The four killed were Yohan Cohen, 22; Yoav Hattab, 21; Philippe Braham, 40 & Francois-Michel Saada, 63.

From: GAIL:

Too sad for words.  Always the murdered victims are beautiful, smart, loved – here are 4 Jews flown from France who were buried this afternoon at Har Menuhot Cemetery.   They fit those adjectives & then some, I’m sure.   I am very moved that their families brought them to be buried in Israel but, couldn’t they all have come to enjoy our wonderful country?

            Did this tragedy unite France & the rest of the civilized world to stand up to Terrorism? Remember to call this ‘Terrorism’ by its rightful name(s): Islamic Jihad! Holy War by Muslims.     Not all Terrorists are Muslims (someone said) BUT, all Terrorism of late has been by Muslims.

Someone I know & love said: “Not all Muslims are Terrorists.”  I answered: “Of course not.  There are 1.6 Billion Muslims in the world today.  IF only 2% are Terrorists, bent on committing Jihad, Holy War by murder – You do the math!”    In France, with a population of 1,600,000, 10% are Muslims, or 160,000.  Look at the havoc they have wreaked!  What do we say to the peaceful 98% in the world, or your own countries?  Seek to control the Jihadists in your religion – or, if necessary, change the orders Islam gives to the Jihadists according to Sharia law.  & don’t try to negotiate, compromise, or give them any of your Land to ‘appease’ them.  None of that will bring you peace, only slavery, or death, or decapitation. 

It was heart-warming, in a bitter way, to see the more-than-a-million marching together in unison (if not Unity), against the continual slaughter of men, women & children by Jihadists.  We need to have our governments & influentials face the ‘bad words’:  “Terrorism by Muslims”, IF we are to overcome this tsunami of world-wide murders.

1. Who Were The Four Jews Murdered In Paris?

2. From: Arlene Kushner “Crisis” Akushner18@Gmail.Com January 11, 2015

3.French Prime Minister: If Jews Flee, The Republic Will Be A Failure
Manuel Valls:”If 100,000 Jews Leave, France Will No Longer Be France.”

4. Abbas Hypocrisy: Abbas Participated In The Anti-Terror March In France, But PA, PLO & Fatah Continue To Glorify Terrorists Who Murder Israeli Civilians  5 Terrorists Who Killed 10 Israelis Are Elevated As “Martyrs Of 2014?

5. Why Islam Creates Monsters by Dr. Nicolai Sennels  

6. The Volokh Conspiracy By Eugene Kontorovich 

7. Mapping The Truth by David Singer: The use of incorrect terminology was adopted by governments & media, but no one dares question their use.

Sorry for the 3 day break in sends.  I was traveling with my family.

Warm up on this cold night wherever you are.  All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Savta Raba/Mom

1.Who Were the Four Jews Murdered in Paris?                         By Arutz Sheva Staff  IsraelNationalNews.com First Publish: 1/13/2015, 8:38 PM

As the Jewish world mourns, take a look into the lives of four who were murdered by an Islamist terrorist in a kosher supermarket in Paris.

”’l of Paris victims: ‘I’m dead because I’m a Jew’” Miriam Alster/Flash 90

A rap fan, a student, two family men: below are the profiles of four Jews who were murdered in last Friday’s Islamist terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris. Buried on Tuesday in Jerusalem with thousands in attendance, they were slain by jihadist Amedy Coulibaly during a five-hour hostage siege that ended when commandos launched an assault on the store, killing the attacker.

Yohan Cohen hy”d, 20 In the days before his death, Cohen joined millions of other Facebook users in posting “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) on his page, in homage to the 12 people murdered in last Wednesday’s bloody attack by jihadists on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Two days after that strike, Cohen was among those killed in the assault on the kosher supermarket, where he had worked for about a year. According to the daily Le Parisien, Cohen had taken a gap year to earn money to finance his studies. Born in October 1994, Cohen lived in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles – known locally as “Little Jerusalem” – which was rocked by anti-Semitic violence last July. A fan of rap & a basketball player, Cohen was the grandson of Jewish Tunisian singer Doukha, who died in December.

His Algerian father & his Tunisian mother settled in Sarcelles in the 1960s. Yoav Hattab hy”d, 21: A student pursuing his education in Paris & the son of Tunisia’s chief rabbi, Hattab was sent to France by his parents on the belief that life for a Jew would be safer there than in Tunisia. Heroically he tried to disarm Coulibaly when he burst into the store, but after a brief struggle in which he was unable to take away the terrorist’s gun, he was shot in the head, becoming the first of the four victims. Initial reports suggested that Cohen was likely the one who tried to disarm the terrorist, but it appears that it was Hattab instead. One of seven children born to the rabbi of the Great Synagogue in Tunis & headmaster of the city’s Jewish school, Hattab lived with his aunt in Paris, where he arrived less than a year ago. His family is no stranger to loss: in 1985 a Tunisian soldier opened fire at the Ghriba synagogue in Djerba killing five people, including the sister of Hattab’s mother, who was 17.

Philippe Braham hy”d, 45 Braham was an advertising manager at a computer consultancy. A religious Jew who attended the Cachin synagogue south of Paris, his children attended a Jewish school in another southern Parisian suburb, Montrouge, where Coulibaly killed a policewoman a day before launching his attack on the supermarket. Braham is the brother of the rabbi of Paris’s Pantin synagogue, & is described by a friend as “someone who was dedicated, always ready to help others.” Francois-Michel Saada hy”d, 63 Born in Tunis, Saada was a retired senior manager, & a father of two, both of whom live in Israel. Saada had planned on visiting Venice this week to celebrate his wife’s 60th birthday. “He was an extremely upright man, who led his life for the happiness of his family, who never made a fuss. An exemplary husband & dad,” one of his friends said. His son Yonatan lit a torch of remembrance at the funeral on Tuesday, saying his father longed to make aliyah (immigrate) to Israel. “He was in love with Israel, he wanted to live here,” he said, his voice breaking. “He’s here now.” AFP contributed to this report.

