Via Washington Post:

Hamas, Hizbullah and Al-Qaeda are not political extensions of an ethno-ideology contextualized within the framework of a religious narrative.

These groups represent nothing less than an unbridled commitment to murder, destruction and terrorism.

Accordingly, the prophets and ministers of this hybrid religious/political cult preach from the canon of fear and chaos, vociferously advocating the message of religious totalitarianism.

Extermination of Jews by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

To understand the causes of the Gaza conflict, it is essential to understand the Hamas ideology. Hamas presents itself as an Islamic supremacist movement. Its charter opens with a quote from the Quran: “You [Islamic nation] are the best nation that hath been raised up unto mankind.” [3: 110] However, whereas many religions and cultures believe that their own traditions represent messages of truth, Hamas believes that this supremacy of Islam obligates them to commit genocide, literally to exterminate millions of people who have different beliefs, including the Jews.

The following are some recent examples of Hamas defining this ideology of genocide, as it applies to Jews:

1- Quran condemns Jews to extermination

“The Meccan [Quran] chapter entitled ‘Jews’ or ‘Children of Israel’ is remarkable … It’s about today’s Jews, those of our century, and speaks only of extermination and digging graves… This chapter sentences the Jews to extermination before a single Jew existed on earth… Palestine’s blessing is linked to destruction of the center of global corruption [Jews of Israel], the snake’s head. When the snake’s head of [global] corruption is cut off, here in Palestine, and when the octopus’s [Jew's] tentacles are cut off around the world, the real blessing will come with the destruction of the Jews, here in Palestine, and it is one of the splendid real blessings in Palestine.” [Palestinian cleric ,Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 13, 2008]

2- Jews to face yet another Holocaust
Headline: “Suffering by Fire is Jews’ destiny in this world and next.”
“… you will taste the punishment of Scorching Fire.” [Quran 3:181]
“This [Quran] verse threatens the Jews with the punishment of Fire… the reason for the punishment of Fire is it is fitting retribution for what they have done… but the urgent question is, is it possible that they will have the punishment of Fire in this world, before the great punishment [of Fire in Hell] … many of the [Islamic] religious leaders believe that the [Jews'] punishment of Fire is in this world, before the next world… therefore we are sure that the Holocaust is still to come upon the Jews.” [Sheikh Yunus Al-Astal, Hamas MP, in his regular column in Al-Rissala, (Hamas weekly) March 13, 2008]

It is important to note that the Hamas MP switched words in the last sentence, from the word he used throughout, “harik”, which means “fire”, to “mahraka” a word from the same root, that is used by Arabic speakers to mean “holocaust.”

3 – Muhammad’s promise: Jews will be killed
“Regarding the Jews, our business with them is only through bombs and guns… the prophet [Muhammad] promised that we will fight you, with Allah’s help, until the tree and stone say: “Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
[Nizar Rayan, Hamas religious and military leader, Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Jan. 1, 2009. Note: Rayan was killed on Jan. 2, 2009]

4 – Extermination of Jews – good for humanity
In an article promoting the continued use of suicide terror in the official Hamas newspaper:

“We find more than one condemnation and denunciation of the resistance operations and bombings [suicide attacks], carried out by Hamas and the Palestinian resistance branches… [Eventually] everyone will know that we did this only because our Lord commanded so: ‘I did it not of my own accord’ [Quran] and so that people will know that the extermination of Jews is good for the inhabitants of the worlds.”
[Al-Rissala, (Hamas weekly) April 23, 2007]

5- Kill a Jew go to Heaven
A poster that Hamas posted on its old web site taught that killing a Jew is enough to grant the rewards of Heaven.

Text on Hamas poster: “I will knock on Heaven’s doors with the skulls of Jews.”
Axe is crashing through the word: “Jews.”
[URL on poster, Hamas terror wing: "Ezz Din Al Kassam"]

6- Resurrection dependent on Muslims killing Jews (1)
Hamas goes even further in its religious packaging of genocide. Hamas teaches that the redemption of all of humanity, the anticipated Islamic “Hour” of Resurrection, will happen only when Muslims are killing Jews and the remaining Jews will be exposed by the trees and stones.

