Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Drieu Godefridi • January 10, 2025 at 5:00 am
What is important is the solidarity being forged between the major US social media platforms and the incoming US administration in support of real freedom of expression.
The new US administration will not tolerate levying fines of tens of billions of dollars on major US technology companies by an EU that is drifting towards authoritarianism and is at the same time more dependent than ever on American power.
It would be in Europe's lasting interest to prepare for the return of free and unfettered expression.
The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) obliges US social media platforms to take a whole arsenal of preventive and repressive measures, basically to prevent the sharing of information that displeases the European Commission. The new US administration will not tolerate levying fines of tens of billions of dollars on major US technology companies by a European Union that is drifting towards authoritarianism and is at the same time more dependent than ever on American power. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
Anyone wishing to gauge the extent of the European Union's regulatory drift will need to read Articles 34 and 35 of the Digital Services Act (DSA). Given their length it is impossible to quote them in full here, so here is an extract: DSA Article 34, "Risk assessment":
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by Lawrence Kadish • January 9, 2025 at 4:00 pm
Unfortunately, what President Joe Biden has done in the final days of his single term is to turn a most prestigious national award into a gratuitous partisan medal of loyalty. Pictured: Hillary Clinton receives the Medal of Freedom from Biden at the White House, on January 4, 2025. (Photo by Chris Kleponi/AFP via Getty Images)
A recent decision by the outgoing 46th President of the United States to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to 19 Americans for what the White House describes as "good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world". Unfortunately, what President Joe Biden has done in the final days of his single term is to turn a most prestigious national award into a gratuitous partisan medal of loyalty. Consider: Biden presented the award to George Soros, a longtime Democratic Party donor and sponsor of district attorneys who appear to aid and abet criminal behavior by refusing to prosecute it rather than protecting law-abiding citizens. Soros also wrote, "The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States." (The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror, 2006, p.16)
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by Bassam Tawil • January 9, 2025 at 5:00 am
"[M]edia freedoms" have never existed under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. For many years, the two parties have been imposing restrictions on Palestinian journalists, including a ban on criticizing PA and Hamas leaders. Palestinian journalists and activists who dared to speak out against the PA or Hamas found themselves incarcerated, and sometimes dead.
The silence of the international community and the so-called "pro-Palestinian" activists on the university campuses in the US and across the West has only encouraged the PA to dismiss launching an investigation into the killing of al-Sabbagh.
By turning a blind eye to violations committed by Palestinians against their own people, the international community, which appears to be solely obsessed with Israel, is displaying its hypocrisy, double standards and bigotry. Instead of helping the Palestinians, it is doing them a great, massive, gigantic disservice.
The family of a Palestinian female journalist has accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces of killing their daughter in Jenin Refugee Camp. "Media freedoms" have never existed under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. For many years, the two parties have imposed restrictions on Palestinian journalists, including a ban on criticizing PA and Hamas leaders. Pictured: Palestinian Authority security forces in Jenin Refugee Camp on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images)
The family of a Palestinian female journalist has accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces of killing their daughter in Jenin Refugee Camp in the northern West Bank. Shatha al-Sabbagh, 22, was reportedly shot in the head by a PA sniper on December 29, 2024, as she walked out of her home. PA officials have denied the allegation and claimed that al-Sabbagh was killed by gunmen in the camp. Anwar Rajab, spokesperson for the PA security forces, condemned the killing as a "despicable crime" and claimed that PA security forces were not present in the area. Rajab accused "outlaws" in the camp of shooting the journalist and vowed to pursue the "murderers."
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by Lawrence Kadish • January 9, 2025 at 4:00 am
Pictured: President-elect Donald J. Trump speaks at a press conference in the Mar-a-Lago Club on January 7, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Why is it that people are always calling for someone to think "outside the box," then when someone does, say, "Aaaak! He thought outside the box!" In that view, President-elect Donald J. Trump has already committed (at least) three heresies: Buy Greenland, stop China from controlling the Panama Canal and deepen America's affiliation with Canada. All three ideas are neither crazy nor even new. President Harry S. Truman looked at acquiring Greenland in 1946. Thomas Jefferson, after the Louisiana Purchase, proposed buying Cuba – just think how the Cubans would be prospering now, politically and economically, if that deal had gone through. Those acquisitions didn't take place but in 1917, the US did acquire Denmark's Virgin Islands for $25 million. As historian Stephen Press writes,
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by Lawrence Kadish • January 8, 2025 at 5:00 am
President-elect Donald J. Trump has warned that unless the hostages being held by Hamas are released by January 20, the day of his inauguration, "all hell will break out." Why is Trump's statement, "there will be all hell to pay," not, by itself, the negotiation? Why is the US degrading its prestige by even trying to negotiate with terrorists? Pictured: Trump speaks, against a backdrop of pictures victims of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, in Doral, Florida on October 7, 2024. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
President-elect Donald J. Trump has warned that unless the hostages being held by Hamas are released by January 20, the day of his inauguration, "all hell will break out." Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is already in Doha, Qatar, negotiating. Not very astonishingly, the negotiations keep breaking down.... The question arises: why is Witkoff in Qatar negotiating? Negotiating for what? How many dead hostages for how many live Palestinian terrorists now in Israeli prisons?