2. From: Arlene Kushner “Crisis” akushner18@gmail.com January 11, 2015

No way to be upbeat today, even with the outpouring of protest from people grieved & furious about the terrorist killings in France.

            Late Friday – before Shabbat – four French Jews were killed in a kosher market in Paris by an associate of the terrorists who attacked at Charlie Hebdo. Apparently he intended to take hostages, to trade for the release of his associates.  In the end, four were shot dead & others were hidden in the market refrigerator by Lassana Bathily, a “Malian Muslim” employee [from Mali or of Mali extraction] & then rescued.

The four killed were Yohan Cohen, 22; Yoav Hattab, 21; Philippe Braham, 40; & Francois-Michel Saada, 63.  

Credit: Elder of Ziyon

 Hattab, who was studying in France, was the son of the chief rabbi of Tunis.

Leah Elyakim, of Israel, met him just weeks ago when he visited here for the first time.  It had been difficult for him make his way here sooner, coming from Tunis.   “He learned Hebrew, he knew everything about Israeli history, more than any of us,” she remembered.   Every day we traveled, we walked around with an Israeli flag on his back. He said Israel was the only place he would walk freely with a Star of David or an Israeli flag.  In France he never could have. “His dream was to move to Israel & serve in the army. [He had been] “so depressed when he had to return to France. He told me, ‘when I get to Paris, I’ll have to hide the flag.'”

http://www.israelnationalnews. com/News/News.aspx/189773#. VLJd-Jv9nIU

So he hid the Israeli flag, but shopped at a kosher market in Paris, & that did it.

Make no mistake: These four were killed because they were Jews.

There is talk now [Jan. 10^th] about bringing them to Israel for burial.  I consider this enormously appropriate because of the statement this makes. 

A dear friend of mine, who lives in Paris with her family (and will likely see this), wrote to me last night:  “Sadly this is just the beginning – finally the authorities have admitted it’s just a matter of when!!” 

            Important, this honest recognition: There are Islamist cells throughout France & it will happen again.  & again.  There are now reports that terrorist sleeper cells have been activated.

http://www.ynetnews.com/ articles/0,7340,L-4613629,00. html

            And there is evidence of links the terrorists may have had to either Al-Qaeda or Islamic State.

            French aliyah (immigration into Israel) has grown a great deal in recent years. In 2014, 7,000 French Jews came, twice the number that had come the previous year.  Natan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency, has reported that there were 50,000 inquiries about aliyah from French Jews in 2014. With the current attack, the actual aliyah is likely to increase significantly.  Numerous Israeli officials, beginning with our prime minister, are encouraging this.

Last night [Jan. 9^th], Netanyahu spoke out to French Jews:

“The State of Israel is not just the place to which you turn in prayer. The State of Israel is also your home. This week, a special team of ministers will convene to advance steps to increase immigration from France & other countries in Europe that are suffering from terrible anti-Semitism. All Jews who want to immigrate to Israel will be welcomed here warmly & with open arms. We will help you in your absorption here in our state that is also your state.”

http://www.israelhayom.com/ site/newsletter_article.php? id=22707

            Some French officials are disturbed by the prospect of a major Jewish emigration from France.  (There are some 500,000 Jews in France – the largest Jewish community remaining in Europe.)

Of particular note is the statement by the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valis, reported by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic:    “The choice was made by the French Revolution in 1789 to recognize Jews as full citizens.  To understand what the idea of the republic is about, you have to understand the central role played by the emancipation of the Jews. It is a founding principle.  If 100,000 French people of Spanish origin were to leave, I would never say that France is not France anymore. But if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.”

http://m.theatlantic.com/ international/archive/2015/01/ french-prime-minister-warns- if-jews-flee-the-republic- will-be-judged-a-failure/ 384410/

I found this fascinating.  They are saying they will send the army, if necessary, to protect the Jewish institutions of France.

But my response is that they should have thought about this sooner. The French Republic is about to be judged a failure not just because it has not protected the community of Jews it had emancipated long ago, but because it has not been true to its principles in a host of spheres.  Because there are enclaves of Muslims (“no-go zones governed by Sharia law) right in Paris & other locales, where the French police will not enter.  & because essential freedoms presumably guarded by the French nation have been sacrificed.

Says Alex Fishman, writing in YNet (emphasis added): “As long as Jews were the only ones getting killed, France avoided dealing with the Islamic terror. The red lights which should have been triggered several years ago didn’t even flash for a second.   France has opened its arms to Islamic terror. & the bigger the failure, the larger & grander the mourning rallies. This is a rule invented by politicians to cover up their own failures….  The French security services’ failure in the past week was colossal & shameful, & indeed, France & all of Europe are being swept away accordingly in mass mourning rallies & protests of millions. (See below on this.)

“But there is not a single protest or speech which can cover up the bitter truth: The Western European countries’ security services in general – & France’s security services in particular – are not prepared in any way for dealing with the radical Islamic terror. Not professionally, not legally & definitely not mentally…

“Suddenly it turns out that all those red lights which should have been triggered several years ago, when the Islamic terror killed Jews, did not even flash for a second. The French security services insisted on not touching the Islamic terror, professionally & fundamentally.

