1. This is a little complicated. It appears that someone connected to the attack of the children at that school in Pakistan is justifying the attack based on authoritative hadiths. I first saw this on a site I am fuzzy about, and tracked it back to a Twitter source I was also uncertain about but now its on Jihad Watch and Robert Spencer is typically meticulous about sources, so fair enough here it is.
The unidentified Bangladeshi man, who lives in east London, claimed he has the right under his Islamic culture to have sex with the mentally-disabled woman aged 39 whenever he pleases.
He has already taken the wife’s cousin as a second ‘wife’ in a polygamous Islamic marriage and had two children with her – although still demands the right to have sex with his first wife.
3. The left organized an ‘anti-backlash’ campaign before the standoff at the Lindt coffee shop in Australia was even over.
4. US preparing more troops to go to the conflict in the Islamic State
5. Australia: Eight children found stabbed to death and an adult woman is in hospital with serious stab wounds.
Two links on this, here and here
6. In this video, several leftists are protesting the trial of the surviving Boston marathon attacker. What a testament to a free state that such open contempt of the host culture and system and enforcement divisions of the state can be permitted to operate with total safety. At least from the police and FBI. I can’t say how safe they are from the people they support though.
Thank you M., UK Pete, Buck, many many more who sent in material. More to come.
As an aside, does anyone know if any of the Taliban leaders involved with the school massacre in Pakistan Wednesday were among those traded by Obama for Bowe Bergdahl?
#4 Quelle surprise.
I posted in a number of places in the summer that within six-eight months there would be thousands of western troops fighting ISIS. The British have also announced hundreds of troops for Iraq.
Oops, I mean ‘technical advisers’ (snigger). Looks like that’s happening, now…
#4 Where are the troops and funding going to come from? Obama has cut the funding for the military and cut the number of active duty personal to the point where we don’t have enough to defend ourselves.
IS threatens to execute Lebanese soldiers held hostage
A French-speaking jihadist threatened Friday to execute Lebanese soldiers held hostage by the Islamic State group, saying three prominent anti-IS Lebanese politicians would be responsible for their deaths.
The threat was made in a video AFP obtained from a Salafist cleric, Wissam al-Masri, who is mediating the release of 25 police and soldiers held by IS and the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, the Al-Nusra Front.
Four hostages have already been executed.
The video, filmed in a field with hills in the background, shows three men in blue uniforms, each kneeling in front of a fighter holding a knife to his throat.
The unidentified speaker, was wearing a hood and his companions’ faces were uncovered. From his speech, it was not possible to determine if he was from Lebanon, where French is widely spoken, or a third country.
Thousands of fighters from France and countries in North Africa where French is spoken have flocked to IS ranks.
The speaker attacked the politicians for what he said is their support for Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, whose fighters are aiding Syrian President Bashar Assad in the civil war against largely Sunni Muslim rebels that include IS.
“To the allies of France in Lebanon — Hariri, Geagea and Jumblatt — the Islamic State is at war with Hezbollah, which is meddling in the affairs of Muslims in Shams (Syria) and has killed our women and our children,” he says.
He was referring to Sunni former prime minister Saad Hariri, right-wing Christian leader Samir Geagea and Walid Jumblatt, chief of the Druze community in Lebanon.
“You are certainly criminals, but you have added to your crimes today by your collaboration with Hezbollah and your transformation of the Lebanese army into a mere puppet in the hands of Hezbollah, with which it oppresses Sunnis.”
IS is a radical Sunni organisation that considers Shiite Muslims to be heretics. It has murdered many of them in a campaign of atrocities in areas under its control in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
“You are therefore responsible for the fate of your fellow citizens. Their future, their life and death, depends on your next decision,” he said without making any specific demands of the three men.
However, the jihadists have demanded that Islamist prisoners held in Lebanese jails be released in exchange for the hostages.
Masri told AFP that he had met with IS leaders Thursday in Qalamoun, Syria, near the Lebanese border and seen nine of the soldiers.
“Two of them are in a very fragile state of health,” he said.
Lebanon has tried to insulate itself from the effects of the war in neighbouring Syria, but has been wracked by increasing instability and spillover from the nearly four-year conflict.
Last week, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam said 16 police and soldiers were still being held by Al-Nusra, and nine by IS.
“We have tried to negotiate with them… but things are very difficult.”
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/118333/World/Region/IS-threatens-to-execute-Lebanese-soldiers-held-hos.aspx
Welcome to GERMANY – The social network response to Syrian refugee surge
Sydney interfaith service remembers cafe siege victims
Anti-Islamic protesters disrupt Martin Place memorial
Four men waving Australian and Southern Cross flags shouted slogans including “Islam is evil” and “not all cultures are equal – Islam is inferior”.
The men also accused Muslims of being “murderers” and supporting female genital mutilation, according to a witness.
The group bore signs proclaiming: “Muslim terrorists not wanted here – neither are their leftist supporters”, “Tony Abbott – Will you protect us from multiculturalism?” and “We didn’t start the fire!”
A witness said the crowd booed the men’s speeches and was universal in its condemnation of the tirade, except for one man who appeared to shout in support of the protesters. A member of the public confronted the men at about 6.20pm and the altercation was broken up by police, a witness said.
Mr Folkes denied he was a racist or white supremacist.
“Islam is not a race. We’re criticising a political ideology that is totalitarian in nature,” he said.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/antiislamic-protesters-disrupt-martin-place-memorial-20141219-12b2mu.html
Martin Place Gunman’s Wife Freedom Now Under Question
DEC 19 2014 – French-speaking fighter in the Islamic State (IS) called upon Muslims in France to take Toulouse shooter Mohamed Merah as their example and carry out lone-wolf attacks in France, and to pledge allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
the same video on this page :
https://vid.me/ySlg
Pakistan: Army assault the Taliban, five killed (graphic)
UN Asks Israel to Pay Lebanon $850 M for Oil Spill
The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution Friday asking Israel to pay Lebanon over $850 million in damages for an oil spill caused by an Israeli air force attack on oil storage tanks during its war with Hezbollah in July 2006.
The assembly voted 170-6 in favor of the resolution, with three abstentions. Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and Marshall Islands voted “no.”
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion.
The resolution says “the environmental disaster” caused by the destruction of the tanks resulted in an oil slick that covered the entire Lebanese coastline and extended to the Syrian coastline, causing extensive pollution.
Israel’s U.N. Mission did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The assembly acknowledged the conclusions in an August report by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that studies show the value of damage to Lebanon amounted to $856.4 million in 2014. It asked Israel to provide “prompt and adequate compensation.”
The assembly also asked Ban to urge U.N. bodies and other organizations involved in the initial assessment to conduct a further study, building on the work conducted by the World Bank, to measure and quantify the environmental damage sustained by neighboring countries.
The resolution notes that “the secretary-general expressed grave concern at the lack of any acknowledgment on the part of the government of Israel of its responsibilities vis-a-vis reparations and compensation” to Lebanon and Syria for the oil spill.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/12/19/world/middleeast/ap-un-united-nations-lebanon-israel.html
Are you happy in all those deep pockets, Ban?
ISRAEL – TEL AVIV – 52 pics :
on this page :
http://zyalt.livejournal.com/1229599.html
Neat pix, Martin!
Tel Aviv constantly changing…which is fine, ’cause it’s not an especially pretty place. Lots of open green space, though.
Now, Haifa — ah–