Category Archives: Islam in the Americas

Michael Coren interviews Nick Bergamini, the Carleton student attacked for being a supporter of Israel

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Thank you Blazing Cat Fur


Michael Coren on the Ottawa machete attack

It was only a matter of time. Some of us have reported for months now that Jewish students have been intimidated and threatened on campuses across Canada by Islamic thugs. Now Nick Bergamini has been attacked with a lethal weapon and, it seems, could easily have been killed. He happens not to be Jewish but a conservative, a Zionist and friendly with Jewish and Israeli students. First they came for the Jews, then they came for their friends, then we have more Israeli Apartheid Week sessions.

Ottawa Citizen on the Ottawa Machette attack

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HT gates of Vienna

A well-known student supporter of Israel at Carleton University and an Israeli engineering student at the university say they are counting themselves lucky to have survived an attack with what they say was a machete near a Gatineau bar early Monday.

Nick Bergamini, 22, vice-president of the Carleton University Students’ Association, said he and roommate Mark Klibanov were leaving Le Volt bar on Promenade du Portage at 1:45 a.m. when a group of about 10 men began yelling in English and Arabic that they were Zionists and Jews.

“These people must have been Carleton students because I recognized one of them,” Bergamini said. “I said I love Israel because I support Israel’s right to exist.

“I told them not to do this because I knew who they were, but I got hit hard on the back of the head. We ran to the bar entrance because bar security was there.”

The two men later decided to walk across the Chaudière Bridge to Ottawa when the crowd surrounding them dispersed about five minutes later. As they walked through a parking lot near the bridge, however, a car with three men inside pulled up beside them.

“One of them rolled down the window and said: ‘I am the one who hit you, you f—–g Jew,’ although I am not a Jew,” Bergamini said. “Two guys came out of the car, and one of them tried to kick my roommate.

“One attacker said, ‘Open the trunk,’ and another guy pulled out a machete that glinted in the street lights. I yelled that they had weapons, and we started running as fast as we could. I saw the guy wind up with the machete as I looked back.”

Bergamini and Klibanov reported the attack to Gatineau police on Monday and said they planned to tell university officials about it. Gatineau police Lt. Gilbert Couture confirmed that police were investigating the attack, but provided no further details.

Klibanov, 20, said the machete missed the back of his friend’s head by about a foot as they sprinted across the bridge to Ottawa. He said they were not injured because they outran their assailants.

“I have never spoken to that guy in my life, but it is known at Carleton that I have been to Israel and that I have a Facebook site supporting Israel,” Bergamini said. “My roommate is on the board of the Israel Awareness Committee that does advocacy on behalf of Israel.

“I am happy that I am still alive. We both could have been killed (Sunday) night because he swung a machete at my neck.”

Klibanov said he recognized one man in the group, but couldn’t remember how many people were chasing him. He said somebody should be charged with the assault to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“The first thing they said before punching my friend is that we were Zionists,” Klibanov said. “This situation surprised me, but the intentions of these people did not.

“If you are from the right wing or are a supporter of Israel, it gets around pretty quickly because Carleton is one of the worst campuses for having a division between Palestinian and Jewish students. It is a really polarized campus between left and right, Jewish and Arab students.”

Jason MacDonald, a spokesman for the University, said Carleton provided opportunities for students to discuss emotional issues.

“The Israel and Palestine issue is one of the things that can cause people to become emotional,” MacDonald said. “Our job is to make sure that these debates can happen without anyone’s personal safety being threatened.

“We have met with student groups on both sides of such issues and told them that we are not here to tell them what to think, but certain kinds of behaviour are not acceptable.”

Len Rudner, director of the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said being a Jew or Zionist in Canada should not prompt such an attack.

“Maybe we should consider the impact that words can have in accelerating the argument to the point where people feel that this kind of behaviour is acceptable,” Rudner said.

“If you permit a constant invective and demonization of the Jewish state and people who support the Jewish state, some people will feel that this gives them the permission or responsibility to carry out this kind of attack.”

The ‘intefada’ comes to Ottawa Canada

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H/T Fred at GAR

An incident in Ottawa

Nick Bergamini: The Cost of Supporting Israel

This is from a Facebook entry of Nick, a student at Carleton University….