Hamas write in Article 7 of the Hamas Charter:
“Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The prophet [Muhammad] said: ‘The time (of Resurrection) will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: 0 Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him!’”
[Sahih Muslim, Book 041, Number 6985]

7- Resurrection dependent on Muslims killing Jews (2)

The Hamas belief that Jews must be killed for redemption to occur is a repeating theme of religious leaders on Palestinian Authority (Fatah) and Hamas TV. The following is one example:

“‘The Hour [Resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, and the rock and the tree will say: ‘Oh, Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him!’ We must remind our Arab and Muslim nation, its leaders and people, its scholars and students, remind them that Palestine and the Al Aqsa mosque will not be liberated through summits nor by international resolutions, but it will be liberated through the rifle.”
[Hamas Spokesman, Dr. Ismail Radwan, PA TV, March 30, 2007]

Conclusion:

Given this Hamas ideology of genocide, the essential problem with Hamas is not the missiles and rockets it showers on Israel, but the core belief that killing Jews is a prerequisite to redemption. Hamas’s ongoing attempts to kill Jews, which have led to the current Gaza War, are a symptom of the far deeper problem — the ideology teaching that Allah demands the extermination of Jews.

Israel and the West must create a strategy not only to destroy the terror infrastructures of Hamas, but to ultimately ensure that Jews and the world are safe from this ideology and its consequences.

This is the first of a series of PMW background briefings on Hamas ideology.

VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES

Data on Islam adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond’s book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat:

Islam is a complete, total, 100% system of life.

Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social, and military components. The religious component is a beard for all of the other components. Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their religious privileges.

When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree to Muslim demands for their religious privileges, some of the other components tend to creep in as well.

Here’s how it works.

As long as the Muslim population remains around or under 2% in any given country, they will be for the most part be regarded as a peace-loving minority, and not as a threat to other citizens. This is the case in:

United States — Muslim 0.6%
Australia — Muslim 1.5%
Canada — Muslim 1.9%
China — Muslim 1.8%
Italy — Muslim 1.5%
Norway — Muslim 1.8%

At 2% to 5%, they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups, often with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs. This is happening in:

Denmark — Muslim 2%
Germany — Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom — Muslim 2.7%
Spain — Muslim 4%
Thailand — Muslim 4.6%

From 5% on, they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. For example, they will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature halal on their shelves — along with threats for failure to comply. This is occurring in:

France — Muslim 8%
Philippines — Muslim 5%
Sweden — Muslim 5%
Switzerland — Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands — Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad &Tobago — Muslim 5.8%

At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves (within their ghettos) under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islamists is to establish Sharia law over the entire world.

When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions. In Paris, we are already seeing car-burnings. Any non-Muslim action offends Islam, and results in uprisings and threats, such as in Amsterdam, with opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films about Islam. Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections, in:

Guyana — Muslim 10%
India — Muslim 13.4%
Israel — Muslim 16%
Kenya — Muslim 10%
Russia — Muslim 15%

After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings, and the burnings of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, such as in:

Ethiopia — Muslim 32.8%

At 40%, nations experience widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks, and ongoing militia warfare, such as in:

Bosnia — Muslim 40%
Chad — Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon — Muslim 59.7%

From 60%, nations experience unfettered persecution of non-believers of all other religions (including non-conforming Muslims), sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon, and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels, such as in:

Albania — Muslim 70%
Malaysia — Muslim 60.4%
Qatar — Muslim 77.5%
Sudan — Muslim 70%

After 80%, expect daily intimidation and violent jihad, some State-run ethnic cleansing, and even some genocide, as these nations drive out the infidels, and move toward 100% Muslim, such as has been experienced and in some ways is on-going in:

Bangladesh — Muslim 83%
Egypt — Muslim 90%
Gaza — Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia — Muslim 86.1%
Iran — Muslim 98%
Iraq — Muslim 97%
Jordan — Muslim 92%
Morocco — Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan — Muslim 97%
Palestine — Muslim 99%
Syria — Muslim 90%
Tajikistan — Muslim 90%
Turkey — Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates — Muslim 96%

100% will usher in the peace of ‘Dar-es-Salaam’ — the Islamic House of Peace. Here there’s supposed to be peace, because everybody is a Muslim, the Madrasses are the only schools, and the Koran is the only word, such as in:

Afghanistan — Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia — Muslim 100%
Somalia — Muslim 100%
Yemen — Muslim 100%

Unfortunately, peace is never achieved, as in these 100% states the most radical Muslims intimidate and spew hatred, and satisfy their blood lust by killing less radical Muslims, for a variety of reasons.