“There is no legislation in France which makes it possible to deal with the hundreds of people who left France to fight along with the radical Islamic movements. There is no legislation which defines Islamic terror as a problem, & therefore there are no agents in the problematic mosques.   The French intelligence services have zero ability to do something with the information they receive from foreign intelligence agencies about dangerous Muslims who have returned to France. & so the terrorists had no problem travelling on a train in France with Kalashnikovs in their bags. There was not a chance in the world that someone would stop them…  Who would have thought that the French people, who invented the modern intelligence, would reach such a low point. When France wants its intelligence to be extraordinary, it is. But it just didn’t want, for political reasons, to deal with the Islamic terror…” http://www.ynetnews.com/ articles/0,7340,L-4613823,00. html

Politically correct concerns are being voiced about a backlash against innocent Muslims – Islamophobia, they call it – as a result of the terror attacks.  With regard to this, I share the observations of Lawrence A. Franklin writing in Gatestone (emphasis added):

“A seemingly required inclusion in most reports on the recent mass murder in Paris was the rhetorical question posed by reporters has been: “Will these events invite a wave of anti-Muslim incidents?” Since these Islam-inspired murders, however, there have been only a few anti-Muslim actions — all against property.

“Under-reported, however, was how rapidly the assault against Charlie Hebdo migrated into an anti-Jewish mini-pogrom in the heart of Paris. What did shoppers in a kosher market, four of whom were slaughtered, have to do with the cartoon images of Mohammad? Nothing. But the assault on the HyperCacher Jewish kosher supermarket has a lot to do with the true nature of Islamic militancy.

“It seems the drawings in Charlie Hebdo offended some true believers of Islam, but the mere existence of Jews also offends them…  “In reaction to the murders in Paris, the French capital’s Grand Synagogue was closed for the first time since World War II. In fact, synagogues all over Paris were closed. There were no Shabbat services this Saturday, the Jewish day of rest…In light of all the expressed concern about possible anti-Muslim incidents, claims on television, such as on CNN, that ‘Muslims are the most persecuted people,’ seemed jarring & wrong.

“The Grand Mosque in Paris, like mosques all over the capital, was open for business on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer. Moreover, there was little discernible increased security around the Grand Mosque. It seems French security authorities were less worried about attacks directed at Muslim institutions than were America’s media commentators.    Perhaps they should have spent just a little time reporting on the anti-Jewish rioting that took place in the heavily Muslim neighborhood of Trappes, a suburb of Paris?”  http://www.gatestoneinstitute. org/5025/paris-mosque- synagogue

It is well understood that Obama embraces the same ‘politically correct’ perspective, which translates into a policy protective of Muslims. I will note here that it has made the rounds of several blogger sites that Obama’s press secretary said that, in light of the terror attacks in Paris, fighting Islamophobia would be given a priority by the president.  However, I have not been able to locate a primary source for this.  Thus, while I have no trouble believing that this would reflect Obama’s position, I cannot verify this statement.

What I can share here, however, is a piece by eminent anti-terrorist Steve Emerson, regarding the refusal to use the word “Islam” in association with terrorism:    “The first comments came from Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, who refused to even call the massacre an act of terrorism, but made sure to add the now typical non-sequitor which…routinely follows Islamic terrorist attacks, that ‘Islam is a religion of peace’ & therefore no [one] should associate the “extremists” in Paris with Islam.’

“Then President Obama issued his own statement, but in keeping with his administration’s 6 year old prohibition on using the term ‘Islamic terrorism,’ he simply referred to the attack as ‘terrorism’ — a vanilla term conspicuously devoid of any descriptive term explaining the motivation behind the attack.”

There’s more from Steve Emerson. See it here:   http://www. investigativeproject.org/4721/ will-we-ever-learn-obama- white-house-cant-admit

Emerson reports that in 2012, Obama spokesman Jay Carney said, referring to the very same Charlie Hebdo Magazine that was attacked last week:  “We are aware that a French magazine published cartoons featuring a figure resembling the prophet Muhammad, & obviously we have questions about the judgment of publishing something like this. We know these images will be deeply offensive to many & have the potential to be inflammatory.”

So much for defending freedom of speech.

I mention this here not only to expose the appeasement of the Obama administration, but to point out where true courage in “telling it straight” can be found now: Amongst the cartoonists.  & I want to spotlight one particular cartoonist, Yaakov Kirschen, originator of “Dry Bones.”  Says Kirschen:  “I don’t think that the political or religious leadership in the West is up to the job. I think they are cowardly.  I think they are fearful & that’s what we got.  I think what we have now, is that bizarrely, cartoonists are the front-line soldiers in the war to defend freedom of speech…I think cartoonists have become advocates & activists.”

http://www.jpost.com/ International/Cartoonists-The- unlikely-front-line-soldiers- 387312

Kirschen is involved in a cartooning project to fight anti-Semitism & apathy regarding persecution of Middle East Christians.  You might want to lend support. 

See http://www.drybonesblog. blogspot.co.il/

As I close today, hundreds of thousands, if not a million, people are winding up their march in Paris, a silent protest against terror.  Among the leaders present are Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, & Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi; Israeli Ministers Naftali Bennett & Avigdor Lieberman are also in attendance.

Something heartening about seeing such a turnout against terror.  You want to believe it says something positive. But for me this has been seriously marred by the revolting presence of Mahmoud Abbas, who was not ashamed to show his face, as if he were also against terror.

A good show. But let’s see what, if anything at all serious, follows.

Credit: Jewish News UK

3.French Prime Minister: If Jews Flee, the Republic Will Be a Failure

Manuel Valls:”If 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France.” By Jeffrey Goldberg Jan 10 2015, 11:12 PM ET

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls (R) with President Francois Hollande following the Charlie Hebdo shooting (Patrick Kovarik/Reuters)

The massacre at a kosher supermarket in Paris on Friday reinforced a fear, expressed openly & with distressing frequency by many in France’s half-million-strong Jewish community, that Islamist violence is compelling large numbers of Jews to flee. Already, several thousand have left over the past few years.