Tonight I went out to the bars downtown. It was a great night with my roommate Mark Klibanov. Around 1:45am, as we were leaving the bar, and we heard the shout of “Zionist” in Arabic. As it stands now, we weren’t sure if the shouts were directed at myself, a known a supporer of Israel, or Mark, an actual Israeli.

Quickly, we both responded that yes we were Zionists. All of a sudden we were surrounded by 10-15 men who began to shout at us in Arabic. We tried to back out and run away. All of a sudden, I was struck in the back of the head. I’m not sure if it was a fist, a rock or a pipe but it left me dazed and bleeding.

We quickly ran back to the bar and stood beside the bouncers. The crowd of anti-Israel thugs dispersed.

About 10 minutes later, assuming that it was safe, we began to walk home. We were walking through a parking lot when a car pulled up next to us. The driver shouted “I fucking hit you, you Jew.”

We stood our ground. Quickly we had three guys around us. We were able to push them away. As the cowards that they were, they retreated. Then I heard, shouts of “Open the trunk!” One of them opened the trunk and I saw glistening in the street light the reflection of a 12-inch machete. “Fucking Jew,” he shouted. I began to run for my life as he was only 5 or 6 feet away.

I ran, and as I looked back, I saw the long shiny blade slicing through the air about 12 inches from my neck. I ran as fast I could and, thanks to my grade 9 track and field training, got away.

People who were around the scene said the blade came within inches of my neck.

Now, the debate on campuses has reached the next level. In this country, people are no longer safe if they support Israel. But you know what? I will never take back my beliefs. I support Israel 100 per cent.

But I will say this. Some of the guys who tried to kill us are Carleton students and I recognize who they are. What is this country coming to?

**** Update thanks to Blazing Cat Fur police report filed ****

**** UPDATE #2 The victim of this attack will be on the Michael Coren show Tuesday (tomorrow) April 6 at 6:00 PM EST ****

Blazing is right on top of this. Check that site for updates and info on this.

Michael Coren writes on the matter here

Anti-Islam decals improperly banned at Camp Lejeune, judge rules

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From NewsOK.com

Jesse Nieto’s stickers included one that said “ISLAM (equals) TERRORISM” and another with a threat to defecate on the Quran. He also had a decal to commemorate the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, in which 17 shipmates died including Nieto’s youngest son.

“His vehicle is a way to express his mourning and anger,” said Nieto’s attorney, Robert Muise. Nieto has been driving a different vehicle to his on-base job since the summer of 2008, but Muise said he plans to return with his decals next week. He has worked at Lejeune since 1994 and previously served 25 years in the Marine Corps, including two combat tours as an infantryman in Vietnam.

U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard said in a ruling posted Wednesday that a Lejeune regulation targeting inflammatory speech on base was improperly applied to Nieto’s decals and not to pro-Islamic messages that may be just as incendiary. Howard concluded that the application of the rule violated Nieto’s free speech.

“While military officials are entitled to great deference in restricting speech to further the military’s needs, they may not do so in a manner that discriminates against a particular point of view,” Howard wrote in his decision. Continue Reading →

Mastercard goes for the sharia banking market

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From The National Post

MasterCard offers card aimed at Muslims

Tim Shufelt, National Post Published: Tuesday, March 30, 2010

A March 2010 handout of MasterCards new credit card for Muslims, iFreedom

A new interest-free credit card, the first of its kind in North America, aims to reconcile Islamic canonical and Western consumer culture.

Until now, observant Muslims have been precluded from owning credit cards on which they pay interest, a violation of shariah law.

The iFreedom Plus Mastercard, set to be available in the coming days, promises no bills, no interest and no credit card debt.

“Everyone living their day-to-day lives, they need a credit card. You can’t rent a car, you can’t travel if you don’t have a card. Everyone wants one in their pocket,” said Omar Kalair, president of UM Financial, a Toronto-based Islamic financing firm that is launching the card with the Mastercard brand.

But banks have little incentive to offer products that don’t bear high interest rates, causing a dilemma for Muslim consumers in Canada, he said.

With the iFreedom Plus Mastercard, holders load up their card with cash in advance, up to $6,000. Each purchase draws down on the account without accruing interest.

