freedom.

What the UN has not realised is that condemnation and pleading does not bring an end to human rights abuses. Hitler was not stopped by diplomatic means, Ahmadinejad and the Mullah won’t be stopped by diplomatic means, and the Darfur genocide will not be stopped by diplomatic means. The only language understood by many of the human rights abusers is intimidation and force. Perhaps the threat of an attack by international forces would persuade Iran, Sudan, Myanmar and the others mentioned to stop?

Disband the UN – an overhaul is impossible. The United Nations needs to be replaced with a proper international organization.

Another pointless conference...

International Herald Tribune: Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says that Israel should stop work on a security barrier in and along the West Bank and halt settlement activity there as a good-will gesture to assure Arab states that it is serious about comprehensive peace talks.

The minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, stopped short Wednesday of making his demand a condition for Arab attendance at a planned Middle East peace conference in Washington. And he said that in recent days he had become encouraged about the prospects for the conference, which the United States is to sponsor in November. But he would not promise that Saudi Arabia would attend, a major Israeli objective.

So, the Saudis don’t want Israel to improve their security barrier. The Saudis would love for suicide bombers from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to have largely unrestricted access to Israeli civilians.

Saud al-Faisal just doesn’t get it. Since the construction of the security barrier, there has been a huge drop in suicide bombings. This barrier has prevented so many deaths, and the Saudis don’t want it there. Any rational person can see why such a barrier is necessary. Israel once had a similar problem to the US-Mexico border issues. Illegal Palestinian workers were coming across the border every day, stealing Israeli jobs in a country that they had no right to enter. In the United States, illegal Mexican workers cross the border, and steal American jobs. The international community has no problem with the US constructing a fence, but has a problem with Israel doing so.

The Washington peace conference, like all those before it, will be pointless. Every peace conference results in more Arab demands for Israel recognise a Palestinian state, while the Arab league refuses to recognise Israel.

Saudi Arabia now wants Israel to deal with Hamas. I tell you what, Israel can deal. Here is the deal: Hamas has a deadline of today to stop firing Qassam rockets or there will be a complete cessation of all Israeli supplied power, water and fuel. Islamic terrorists have fired more than 2000 missiles at Israel since Israel withdrew from Gaza. I just don’t see why Israel should supply power, water and fuel to a group of people who choose terrorists to govern them.

Arab countries have had decades to settle the Palestinian refugees but instead have kept them in camps. Israel took in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees kicked out of Arab nations in the late 1940s/early 1950s, so I can’t see why Arab countries are so unwilling to absorb their fellow Arabs. Oh wait, now I remember – the Palestinian refugees cause trouble wherever they go, most recently in Lebanon.

You know what, Prince al-Faisal? Take your demands, and shove them up your ass.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Islamic teachings about violence

If you think Islam is a religion of peace, think again. The Quran is full of verses commanding Muslims to kill Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and any other non-Muslims.

Here is a list of verses of violence from the Quran:

There are many more but these ones should be enough to make a point.

"The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement"

- Quran, Sura 5:33

"And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah's Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy."

- Quran, Sura 8:59-60

"So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them."

- Quran, Sura 9:5

"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."

- Quran, Sura 9:29

"And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!"

- Quran, Sura 9:30

Here are some verses of violence from the Hadith:

Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."

- Bukhari, 52:177

The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, "Kill any Jew who falls under your power."

- Tabiri, 7:97

It is wrong to claim that Islamic terrorists misinterpret their religion. These verses are very clear, and this book is very problematic.

These verses were taken from a very large list compiled by thereligionofpeace.com, which you can view here.

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