But it is not merely the physical safety of France’s Jews that is imperiled by anti-Semitic violence, the country’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, argues, but the very idea of the French Republic itself. In an interview conducted before the Charlie Hebdo & kosher supermarket massacres, Valls told me that if French Jews were to flee in large numbers, the soul of the French Republic would be at risk.

“The choice was made by the French Revolution in 1789 to recognize Jews as full citizens,” Valls told me. “To understand what the idea of the republic is about, you have to understand the central role played by the emancipation of the Jews. It is a founding principle.”

“There is a new anti-Semitism in France.”

Valls, a Socialist who is the son of Spanish immigrants, describes the threat of a Jewish exodus from France this way: “If 100,000 French people of Spanish origin were to leave, I would never say that France is not France anymore. But if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.”

I met Valls at the Hotel Matignon, the prime minister’s residence, in the 7th arrondissement. (We spoke for a while, & I’ll be incorporating the full interview with Valls into a longer article for the magazine about this set of issues. But, given the suddenly intensifying crisis, it seemed worthwhile to highlight some of the things he said.)

Valls made it a point, early in our meeting, to show me the desk used by one of his predecessors, the Jewish prime minister (and Dreyfusard) Leon Blum. “Jews were sometimes marginalized in France, but this was not Spain or other countries—they were never expelled, & they play a role in the life of France that is central,” he said.

Valls, who on Saturday declared that France was now at war with radical Islam, has become a hero to his country’s besieged Jews for speaking bluntly about the threat of Islamist anti-Semitism, a subject often discussed in euphemistic terms by the country’s political & intellectual elite. His fight, as interior minister, to ban performances of the anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne (the innovator of the inverted Nazi salute known as the quenelle) endeared him to the country’s Jewish leadership, & he is almost alone on the European left in calling anti-Zionism a form of anti-Semitism.

“There is a new anti-Semitism in France,” he told me. “We have the old anti-Semitism, & I’m obviously not downplaying it, that comes from the extreme right, but this new anti-Semitism comes from the difficult neighborhoods, from immigrants from the Middle East & North Africa, who have turned anger about Gaza into something very dangerous. Israel & Palestine are just a pretext. There is something far more profound taking place now.”

Related Story

Europe Is Under Siege

In discussing the attacks on French synagogues & Jewish-owned businesses this summer, during the Gaza war, he said, “It is legitimate to criticize the politics of Israel. This criticism exists in Israel itself. But this is not what we are talking about in France. This is radical criticism of the very existence of Israel, which is anti-Semitic. There is an incontestable link between anti-Zionism & anti-Semitism. Behind anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.”

Though he worries about fear-driven emigration, Valls told me he believes that the government can work with the Jewish community to make it more secure. “The Jews of France are profoundly attached to France but they need reassurance that they are welcome here, that they are secure here.”

The French government, under President Francois Hollande & Valls, provides substantial funding each year to help physically secure French Jewish institutions, but Jewish leaders say that the government alone cannot make French Jews feel at ease. “The prime minister has led some courageous battles,” Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, the director of the American Jewish Committee’s Paris office, who is close to the prime minister & other senior officials, told me this weekend. “He’s the first one who has spoken out so clearly, without any ambiguity, about the reality we are facing.”    She also praised Hollande for quickly labeling the kosher supermarket attack anti-Semitic. “The issue is that the government cannot protect every Jewish person & Jewish institution. There’s always more to do, but they can’t do everything. Even if they did all that needs to be done—counter-radicalization, education, making sure that imprisoned people don’t become radicalized, & so on—there’s always more to do. We have a very, very profound problem.”