‘Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; the tribe against the world, and all of us against the infidel. — Leon Uris, ‘The Haj’

It is important to understand that in some countries, with well under 100% Muslim populations, such as France, the minority Muslim populations live in ghettos, within which they are 100% Muslim, and within which they live by Sharia Law. The national police do not even enter these ghettos. There are no national courts, nor schools, nor non-Muslim religious facilities. In such situations, Muslims do not integrate into the community at large. The children attend madrasses. They learn only the Koran. To even associate with an infidel is a crime punishable with death. Therefore, in some areas of certain nations, Muslim Imams and extremists exercise more power than the national average would indicate.

Today’s 1.5 billion Muslims make up 22% of the world’s population. But their birth rates dwarf the birth rates of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and all other believers. Muslims will exceed 50% of the world’s population by the end of this century.

Via Planck’s Constant:

While American children get to enjoy the only holiday specifically made for kids, Muslims refrain from any cultural holidays that do not originate with Islam:

About.com: Islam, Surviving Halloween – An Islamic perspective on a traditional holiday

So what can we do, when our children see others dressed up, eating candy, and going to parties? While it may be tempting to join in, we must be careful to preserve our own traditions and not allow our children to be corrupted by this seemingly “innocent” fun. When tempted, remember the pagan origins of these traditions (astughrifullah), and ask Allah to give you strength. Save the celebration, the fun and games, for our ‘Eids. Children can still have their fun, and most importantly, should learn that we only acknowledge holidays that have a religious significance to us as Muslims. Holidays are not just excuses to binge and be reckless. In Islam, our holidays retain their religious importance, while allowing proper time for rejoicing, fun and games.

I have written extensively on why moderate Muslims are a threat to Western Civilization: they cannot assimilate or even abide non-Muslim cultures. With Islam it is all or nothing. Jews who do not believe in Jesus have written the greatest Christmas songs and the best Christian films. Jews have been in western civilization for more than two thousand years and have contributed to science, medicine, psychology, literature, film, entertainment and thousands of other values to western culture. Muslims live in western countries and add nothing because they cannot look at, enjoy, write about, or improve anything that is un-Islamic.

We feel for poor Muslim women who live as 7th century slaves to their Muslim masters; now we also pity the poor Muslim children who are denied childhood fun. What a sad excuse for a religion.

The Jew-killers of Hamas have offered sanctuary to their fellow Jew-killers in Al-Qaeda. Muslim identity politics are void of morality.  Via JCPA, by Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah Halevi:

Except for Fatah, the other Palestinian terror organizations in Gaza enjoy full freedom of movement under Hamas rule. Offshoots of Al-Qaeda in Gaza include Jaish al-Islam (the Army of Islam), the Army of the Umma, and Fatah al-Islam. Following a series of violent clashes, Hamas and Jaish al-Islam established a joint committee to regulate relations between the groups and to solve disputes between them. In essence, Hamas recognized Jaish al-Islam as a legitimate armed movement inside the area under Hamas jurisdiction.

In a previous agreement between the two groups, Hamas had given Jaish al-Islam $5 million and more than a million Kalashnikov bullets in compensation for its freeing of BBC journalist Alan Johnston. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas warned about the emerging trend, telling Al-Hayat on February 26, 2008: “I believe that Al-Qaeda is present in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. It is the Hamas movement that brought Al-Qaeda in and it abets the entry and exit [of militants]….I believe that they are allies.”

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner confirmed in July 2007 that Hamas was in contact with Al-Qaeda. However, he clarified that their connection was not the result of Western policy to isolate the Hamas regime.