The concept follows the Islamic principle that finance should be backed by owned assets. It was approved by a panel of Muslim religious scholars, Mr. Kalair said.

“You’re spending money you actually own,” he said. “There’s a certain degree of stress when you use a credit card. On this one there isn’t.”

Cardholders pay $50 for two years of use and each transfer of cash on to the card costs 95 cents.

And since the new product doesn’t actually involve credit, applicants are approved without a credit check.

The card, which is primarily aimed at younger newcomers, was launched at the inaugural conference of the Usury-Free Association of North America in downtown Toronto.

“As soon as you hit university, all the banks start sending you $500 credit cards,” Mr. Kalair said. “People start using them and start getting in debt. It’s better to start someone on a prepaid.”

Card accounts will be managed by Mint Technology, which operates other prepaid card programs. But unlike other prepaid cards, the iFreedom card is personally embossed and draws on the pervasiveness of the Mastercard brand, Mr. Kalair said.

And on purchases of more than $100, cardholders earn 1% cash back.

Also, Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad Airways is offering a 10% discount for customers booking a flight with the card.

“And our community travels a lot,” Mr. Kalair said.

National Post

Elected Democrats attend Al Queda funded event.

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Frankly, if I didn’t already know this was factual and as it is presented here, then I wouldn’t believe it either. Add to this, some of the staggering and unimpeachable testimony from current and recent ex members of the American intelligence services about infiltration by Islamic groups, terrorist and just those determined to implement sharia law, and destroy Western liberal democracy without terror.

Tolerating the intolerant

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From The Montreal Gazette

Tolerating the intolerant

Canadians jump through hoops trying to accommodate Muslims from countries that refuse to accept other religions

By SHERIF EMIL, FreelanceMarch 28, 2010 4:10 AM
Villagers look at the bodies of Christians killed in fighting with Muslims in Dogo Nahawa in central Nigeria.

Villagers look at the bodies of Christians killed in fighting with Muslims in Dogo Nahawa in central Nigeria.

Photograph by: AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE, REUTERS, Freelance

The Copts, Egypt’s indigenous Christians, like many other Eastern Orthodox Christians, celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, according to the Julian calendar. The midnight mass and Christmas day are joyous celebrations for Egypt’s Christians, as they are for Christians around the world.

But there was no joy among Christians in Egypt at the start of this new decade. As celebrants were leaving a Coptic church in Nagi Hammadi shortly before midnight on Jan. 6, a hail of machinegun fire abruptly changed the giggling of children and the well-wishes of adults into screams of pain and agony.

Six people, aged 16 to 26, were murdered on the spot. Two others died later in hospital. A Muslim guard at the church was also killed.

Over the next two days, more Christian families were attacked by Muslim mobs, resulting in widespread destruction of property and businesses.

When I shared the event with my colleagues on Jan. 8, hardly anyone had heard the news. There was very little coverage in the Western media. And in the days that followed, hardly anyone was concerned when five churches were destroyed in Muslim Malaysia or when a Protestant church had burned to ashes in Muslim Algeria. A massacre of Christians in the Muslim part of Nigeria soon followed. Vicious attacks on Christian minorities occurred in three supposedly moderate Muslim countries within a single week. But not an eyebrow was raised. Continue Reading →

Channel 4 UK does a nice bit on Islamic terrorism grown in the U.S.A.

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This is the same channel that did Undercover Mosque, got charged for it, beat the charge, and did a sequel, Hidden Mosque II, all of which is here on Vlad. More recently, Channel 4 did the excellent documentary, Britain’s Islamic Republic.

If Western Liberal Democracy survives this century, UK’s Channel 4 will have had a lot to do with it. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.

Quebec: “gender equality is paramount”, plans to ban niqab.

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From The National Post

Quebec bill would ban niqabs to all receiving government services

Graeme Hamilton, National Post Published: Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A proposed Quebec bill would deny accommodations of religious differences in cases where safety, communications or identification so require. Phil Noble/Reuters A proposed Quebec bill would deny accommodations of religious differences in cases where safety, communications or identification so require.

MONTREAL — Quebec will refuse all government services, including education and non-emergency health care, to fully veiled Muslim women under legislation tabled on Wednesday in the National Assembly.