Bulletin Jan. 11, 2015

4.Abbas hypocrisy: Abbas participated in the anti-terror march in France, but PA, PLO & Fatah continue to glorify terrorists who murder Israeli civilians  5 terrorists who killed 10 Israelis are elevated as “Martyrs of 2014? http://palwatch.org/main.aspx? fi=157&doc_id=13669 by Itamar Marcus & Nan Jacques Zilberdik  Today, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas participated in the anti-terror march in France following the last few days’ horrific terror attacks in Paris, which the PA has officially condemned. Reporting on a conversation between Abbas & French President Francois Hollande, the official PA news agency wrote that:   “Abbas condemned all terrorist actions that claim innocent lives, whether they are Christians, Jews, Muslims or followers of other religions, stressing the sacredness of human life.”  [WAFA, official PA news agency, English edition, Jan. 10, 2015] However, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented, the PA & Fatah continue to glorify acts of terror against Israeli civilians.       Just last week, five terrorists, who in total recently killed 10 Israelis, were included on a list of “Martyrs of 2014? who “ascended” to Heaven, published in the bi-weekly Al-Asima distributed with the official Palestinian Authority daily.      The terrorists on the list, who were called “Shahids” (Martyrs) & thereby achieve the highest status possible in Islam, included the synagogue murderers who recently killed 5, three terrorists who killed 5 by running them over with cars & an excavator & the terrorist who attempted to assassinate Rabbi Yehuda Glick. See descriptions of their attacks below.      Another article described the terrorists as having died while “carrying out Martyrdom-seeking (Istish’had) operations.”      Al-Asima lists as its “general supervisor” Othman Abu Gharbieh, who is a member of Fatah’s Central Committee & the Secretary General of the Popular National Conference of Jerusalem, the PLO institution that publishes this bi-weekly.      A few days ago, Palestinian Media Watch reported on this same bi-weekly’s glorification of a terrorist who stabbed two soldiers & its encouragement to Palestinians to carry out similar attacks “against Zionists.”      The following are the examples of the PA glorifying the terrorist murderers in the PLO-published supplement to the official PA daily:      “The [PA’s] Islamic-Christian Council for Jerusalem & the Holy Places published its annual report for 2014, which documents the most prominent Israeli violations & attacks on Jerusalem, its holy places, citizens & buildings. The contents of the report are as follows: … Attacks on the residents of Jerusalem:       Over the course of this year, 15 Martyrs (Shahids) ascended [to Heaven] – 2 at the hands of the settler gangs, 8 wounded by enemy fire & 5 [killed after] carrying out Martyrdom-seeking (Istish’had) operations (i.e., terror attacks) in Jerusalem.” [Al-Asima, bi-weekly distributed with official PA daily, Jan. 5, 2015]      “The number of Martyrs (Shahids) from Jerusalem has thus risen during 2014, to 15, 8 of whom ascended [to Heaven] after being wounded by occupation army fire – 2 by the settler gangs & 5 after carrying out self-sacrificing (Fida’i) operations (i.e., terror attacks) in the city.” [Al-Asima, bi-weekly distributed with official PA daily, Jan. 5, 2015]                                Headline: “The Martyrs (Shahids) of Jerusalem in 2014? (Terrorists who killed Israeli civilians included on the list, -Ed.):      “Martyr (Shahid) Amar Al-Natsheh, who ascended [to Heaven] while preparing an explosive device in the Al-Salam neighborhood of the village of Anata in occupied Jerusalem on June 15, 2014.” “In addition, the excavator Martyr, Martyr Muhammad Jaabis from the village of Jabal Mukkaber, ascended [to Heaven] this year. The occupation accused him of carrying out an operation (i.e., terror attack) which killed a rabbi & wounded others on Aug. 4, 2014.”        “Martyr Mutaz Hijazi from the neighborhood of Al-Thuri in occupied Jerusalem, who carried out the shooting operation against the Jewish extremist rabbi, Yehuda Glick, on the morning of Oct. 30, 2014.”        “Martyr Abd Al-Rahman Al-Shaloudi from the village of Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, who was killed by the occupation after carrying out a car operation (i.e., terror attack by running people over with a car) which killed 2 settlers & injured others on Oct. 22, 2014.”        “Martyr Ibrahim Al-Akari from the Shuafat refugee camp, who also carried out a car operation (i.e., terror attack by running people over with a car) that killed 3 settlers & injured others on Nov. 5, 2014.” (The terrorists murdered 2, -Ed.)       “The cousin Martyrs, Ghassan & Uday Abu Jamal, who carried out an attack with knives & axes in a Jewish institute (i.e., synagogue), killing 6 settlers & wounding dozens on Nov. 18, 2014.” (The terrorists murdered 4 worshippers & one police officer, -Ed.) [Al-Asima, bi-weekly distributed with official PA daily, Jan. 5, 2015] Notes: Amar Al-Natsheh – Palestinian man killed when the explosive device he was preparing exploded in the village of Anata in East Jerusalem on June 15, 2014. Muhammad Jaabis carried out a terror attack in Jerusalem on Aug. 4, 2014, when he deliberately ran over & killed Avraham Walles with an excavator & injured 5 others when he flipped over a bus. Jaabis was shot & killed on the scene. Mutaz Hijazi – Islamic Jihad member & released prisoner who attempted to assassinate Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a prominent activist working to assure rights for Jews to visit & pray on the Temple Mount, on Oct. 29, 2014. The assassination attempt took place following a conference on establishing times & places for Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. Glick was seriously wounded in the attack; Hijazi was killed soon afterwards when he opened fire on an Israeli police force that was attempting to arrest him. Abd Al-Rahman Al-Shaloudi – On Oct. 22, 2014, Al-Shaloudi deliberately ran over people waiting at a light-rail station in Jerusalem with his car, killing three-month-old Israeli-American Haya Zissel-Brown & Karen Mosquera, 22, of Ecuador, & injuring 7 others. He was shot by police while attempting to flee, & later died of his wounds. Ibrahim Al-Akari – Hamas terrorist from East Jerusalem who carried out a terror attack by car on Nov. 5, 2014, at a light-rail station in Jerusalem, killing 2 & injuring at least 13 others. He was shot & killed by Israeli police officers who arrived on the scene. Jerusalem synagogue terror attack – On Nov. 18, 2014, two Arab terrorists, Ghassan & Uday Abu Jamal from East Jerusalem, entered a synagogue in Har Nof, Jerusalem & attacked worshippers with guns, knives & axes, killing 4 worshippers & a police officer. 7 people were injured, 3 of them seriously. The terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli Security Forces that arrived on the scene. Abbas hypocrisy: Abbas participated in the anti-terror march in France, but PA, PLO & Fatah continue to glorify terrorists who murder Israeli civilians: PMW Palestine Media Watch
		5.Why Islam Creates Monsters by Dr. Nicolai Sennels  Posted: 11 Jan 2015 02:44 AM PST The following is written by Dr. Nicolai Sennels, a Danish psychologist who studied young criminal Muslims in a Copenhagen prison & compared them to non-Muslim criminals in the same prison. Window at Charlie Hebdo Psychopathic people & behaviour are found within all cultures & religions. But one tops them all — by many lengths. The daily mass killings, terror, persecutions & family executions committed by the followers of Islam are nauseating, & the ingenuity behind the attacks — always looking for new & more effective ways of killing & terrorising people — is astonishing: hijacking jumbo jets & flying them into skyscrapers, hunting unarmed & innocent people with grenades & automatic rifles in shopping malls, planting bombs in one’s own body, using model airplanes as drones, attaching large rotating blades to pickup trucks & using them as human lawn mowers, killing family members with acid or fire, hanging people publicly from cranes in front of cheering crowds, etc. It makes one ask oneself: what creates such lack of empathy & almost playful & creative attitude towards murdering perceived enemies? This is a question for psychologists like me. Studying the Muslim mind Nobody is born a mass murderer, a rapist or a violent criminal. So what is it in the Muslim culture that influence their children in a way that make so relatively many Muslims harm other people? As a psychologist in a Danish youth prison, I had a unique chance to study the mentality of Muslims. 