Hamas has established a terror hothouse in Gaza designed to continue the jihad against apostates, pursue the struggle against Israel, secure the overthrow of the Abbas regime in the West Bank, and assist the efforts of the parent movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, in overthrowing the moderate regimes in the Middle East headed by Jordan and Egypt.

Click here to Read more »

What happened to this little Muslim girl?

Warning: Graphic description of barbaric ritual. Do not read any further if you are easily offended. From Der Spiegel:

Fatima’s scream is as blood-curdling as it is heart-wrenching. The little girl, who looks to be about eight years old, screams in a panic, initially in fear and then because she is unable to bear the pain she is experiencing. She is lying on the floor of a dirty hut somewhere in the Ethiopian desert. Her body is contorted with pain as she screams, cries and finally lies there whimpering. Her new, green floral dress is soaked in blood. Two men and her mother press the delicate child against the floor and pull apart her thin little legs.

An old woman crouches in front of Fatima, holding a shiny razor blade and a thick, threaded darning needle. Today is the day Fatima will become a woman, a decent woman.

The purpose of the thick darning needle is to lift the lips of the vulva to facilitate cutting them off. The old woman moves the razor blade into position. First she slices off the small lips of the vulva and then the clitoris. There is blood everywhere. The girl arches her small, sweat-soaked body. The old woman repeatedly pours a milky liquid onto the wound to prevent infection. Then the grandmother comes into the hut, pokes at the wound and tells the old woman to make a deeper cut. The process starts all over again. Fatima’s screams become almost unbearable. If the sight of this girl under female circumcision is so difficult to bear, how can she possibly stand the pain?

Finally the deed is done. The wound is sewn shut with thorns, leaving only a tiny opening. A straw is inserted into the small opening to prevent it from closing. Then Fatima’s legs are tied together with a rope to allow the wound to heal. She will lie in bed, her legs tied together in this fashion, for several weeks.

The old woman completes her barbaric task with a slap on her subject’s behind. Fatima is now a woman.

About 6,000 girls fall victim to genital mutilation every day, or about 2 million a year. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 100 and 140 million women worldwide are circumcised. Most circumcised women live in 28 African countries, as well as in Asia and the Middle East. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), at least 90 percent of all women are circumcised in developing countries like Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia and Sierra Leone, while almost no women are circumcised in Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

WHO distinguishes among four types of genital mutilation:

Type I, or “clitorectomy”: Excision of the skin surrounding the clitoris with or without excision of part or all of the clitoris

Type II, or “excision”: Removal of the entire clitoris and part or all of the labia minora

Type III, or “infibulation”: Removal of part or all of the external genitalia and stitching together of the vaginal orifice, leaving only a small opening

Type IV: Various other practices, including pricking, piercing, incision and tearing of the clitoris.

One out of every three girls dies as a result of infibulation, also known as pharaonic mutilation.

Women have been circumcised for thousands of years, and the custom has become deeply ingrained in human thought. Tradition demands that women be circumcised, and it is often the women themselves who wish to continue this ritual, partly to prevent sexual desire in girls. Indeed, an uncircumcised girl is considered worthless on the marriage market in many places because she is perceived as being “impure” and “loose.”

Although circumcision is often justified for supposedly religious reasons, there is no religious justification for the practice in either Christianity or Islam.

Sharp condemnation by religious and moral leaders is needed to ban this horrific practice. But movement does appear to be afoot — at least if an event that took place in Cairo two weeks ago is any indication. It bordered on a minor revolution.

Muslim scholars and academics from Germany, Africa and the Middle East spent two days discussing female genital mutilation. The goal of the conference was to declare this form of circumcision to be incompatible with the ethics of Islam as a global religion.

It was a German who organized and funded the conference. In 2000 Rüdiger Nehberg, 71, a man known for adventurous exploits that have included crossing the Atlantic in a pedal boat, founded Target, a human rights organization dedicated to fighting female genital mutilation. Since then Nehberg, accompanied by his life partner Annette Weber, has been traveling throughout Africa with his video camera, documenting the inhuman practice and attempting to win over political and religious leaders for his cause. Wherever he goes, Nehberg says: “This custom can only be brought to an end with the power of Islam.” In organizing the conference, which was held at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University under the patronage of Egyptian Grand Mufti Ali Jumaa, Nehberg has come one step closer to his goal.