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by Alan M. Dershowitz • January 7, 2025 at 5:00 am
Pope Francis has joined the chorus of blood libelers who have accused Israel of genocide, writing: "According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide." This indictment is totally false as a matter of fact, law and morality. The Vatican knows what genocide is. It perfected this crime against humanity during the Crusades, the Inquisition and the priest-inspired pogroms that led to the Holocaust.
The reality is that Israel has killed far fewer civilians in relation to combatants than any nation in history while fighting comparable urban wars, especially where Hamas combatants hide among civilians, precisely in order to induce Israel to kill as many civilians as possible.
By accepting Palestinianism and supporting the Hamas narrative, he is siding with the enemies of Christianity, the enemies of Judaism and the enemies of decency. I will not curse Pope Francis; the bible has already done so: "Now the LORD had said unto Abram.... And I will make of thee a great nation.... And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee."
In an act that flies in the face of the Christian Bible, the Vatican recently featured a nativity scene which laid the baby Jesus on a keffiyeh, thus accepting the false Palestinian narrative that Jesus was a Palestinian and not a Jew. Pictured: Pope Francis looks at the "Nativity of Bethlehem 2024" at St Peter's Square in the Vatican on December 7, 2024. (Photo by Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images)
Since the end of World War II, the Vatican has tried hard to make up for its centuries of attacks on the Jewish people, including the Crusades, the Inquisition, priest-incited pogroms, and theological claims that the Jews killed Jesus. The Vatican's complicity in genocide during World War II took the form of Pope Pius XII's refusal to create a "crisis of conscience" among German Catholics by forbidding them from participating in the mass murder of Jews. Since the death of Pope Pius XII, the Vatican has tried hard to make up for its sordid history. Pope Paul VI led the way by repudiating the allegation of collective Jewish guilt for deicide, with Pope John Paul II speaking of the Jewish faith as the ancestor of the Christian religion. In 1993, the Vatican, after too many years of silence, finally recognized the State of Israel, and over time, the relationships between the Vatican and the nation-state of the Jewish people improved.
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by Robert Spencer • January 6, 2025 at 5:00 am
Trump is once again being true to his America-First convictions.
[Trump's] question to Trudeau was pointed, and remains unanswered: "So your country can't survive unless it's ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion?"
Trump explained that the Panama Canal "was given to Panama and to the people of Panama, but it has provisions, you gotta treat us fairly and they haven't treated us fairly."
There's the bottom line: if the United States doesn't control the Panama Canal and Greenland, China or Russia likely will, and the consequences could be severe both for the American economy and for national security.
President-elect Donald Trump recently said that the Panama Canal should once again come under American control, and that the US should buy Greenland from Denmark. If the United States doesn't control the Panama Canal and Greenland, China or Russia likely will, and the consequences could be severe both for the American economy and for national security. Pictured: An aerial view of ships passing the Pedro Miguel locks in the Panama Canal, in May 2023. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images)
First, President-elect Donald Trump tweaked Canada's far-left Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about becoming governor of the 51st state of the United States of America. Then he said that the Panama Canal should once again come under American control. Make that the 52nd state. And now, are you ready for a 53rd state? Last month, Trump renewed a call he made during his first term: that the United States should buy Greenland from Denmark. Could the man possibly be serious? Maybe not. The left's propaganda arm, also known as the mainstream media, loves to portray Trump and his supporters as angry, bitter, ignorant people lashing out against the people who know better what's good for them. Trump has never gotten credit for his sense of humor, despite the fact that he is easily the funniest man to occupy the White House since Ronald Reagan, and may even surpass the Gipper.
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by Lawrence Kadish • January 5, 2025 at 7:00 am
(Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
The New Year has become a traditional time to reflect on the year past and ponder the year to come. Invariably, the forecasters focus on the next 12 short months while failing to appreciate the sweep of history that has brought us to this next chapter of American history. The pessimistic "Bears" among us will warn that there are systematic threats to our economy, our nation, and the stability of the world. The optimistic "Bulls" will tout the enormous advances in technology, Wall Street confidence, and a resilient American economy that continues to set the pace for the rest of the planet. In truth, they are both right, and the reality of America at the start of 2025 is far more nuanced than any one side would have you believe.