70 percent of youth offenders in Denmark have a Muslim background. I was able to compare them with non-Muslim clients from the same age group with more or less the same social background. I came to the conclusion that Islam & Muslim culture have certain psychological mechanisms that harm people’s development & increase criminal behaviour. I am, of course, aware that Muslims are different, & not all Muslims follow the Quran’s violent & perverted message & their prophet’s equally embarrassing example. But as with all other religions, Islam also influences its followers & the culture they live in. One could talk about two groups of psychological mechanisms, that both singly & combined increase violent behaviour. One group is mainly connected with religion, which aims at indoctrinating Islamic values in children as early as possible & with whatever means necessary, including violence & intimidation. One can understand a Muslim parent’s concern about his offspring’s religious choices, because the Sharia orders the death penalty for their children, should they pick another religion than their parents. The other group of mechanisms are more cultural & psychological. These cultural psychological mechanisms are a natural consequence of being influenced by a religion like Islam & stemming from a 1,400 year old tribal society with very limited freedom to develop beyond what the religion allows. Classical brainwashing methods in the upbringing Brainwashing people into believing or doing things against their own human nature — such as hating or even killing innocents they do not even know — is traditionally done by combining two things: pain & repetition. The conscious infliction of psychological & physical suffering breaks down the person’s resistance to the constantly repeated message. Totalitarian regimes use this method to reform political dissidents. Armies in less civilized countries use it to create ruthless soldiers, & religious sects all over the world use it to fanaticize their followers. During numerous sessions with more than a hundred Muslim clients, I found that violence & repetition of religious messages are prevalent in Muslim families. Muslim culture simply does not have the same degree of understanding of human development as in civilized societies.  Physical pain & threats are therefore often the preferred tool to raise children. This is why so many Muslim girls grow up to accept violence in their marriage, & why Muslim boys grow up to learn that violence is acceptable. & it is the main reason why nine out of ten children removed from their parents by authorities in Copenhagen are from immigrant families. The Muslim tradition of using pain & intimidation as part of disciplining children are also widely used in Muslim schools — also in the West. Combined with countless repetitions of Quranic verses in Islamic schools & families, all this makes it very difficult for children to defend themselves against being indoctrinated to follow the Quran, even if it is against secular laws, logic, & the most basic understanding of compassion. & as we know from so many psychological studies, whatever a child is strongly influenced by at that age takes an enormous personal effort to change later in life. It is no wonder that Muslims in general, in spite of Islam’s inhumane nature & obvious inability to equip its followers with humor, compassion & other attractive qualities, are stronger in their faith than any other religious group.                Four enabling psychological factors Not only does a traditional Islamic upbringing resemble classical brainwashing methods, but also, the culture it generates cultivates four psychological characteristics that further enable & increase violent behaviour. These four mental factors are anger, self-confidence, responsibility for oneself & intolerance. When it comes to anger, Western societies widely agree that it is a sign of weakness. Uncontrolled explosions of this unpleasant feeling are maybe the fastest way of losing face, especially in Northern countries, & though angry people may be feared, they are never respected. In Muslim culture, anger is much more accepted, & being able to intimidate people is seen as strength & source of social status. We even see ethnic Muslim groups or countries proudly declare whole days of anger, & use expressions such as “holy anger” — a term that seems contradictory in peaceful cultures. In Western societies, the ability to handle criticism constructively if it is justified, & with a shrug if it is misguided, is seen as an expression of self-confidence & authenticity. As everyone has noticed, this is not the case among Muslims. Here criticism, no matter how true, is seen as an attack on one’s honor, & it is expected that the honor is restored by using whatever means necessary to silence the opponent. Muslims almost never attempt to counter criticism with logical arguments; instead, they try to silence the criticism by pretending to be offended or by name-calling, or by threatening or even killing the messenger. The third psychological factor concerns responsibility for oneself, & here the psychological phenomenon “locus of control” plays a major role. People raised by Western standards generally have an inner locus of control, meaning that they experience their lives as governed by inner factors, such as one’s own choices, world view, ways of handling emotions & situations, etc. Muslims are raised to experience their lives as being controlled from the outside. Everything happens “insha’ Allah” — if Allah wills — & the many religious laws, traditions & powerful male authorities leave little room for individual responsibility. This is the cause for the embarrassing & world-famous Muslim victim mentality, where everybody else is blamed & to be punished for the Muslims’ own self-created situation. Finally, the fourth psychological factor making Muslims vulnerable to the violent message in the Quran concerns tolerance. While Western societies in general define a good person as being open & tolerant, Muslims are told that they are superior to non-Muslims, destined to dominate non-Muslims, & that they must distance themselves socially & emotionally from non-Muslims. The many hateful & dehumanising verses in the Quran & the Hadiths against non-Muslims closely resemble the psychological propaganda that leaders use against their own people in order to prepare them mentally for fighting & killing the enemy. Killing another person is easier if you hate him & do not perceive him as fully human.                                                               Why Islam creates monsters The cultural & psychological cocktail of anger, low self-esteem, victim mentality, a willingness to be blindly guided by outer authorities, & an aggressive & discriminatory view toward non-Muslims, forced upon Muslims through pain, intimidation & mind-numbing repetitions of the Quran’s almost countless verses promoting hate & violence against non-Muslims, is the reason why Islam creates monsters.                                The psychological problem within Islam The problem with Islam & Muslim culture is that there are so many psychological factors pushing its followers towards a violent attitude against non-Muslims that a general violent clash is — at least from a psychological perspective — inevitable. With such strong pressure & such strong emotions within such a large group of people — all pitched against us — we are facing the perfect storm, & I see no possibilities of turning it around. For people to change, they have to want it, to be allowed to change, & to be able to change — & only a tiny minority of Muslims have such lucky conditions. Far too many people underestimate the power of psychology embedded in religion & culture. As we have already seen, no army of social workers, generous welfare states, sweet-talking politicians, politically correct journalists or democracy-promoting soldiers can stop these enormous forces. Sensible laws on immigration & Islamisation in our own countries can limit the amount of suffering, but based on my education & professional experience as a psychologist for Muslims, I estimate that we will not be able to deflect or avoid this many-sided, aggressive movement against our culture. I do believe that we, as a democratic & educated society can become focused & organised concerning the preservation of our values & constitutions, can win this ongoing conflict started by the often inbred followers of Sharia. The big question is how much of our dignity, our civil rights, & our blood, money & tears will we lose in the process. Why Islam Creates Monsters by Dr. Nicolai Sennels 6. The Volokh Conspiracy By Eugene Kontorovich  Palestinians seek to take advantage of ICC’s unique “Israel” provision