Many important Muslim scholars attended the event. The Egyptian minister for religious charities, Mahmoud Hamdi Saksuk, condemned the practice, as did the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi. Even the renowned and notorious Egyptian religious scholar and journalist Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who enjoys great popularity in the Middle East as a result of his commentary on the Aljazeera television network, attended the Cairo conference.

Qaradawi did full justice to his reputation as a hardliner by initially criticizing the fact that the conference was paid for by a foreign institution, and not the practice of mutilation. He also complained that the title, “The Prohibition of Violation of the Female Body through Circumcision” was biased and presumptuous.

But after plenty of hemming and hawing, even Qaradawi managed to agree that the Koran states that it is forbidden to mutilate God’s creation. “We are on the side of those who ban this practice,” he said, but added that doctors ought to have the last word.

This wasn’t enough for women’s rights activists. Mushira Chattab, the Egyptian first lady’s special ambassador and chairwoman of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, called upon the legal scholars at the meeting to take a clear position against female circumcision. Then she turned to Qaradawi and said: “You should not leave it up to doctors to condemn this practice.”

Every doctor at the conference agreed that there is no medical justification for female genital mutilation. Heribert Kentenich, physician-in-chief of the women’s clinic at the DRK Hospitals in Berlin expressed a “complete lack of understanding” for the fact that 75 percent of circumcisions are now performed by doctors in Egypt. “I find it almost more horrifying that doctors are enriching themselves by doing this,” he added. The drop in the estimated incidents of female circumcision has dropped significantly — some believe as much as from 97 percent to approximately 50 percent — but it is impossible to obtain precise figures. Even at 50 percent, that would still represent roughly 400,000 girls a year. Kentenich believes that the “medicalization of female genital mutilation makes it seem more acceptable.”

The direct consequences include hemorrhaging, as well as severe pain and anxiety that can lead to trauma. Besides, the practice can also cause infections in the urinary tract, the uterus, the fallopian tube and the ovaries. Other consequences such as tetanus infections, gangrene and blood poisoning can be fatal. Besides, women who are subjected to pharaonic mutilation experience increased pain during menstruation, when blood accumulates in the vagina because the opening is too small to permit normal flow. Mutilated women are also at greater risk for becoming infected with HIV.

Intercourse is painful for circumcised women. To be able to penetrate, men must often force themselves into their wives’ vaginas. Those whose penises are incapable of doing the job use a knife to enlarge the opening.

Circumcised women can face complications during pregnancy, and both the mother and child are at greater risk of dying in childbirth.

There is no religious justification for this practice. All three major monotheistic world religions define man as a perfect creation of the Almighty, and condemn doing any harm to God’s creation. In Sura 95, Verse 4, the Koran states: “We have created man in our most perfect image.” Besides, in Islam men and women are meant to experience sexual fulfillment, and it is considered the husband’s matrimonial duty to satisfy his wife — a near impossible task when a woman is circumcised.

Although the conference’s attendees were generally in agreement over these facts, men repeatedly insisted on defending circumcision as an established custom. “Our women have been circumcised for thousands of years, and they have never complained,” said an agitated elderly man in the audience. The conference, he said, was a Western conspiracy, and showing pictures of circumcisions was a crime.

But the academics and scholars in attendance declared genital circumcision to be a deplorable custom without any basis in religious texts. They called upon the parliaments in the countries where the practice is common to pass laws making genital mutilation a crime.

The Grand Mufti of Egypt signed the resolution the next day. Ali Jumaa declared that he firmly believed that the fight against this terrible custom would succeed. Muslims base much of their behavior on legal opinions issued by religious scholars.

For Rüdiger Nehberg, the adventurer on a crusade for women, the conference represented the fulfillment of a dream. He now plans to “print a small book containing the recommendation and the scholars’ comments and distribute 4 million copies worldwide.”

Click here to view a map of some of the areas where Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practised.

Now if Muslim “scholars” can all agree that killing Jews and Christians is also a terrible custom, then I’ll have some reason to review Islam as a religion, rather than as a political movement.

Click for more information and photos on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).