Jean Charest, the Liberal Premier, said the bill establishing guidelines for the accommodation of religious minorities is aimed at “drawing a line” to demonstrate that gender equality is a paramount Quebec value.

“If you are someone employed by the state and you deliver a service, you will deliver it with your face uncovered,” he told reporters in Quebec City. “If you are a citizen who receives services, you will receive them with your face uncovered.”

The bill applies to not only government departments and Crown corporations but hospitals, schools, universities and daycare centres that receive funding from the province. Continue Reading →

Paul Sperry reports on Islamic subversion of the US

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With major thanks to Jdamn and KitmanTV

A US intelligence operative goes undercover into the Muslim community in the US and reports on it.

New “CAIR Observatory” website connects the dots on CAIR’s foreign funding and lobbying

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March 17, 2010: WASHINGTON, DC – The Center for Security Policy announces the launch of the website CAIR Observatory at www.cairobservatory.org.

The website presents comprehensive open-source evidence and analysis alleging that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has acted as a foreign agent on behalf of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires any agent of a foreign principal – including agents of foreign states, political parties, corporations, non-governmental organizations and even individuals – to register with the U.S. Department of Justice as a foreign agent.

The centerpiece of the website is the report “CAIR and the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” which details the foreign funding, foreign direction and domestic political influence operations of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the United States.

The report documents these CAIR activities as a foreign agent:
• CAIR received at least $2,192,203 in Contributions, Income and Money from foreign principals in the form of 10 distinct transactionsReceived a $2,106,251 mortgage loan from a foreign principal for their Washington, D.C. headquarters
• CAIR secured the promise of at least $54,500,000 in pledges from foreign principals
• CAIR met and coordinated with foreign principals on at least 30 occasions
• CAIR engaged in at least 50 political influence operations on behalf of foreign principals in the United States
The Center has additional evidence that cannot be made public at this time documenting an additional $2.4 million in foreign donations and loans given to CAIR since 2000.

The goal of the “CAIR Observatory” (http://www.cairobservatory.org/) is to build a model for researching and compiling evidence of illegal behavior by Muslim Brotherhood front organizations, with a focus on organizations operating in the United States as unregistered foreign agents for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and its member states.

The website’s name– “CAIR Observatory”– is a direct counter to the so-called “Islamophobia Observatory” maintained by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).  The Jeddah, Saudi Arabia-based OIC has been a contributor to CAIR, and the two have a history of coordinated meetings, methodologies and goals.  The website will be updated regularly with new evidence on CAIR’s ongoing activities as a currently unregistered foreign agent.
The Center for Security Policy is a non-profit, non-partisan national security organization that specializes in identifying policies, actions, and resource needs that are vital to American security and then ensures that such issues are the subject of both focused, principled examination and effective action by recognized policy experts, appropriate officials, opinion leaders, and the general public.

Master of taqiyya Tariq Ramadan, in Canada to peddle Brotherhood Islam

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From The Ottawa Citizen

Radical or reformer?

Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan is described by many as a reformer, but the Swiss-born academic, who will be speaking Friday at Carleton University, has troubling allegiances to Islamist extremists, writes Robert Sibley.

By Robert Sibley, The Ottawa CitizenMarch 18, 2010

President of the European Muslim Network, Tariq Ramadan, has said his dream is to create a 'European Islam' where the continent's Muslims can find a proper place. But lately many question the intellectual's seemingly moderate stance.

President of the European Muslim Network, Tariq Ramadan, has said his dream is to create a ‘European Islam’ where the continent’s Muslims can find a proper place. But lately many question the intellectual’s seemingly moderate stance.

Photograph by: Dominique Faget, Agence France-Presse, Getty Images, The Ottawa Citizen

Tariq Ramadan is often held up as the kind of Muslim intellectual able to build bridges between Islam and the West. The Swiss-born academic — “one of the most important intellectuals in the world,” says Slate magazine — is widely lauded as a “moderate,” a “reformer.”

Ramadan, a research fellow at St. Antony’s College in Oxford who lectures on Islamist thought, among other positions, is best known to North Americans for being denied a U.S. work visa in 2004 to take up an appointment at the University of Notre Dame. In Europe, though, he has spent much of the past two decades telling Muslims they need to modernize and trying to convince westerners they need not be suspicious of Islam. His purpose, he says, is to foster a “European Islam” where the continent’s Muslim population can find its proper place.