The Washington Post Published Sunday, January 11 2015

The Palestinian Authority is seeking to join the International Criminal Court as a state party, & press a variety of war crimes complaints against Israel for military operations during last summer’s Gaza War & for settlements. Many internationalists will now argue that this move (long called the Palestinian’s “nuclear option”) is not aggressive, & that Israel & the U.S. should hardly mind. International courts are instruments of justice, so what is there to object to, the argument goes.

In a series of posts, I’ll consider what Israel can expect from the Court. At the outset, it should be noted that joining the Palestinian effort to join the ICC can hardly be seen as a great step forward for international law, as it involves violating two specific Palestinian commitments from the Oslo Accords: to not seek a final status determination outside of negotiations, & giving Israeli exclusive jurisdiction over Israeli nationals in the territories. The Oslo Accords were an internationally-guaranteed agreement, so at best the ICC effort is born in illegality.

There is a glib response that what has Oslo done for the Palestinians, but the clear answer to that is it has given them the government & self-rule that they bootstrapped into claimed statehood & ICC membership. In other words, the ICC bid is not a result of what the Palestinians did not get from Oslo, but rather of what they did get. Indeed, the Palestinians continue to claim rights under Oslo, such as the transfer of monies by Israel, suggesting they still see the treaty as binding.

Now to the ICC itself. The Court’s foundational statute (the Rome Statute) contains a provision inserted specifically designed to target Israel. The history bears reviewing. The elaborate definition of war crimes in the Rome Statute (Art. 8) is lifted largely from the Geneva Conventions & other related treaties – why reinvent the wheel? Yet at the 1999 drafting conference, a group of Arab states secured one significant change in the Rome State provision corresponding to IV Geneva Art. 49(6), prohibiting an occupying power from “deporting or transferring” its civilian population into the occupied territory. This was on odd provision to tinker with, since it had seen no prosecutions in any international or national courts in its history.

The Arab states prevailed at negotiations to have the ICC provision prohibit “directly or indirectly deporting or transferring” (they had originally asked for even broader language). Obviously in law the difference between direct & indirect effects is quite significant. The Rome Statute language has no parallel or precedent in international law, & was generally understood as seeking to go beyond the Geneva Conventions to encompass the self-motivated migration of Israelis into the West Bank (and back then, Gaza). It was designed to make “facilitation” a crime – i.e., to turn the negative prohibition on “transfer” into a newfangled positive obligation on a government to discourage or prevent its nationals from migrating into a territory under its control.

So the statute from the start was uniquely cooked to target Israel (this is fairly obvious from the authors of new language) the only nation to be thus honored. The notion that the provision was understood to target Israeli is further supported by the experience Cyprus, an original state party to the Rome Statute. When the ICC came into being in 2002, no one even speculated that Turkey might have to answer for its massive settlement enterprise in the occupied north of the island. Indeed, Turkish settlement activity only accelerated since then. Even since a group of Cypriot refugees & an EU parliamentarian complained to the ICC last year about the matter, no action has been taken. If the Court were to investigate Israeli settlements, despite the significant jurisdictional obstacles (to be discussed in subsequent posts), while ignoring Turkish ones, where there is a 12-year backlog of jurisdiction, it would deprive the proceedings of any legitimacy. & no one thinks action against Turkish officials is even remotely likely.

Moreover, that a group of Arab states (including, ironically, Morocco, author of perhaps the most ambitious settler enterprise in Western Sahara, which the Palestinians happen to support) expanded the provision shows that they understood that the Geneva language fits at best imperfectly with the diverse patterns of Jewish migration into the West Bank (which include both government-supported building projects & private construction & purchase, property belonging to Jews from before 1949, outposts built in defiance of government regulations, & so forth).

To be sure, the Court might ultimately interpret the Rome Statute provision to be entirely congruent with the Geneva one, which itself has never been interpreted. But Israel quite reasonably does not want to be the test subject for interpreting new rule designed solely for it.