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by Robert Williams • January 5, 2025 at 5:00 am
"He [Christmas market attacker Taleb al-Abdulmohsen] himself claimed to be a Wahhabi. He had open contacts with Hamas people, as well as with supporters of IS. He threatened ex-Muslim and secular associations, as well as women who had fled from Saudi Arabia and renounced Islam. The association and the women legally defended themselves against him. He attacked the Central Council of Ex-Muslims as well as me as a member. All the major critics of Islam blocked Taleb because everyone received confused messages and threats. He never directly criticized Islam or its associations. While we protested in front of mosques, he fought us. He also repeatedly defended Saudi Arabia." — Ali Utlu, German ex-Muslim, X, December 21, 2024.
The German government, it appears, is covering up an Islamist terror attack at a Christmas market as "Islamophobic." Perhaps the ruling coalition of Social Democrat and Green parties is seeking new votes in next month's elections; perhaps it is seeking to pretend away its own massive failure at stopping a terrorist about whom the authorities were warned so many times.
Evidently, the German government does not consider disinformation a problem, so long as it is the German government that is doing it.
The German government, it appears, is covering up Saudi Arabian Taleb al-Abdulmohsen's Islamist terror attack at a crowded Magdeburg Christmas market as "Islamophobic." Abdulmohsen drove 200 meters into the market on December 20, murdering a nine-year-old boy and four women, while wounding more than 200 people, 40 critically.. Pictured: Ambulance crews evacuate people who were wounded in the attack. (Photo by Craig Stennett/Getty Images)
The German city of Magdeburg was written into the sad history of terrorist attacks by Muslim migrants, when Saudi Arabian terrorist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen drove 200 meters into a crowded Christmas market on December 20, murdering a nine-year-old boy and four women, while wounding more than 200 people, 40 critically.
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by Amir Taheri • January 5, 2025 at 4:00 am
[P]olicy wonks have decided that in a region that hasn't known good news for decades if not centuries, one should be content with news that is "less bad". Thus, the fall of the Butcher of Damascus is news that is less bad rather than good because, despite Ahmad al-Sharaa's trimmed beard, silk necktie and Colgate smile, no one knows where the new rulers might be heading.
[T]he current rush to brainstorm on the future of the Middle East ignores the geopolitical aspect of this complex situation.
That in turn is symbolized by the elephant in the room: Iran. This elephant has a genetic tendency to going rogue.
Anyone familiar with Iran's history under the theomaniacal system created by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini would know that the regime has faced a dire choice from the start: become like the rest of the Middle East, or make a whole Middle East like itself.
The current rush to brainstorm on the future of the Middle East ignores the geopolitical aspect of this complex situation. That in turn is symbolized by the elephant in the room: Iran. Pictured: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands with a rifle as he leads Friday prayers at the Imam Khomeini Musalla Mosque on October 4, 2024, in Tehran. (Photo by Iranian Supreme Leader's Press Office via Getty Images)
As the new year begins, think tanks and policy circles start buzzing with ideas about "the future" of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, in short, the Middle East. Some futurologists prefer to talk of a "new Middle East" made possible by the "liberation" of Syria, the near annihilation of Hamas and the serious downgrading of Hezbollah and the Houthis. All this is happening in a feel-good context as policy wonks have decided that in a region that hasn't known good news for decades if not centuries, one should be content with news that is "less bad". Thus, the fall of the Butcher of Damascus is news that is less bad rather than good because, despite Ahmad al-Sharaa's trimmed beard, silk necktie and Colgate smile, no one knows where the new rulers might be heading. One has to agree that "less bad" is better than no good.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • January 4, 2025 at 5:00 am
Iran's mullahs would surely love nothing more than to cut a deal with the incoming Trump administration that would enable them to stay in power, build their nuclear weapons and unleash them at a later date.
Bribing adversaries to stop only provides funding, which finances their military so they can attack us later with bigger weapons. That is how North Korea and Iran built their nuclear weapons programs. China's was built by direct investment: a gift to kill us from Uncle Sam.
Let us please ensure that Iran's brutal theocratic tyranny will be gone for good. So long as it holds power, there will never be a peaceful future for the Middle East.