Ramadan will bring that message — or a variation on it — to Ottawa on Friday when he delivers the 26th annual Davidson Lecture at Carleton University’s Minto Centre. His talk, sponsored by the College of the Humanities and the Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam, is entitled “Identity and Engagement: Western Muslims and the Public Sphere.”

On Ramadan’s previous visits to Ottawa, he’s praised the capital as a place where “there is goodwill and a better understanding of immigrants” than elsewhere. During a 2005 visit, he lamented the us-versus-them psychology that often characterizes relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. “If we are each obsessed with the extremists on the other side we are not going to build together.”

Such sentiments are always worth considering, of course. The question for Friday’s audience, though, is whether they are believable.

Ramadan’s reputation as a “moderate” has come into question in recent years, with some reputable commentators suggesting Ramadan is a master practitioner of the Islamic doctrine of taqiyya, or dissimulation. Continue Reading →

“Show your face” Canadian Minister tells Muslim women

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From The Toronto Sun

Tory minister faces veil controversy

By ELIZABETH THOMPSON, Parliamentary Bureau

Last Updated: March 18, 2010 6:23am

OTTAWA – Women who wear the niqab should have to show their faces when dealing with the federal civil service, says Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Kenney said he believes in personal liberty and opposes regulating what people wear.

“On the other hand, when it’s necessary we do expect people to show their face in … obtaining public services,” he said Wednesday. “In my own ministry, when individuals make an application for immigration or a visa and they’re interviewed by a Canadian public servant, they’re required to show their face.”

Kenney said the reason women are asked to remove their niqab, which covers the lower half of the face, is so officials can see their responses and they can communicate their problem. In those cases, the department arranges for a female civil servant “as often as possible,” he said.

Kenney’s comments come as a storm of controversy has erupted in Quebec over whether women who wear the niqab should have to remove their face veil in certain circumstances such as during a French class for immigrants.

The controversy was further fuelled this week when Quebec’s Human Rights Commission ruled that women wearing the Islamic face covering have to remove it for their health card photo and cannot demand to be served by another woman.

The commission also ruled in favour of the hijab, which covers the head but not the face. A client had complained about being served by a health board employee wearing a hijab, but the commission ruled the headdress did not have any bearing on the service they received.

Kenney’s comments come a day after the UN Human Rights Commission’s expert on minority issues tabled a report saying that while Canada had an impressive record, significant and persistent problems affect ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. Gay McDougall cited negative experiences in public schools for black and Asian Canadians as well as higher unemployment and lower income rates, even for those who have higher education levels than most Canadians.

Kenney said Canada is viewed around the world as a model of equality of opportunity and minority rights.

Insurgent video shows Toronto student

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Mohammed Elmi Ibrahim

Mohammed Elmi Ibrahim

 CBC News has confirmed the identity of a Toronto man — believed to have joined an al-Qaeda-linked group in Somalia and killed in battle — on an insurgent group’s online video.

Mohammed Elmi Ibrahim, an English major at the University of Toronto, can be seen on the two-minute, nine-second video made in Saudi Arabia, in which he discusses the historical significance of his location.

According to a message that accompanies the video found on the al-Shabab website, Ibrahim was killed in battle, although his death has not been officially confirmed.

The message with the video, addressed to Canadian youth, says: “Dont be sadden [sic] but rather rejoice in the news of your dear brother and follow his foot steps and march forth in the ranks of the honest mujahideen, al Shabaab mujahideen.”

Ibrahim, who went by the nickname “Canlish” and was in his early 20s, disappeared at least a year ago and is believed to have joined the Somalian insurgent group al-Shabab. The group was recently added to the Canadian government’s terrorist list.

The designation came as members of the Somalian-Canadian community have reported that the group is trying to radicalize and recruit young Canadians.

Ibrahim had gone with a group to make the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca known as hajj. But he did not return with the group, and that’s when his family and intelligence agents in Canada concluded he had gone to fight with al-Shabab.

At least five other young Canadians, who all belonged to the same mosque as Ibrahim and have not been seen since last September, are also believed to have joined al-Shabab.