The Geneva provision, incidentally, was designed to protect against fundamental demographic changes in the occupied territory (what the Nuremberg prosecutions called “obliterate[ing] the former national character of these territories.”) The re-write of it for the ICC is unfaithful to those policies, as it is rather hard to effect fundamental demographic change through mere indirection & facilitation. The target case bears this out.

The Israeli settlements have not come close to effecting such a change; after nearly five decades, the settler population remains a small fraction (less than 10%) of the total population of the territories the Palestinians claim are occupied. Indeed, Palestinian claims of demographic ascendancy not just in the territories, but between the river & the sea, belie the notion of fundamental demographic change. In occupied Cyprus, by contrast, settlers have reached a major demographic tipping point, constituting roughly half the population. If the Court were interested in setting precedent on settlements, this would be a logical place to start, but I would not bet on it.

Next post: What we can learn from the Court’s track record.

Eugene Kontorovich is a professor at Northwestern University School of Law, & an expert on constitutional & international law. He also writes & lectures frequently about the Arab-Israel conflict.

8. Mapping The Truth by David Singer:  The use of incorrect terminology was adopted by governments & media, but no one dares question their use. Published: Arutz Sheva  IsraelNationalNews.com Jan. 13, 2015 8:31 AM

The US State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs has featured a map on its website – which both rejects & corrects the misleading use of the terms “1967 boundaries” & “1967 borders” – which have never existed in relation to any territorial subdivision between Israel, the so-called ‘West Bank’ & Gaza.

As that map makes clear: There was a 1950 armistice line that separated Israel from the Gaza Strip There was a 1949 armistice line that separated Israel from the ‘West Bank’. The use of dishonest & untruthful verbiage such as “boundaries” &  “borders” has been a major factor in causing what now appears to have led to an irretrievable breakdown in negotiations between Israel & the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) designed to create a second Arab State in former Palestine – in addition to Jordan. Absent from this State Department map is there any mention of these aberrant terms. Instead the map seeks to present an honest & accurate position of the current territorial relationship that exists between Israel, the ‘West Bank’ (called “Judea & Samaria” during the British Mandate, biblical times & the right in Israel) & Gaza. PLO propaganda – aided by sloppy media journalism – have been the drivers in introducing these false & misleading terms into the political diplomatic lexicon. This campaign of deception & media indolence can at least be traced back to October 2007 – when USA Today under a headline – “Abbas wants return to pre 1967-borders” – reported PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas telling Palestine TV: “We have 6,205 square kilometers in the West Bank & the Gaza Strip. We want it as it is.” There were four “small” problems confronting Abbas – problems that he was not prepared to recognize & that USA Today was not prepared to question or challenge:   Abbas surely has succumbed to his own propaganda & sown the seeds for his own fall from grace.   There had never been any pre-1967 borders – only the 1949 & 1950 armistice lines. Those armistice lines had been agreed between Jordan, Israel & Egypt – long before the PLO came into existence in 1964. The PLO in 2007 at best still only “had” about 40% of the land in the ‘West Bank’ which it had obtained under the 1993 Oslo Accords. Israel “had” the other 60% – also granted under the Oslo Accords. The Jews had a better legal claim to “have” at least that part of the ‘West Bank’ they had lived in prior to 1949 – before being driven out by six invading armies – as well as those areas defined as State lands & waste lands not required for public purposes as stipulated by article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine & article 80 of the United Nations Charter. & 96% of ‘West Bank’ Arabs lived in the area given the PLO. Undeterred by these roadblocks – Abbas continued making these misleading demands – with Islam On Line reporting the following statement by Abbas on 9 December 2009 under the headline – “Abbas Names 1967 Borders as Precondition for Talks” -: “We will renew negotiations if the settlements are completely halted & the 1967 borders recognized as the borders of the Palestinian state,” The New York Times obligingly gave credence to Abbas’s claims on 19 May 2011 with a story under a banner headline “Obama sees ’67 borders as starting point for peace talks” followed by this misleading report accompanied by a supposedly accurate map showing the “Green Line Pre-1967 border”:    “A day before the arrival in Washington of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Mr. Obama declared that the prevailing borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — adjusted to some degree to account for Israeli settlements in the West Bank — should be the basis of a deal. While the 1967 borders have long been viewed as the foundation for a peace agreement, Mr. Obama’s formula of land swaps to compensate for disputed territory created a new benchmark for a diplomatic solution.” Suitably emboldened with the New York Times unquestionably uttering the same nonsense as he was – Abbas sent a letter to the UN Secretary General dated 23 September 2011 applying for membership of the UN. Abbas – signing as “President of the State of Palestine [a non-existent legal entity –ed.], Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization”- brazenly repeated his earlier claims – this time seeking to implicate most of the international community in his fantasy. “Furthermore, the vast majority of the international community has stood in support of our inalienable rights as a people, including to statehood, by according bilateral recognition to the State of Palestine on the basis of the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, & the number of such recognitions continues to rise with each passing day.” Abbas was at it again in 2012 – as BBC News reported him saying: “Palestine for me is the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital. This is Palestine,” With Abbas last week choosing the path of the United Nations & the International Criminal Court  in preference to resuming negotiations with Israel – he surely has succumbed to his own propaganda & sown the seeds for his own fall from grace. He has shown himself unwilling to be bound by the procedures laid out in the Oslo Accords, the Bush Roadmap & Security Council Resolution 242  – the internationally laid down parameters under which an end to the Jewish-Arab conflict was to be negotiated & resolved. An opportunity could now be opening for negotiations between Israel, Egypt & Jordan – the parties to those 1949 & 1950 armistice lines – to try & transform them into lasting & permanent borders. A little bit of intellectual honesty can go a long way.

Mapping The Truth by David Singer