Bribing adversaries to stop only provides funding, which finances their military so they can attack us later with bigger weapons. That is how North Korea and Iran built their nuclear weapons programs. So long as Iran's brutal theocratic tyranny holds power, there will never be a peaceful future for the Middle East. Pictured: John Kerry, then US Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, meets with Iran's then Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on May 17, 2016 in Vienna, Austria. (Image source: US State Department)
Rarely in history does an opportunity arise to confront a brutal regime that has not only oppressed its own population but also destabilized the world by support for terrorism and terrorist allies. The Iranian regime is such a dictatorship. For more than four decades, this regime has systematically crushed the rights and freedoms of its citizens, and silenced dissent through violence, imprisonment and execution.
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by Uzay Bulut • January 3, 2025 at 5:00 am
The leader of [the al-Qaeda-and-ISIS-linked terrorist group] Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, has openly stated that his goal is to establish sharia law: "Syria will be governed by the shari'a of Allah," he has pledged. He has already banned music from restaurants and cafés.... The group is largely supported by Turkey.
The Biden administration, apparently never to be deterred from a woozy hope of bringing terrorists in from the cold, just removed a $10 million bounty from Jolani's head.
Syria's HTS regime has appointed Anas Hassan Khattab, a former Al-Qaeda commander and a UN-designated terrorist, to head the General Intelligence Service (Mukhabarat).
Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church are the largest Orthodox entities, yet they still have not publicly addressed the situation of the Syrian Christians, or even attempted to send humanitarian aid.
Sadly, most Christians, with a few impressive exceptions, do not seem to be supporting their Christian brethren in Syria, just as they basically do not seem to be supporting persecuted Christians in Nigeria, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan, China or Egypt.
So far, the US government, which at least officially promotes universal respect for religious freedom, has, under the Biden administration, allowed Turkey to help HTS conquer Syria.
One hopes that the incoming Trump administration will right this wrong and not allow the new Sunni "head of the octopus," through its al-Qaeda-affiliated proxy, the HTS, to run Syria.
Since the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Syria last month, hostility against Christians and other minorities in the country has soared. Christians are increasingly the victims of intimidation, vandalism, violence and discrimination. They are hostages at the hands of Islamists. Pictured: HTS gunmen in Damascus on December 27, 2024. (Photo by Izzalden Alkasem/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant" -- a coalition of Syrian and international Islamist groups -- took control of Syria, after a 10-day offensive, on December 8, 2024. Since then, hostility against Christians and other minorities in Syria has soared. Christians are increasingly the victims of intimidation, vandalism, violence and discrimination. They are hostages at the hands of Islamists. The Christian population of Syria is around 500,000. Most are of Greek ancestry, dating from the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Currently, the predominantly Christian ancient town of Maaloula, where the people still speak the language of Jesus, Aramaic, is being targeted by Islamists.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • January 2, 2025 at 5:00 am
Is there a free media in "Palestine?" No. Is there a functioning parliament? No. Are there general elections? No. Are there no consequences for protesting against the leaders' abuses?
The "pro-Palestinian" activists just keep showing that all they have to offer is hatred for Jews and Israel. The real "pro-Palestinian" advocates are those who want to see a good life for the Palestinians, not those who encourage them to embrace a brutal and corrupt Hamas. Would they encourage the Iranian people to submit to the ayatollahs, or the Uyghurs to embrace the Communist Chinese Party?
Instead of sitting in a comfortable campus where no one will arrest, torture or kill them for speaking out, these activists should be urging Hamas to release the 100 Israeli hostages it has been holding in the Gaza Strip since the atrocities of October 7, 2023. That would be the best and fastest way to end the current war in the Gaza Strip. The real message is: if you do not want your people killed, do not start a war.
If these protestors in the West really want to help Palestinians, instead of offering messages of hate, they could offer good salaries and jobs.
Sadly, "pro-Palestinian" protests have shown themselves to be nothing more than a backdoor way of spreading hate, delegitimizing Israel and demonizing Jews.
The "pro-Palestinian" activists just keep showing that all they have to offer is hatred for Jews and Israel. The real "pro-Palestinian" advocates are those who want to see a good life for the Palestinians, not those who encourage them to embrace a brutal and corrupt Hamas. Pictured: Pro-Hamas and anti-Israel protesters outside of Columbia University on April 24, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The organizers and leaders of the anti-Israel protests in the US and Canada, including on university campuses, continue to ignore the real suffering of the Palestinians living under the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and the Iran-backed Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. These Palestinians are living under two corrupt dictatorships, both of which place the interests of their leaders above those of the people. We never hear the voices of these protesters when the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas commit human rights violations against their own citizens. The massive violations of Palestinian leaders against their own people for the past 30 years include ruthless crackdowns on journalists, political opponents, human rights activists, lawyers and university students. It is hard to say that the anti-Israel protesters are unaware of these violations, They have been widely documented by Palestinian and foreign human rights groups.
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by Nils A. Haug • January 1, 2025 at 5:30 am
The moral laws of each tradition -- that of the Torah and Sharia – when applied -- result in different outcomes. Most of the punishments specified in the Torah are no longer practiced. According to Sharia, however, punishments such as amputations or stoning to death for adultery, "especially women" – which can include pre-marital sex or having been raped -- as well as death for blasphemy or for choosing to leave the religion, are in force to this day.
"If they [Muslims] had gotten rid of the punishment [often death] for apostasy, Islam would not exist today," the late Sunni religious leader, Yusuf al Qaradawi, speculated on Egyptian television.
Nonie Darwish responded: "The most striking thing about his statement, however, was that it was not an apology; it was a logical, proud justification for preserving the death penalty as a punishment for apostasy."
Divinely sanctioned treatment by Muslims of non-Muslims still includes rape, slavery and death.
"So, when you meet those who disbelieve [in battle], strike [their] necks until, when you have inflicted slaughter upon them, then secure their bonds, and either [confer] favor afterwards or ransom [them] until the war lays down its burdens. That [is the command]. And if Allah had willed, He could have taken vengeance upon them [Himself], but [He ordered armed struggle] to test some of you by means of others. And those who are killed in the cause of Allah - never will He waste their deeds." — Quran 47:4 (Sahih Translation).
As the visions of holy war and martyrdom are underpinned by Sharia, Islamic jihadists appear to believe that they are doctrinally permitted to sow terror, death and destruction among non-Muslims wherever they are.
One unsurprising reason for the "wilful blindness" of the US and other major Western powers towards religious extremists is that politicians look for votes.
[I]t is the tiny nation of Israel that has found itself largely alone in the desperate fight to preserve the West's Judeo-Christian ideals. It would be to the West's advantage if its other nations would join Israel in this noble task.
The laws of the Torah, which became known to the world as Moses' Ten Commandments, founded the West's moral and ethical precepts on which its laws and judicial concepts such as justice and mercy are based. This development is reflected in the United States' founding documents, as well as England's Magna Carta of 1215, among others. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
The laws of the Torah, which became known to the world as Moses' Ten Commandments, founded the West's moral and ethical precepts on which its laws and judicial concepts such as justice and mercy are based. This development is reflected in the United States' founding documents, as well as England's Magna Carta of 1215, among others. The opening paragraph of America's 1776 Declaration of Independence, for instance, refers to "the laws of nature" and "nature's God." From this assertion, the imperative of a sound ethical, moral and religious foundation for America's values was established. According to America's founding fathers, the laws of Moses – those moral codes sometimes collectively referred to as the "natural law" – underpin the value-based Western order, or civilization as distinguished from barbarism. In terms of religion, people in the West generally value the underlying importance of these Judeo-Christian values to their community.
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by Robert Williams • December 31, 2024 at 5:00 am
The Labour government apparently does not care about Hamas terrorists promoting Hamas in London. What they do seem to care about is shutting down all criticism of Hamas. One elderly pensioner -- who expressed his disappointment that Palestinian flags were being flown all over Bethnal Green Road in East London -- was arrested for it.
Then there are the mosques where hatred and violence are preached. At Birmingham's Green Lane Mosque, for instance, the imams give lectures on how to properly stone a woman – you first bury her up to her waist – and how to kill homosexuals and apostates. Evidently, that did not bother the British government one bit.
So, while ordinary Britons are serving prison sentences of up to several years for posting relatively bland statements on social media, the people behind these charities and mosques continue to run their businesses as usual.
Where does that leave the Jews and everyone else? In beautiful downtown Upyoursville.
At Birmingham's Green Lane Mosque (pictured), the imams give lectures on how to properly stone a woman – you first bury her up to her waist – and how to kill homosexuals and apostates. (Photo by Ooscom/Wikimedia Commons)
European authorities, as usual, refuse to fight the violence running rampant in their streets. Most recently, Amsterdam's mayor, Femke Halsema, banned a rally against antisemitism at the central Dam Square; she said out of concern for Jewish citizens. After the Amsterdam attacks against Jews and Israelis, during which the police stood by and did nothing, Halsema publicly regretted calling the event a pogrom. Such terms, she said, were "propaganda": "If I had known that it would be used politically in this way, and also as propaganda... I want nothing to do with that. The Israeli government spoke of a 'Palestinian pogrom on the streets of Amsterdam,' and in The Hague, the words were used to discriminate against Moroccan Amsterdammers – Muslims. That is not what I meant or what I wanted."
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