EU APPROACH TO ISLAM

Strong earthquake strikes Mexico
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 has struck southern Mexico.

The quake hit the southern state of Chiapas just after 2000 (0100GMT Friday) causing a widespread power cut and panic among residents. The United States Geological Survey says the epicentre was around 40 km (25 miles) from the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez. Mexican television says no major damage or injuries have been reported so far, and that some buildings were evacuated. Electricity and mobile telephone services were knocked out for about 10 minutes in Tuxtla Gutierrez, as well as other areas near the border with Guatemala.

Minor injuries

In the centre of the capital, thousands of people ran out of their homes and offices as the ground trembled, windows were broken and decorative ceilings fell, causing minor injuries. Authorities in three states ordered evacuations of buildings and businesses. Emergency services in Chiapas said they were sweeping the area to look for damage around the epicentre, close to the border with the neighbouring state of Oaxaca. Chiapas is Mexico's main coffee growing region and was badly hit by landslides and flooding following Hurricane Stan in 2005.

Brussels questions EU capitals over approach to Islam
06.07.2007 - 17:52 CET | By Renata Goldirova

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Following failed car bomb attacks at two UK airports leading to the arrest of Muslim suspects, Brussels is pooling ideas on how to tackle radical Islam and create a more tolerant European branch of the faith. EU home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini is sending out an 18 question survey seen by EUobserver asking EU capitals how they address violent radicalisation, mainly related to an abusive interpretation of Islam. Unfortunately, one of the great religions of the world Islam is being abused to foster a new totalitarian ideology that challenges our way of life, Mr Frattini told journalists earlier this week (3 July).

We have to find out what member states are doing here, to see how to learn from one another namely, to protect the vast majority of Muslims who deplore this perversion of their religion, he added. According to Brussels, the questionnaire is particularly designed to bring more clarity and transparency to mosques on EU territory including how they are financed as well as how their imams are recruited and trained. Those propagating violent extremist ideologies of some kind may try to influence education establishments, the paper notes, asking EU states what policies or practical initiatives have you adopted in order to ensure that education establishments are not vulnerable to this type of influence?. It continues by asking what policies are adopted on funding and supervision of religious schools, as well as what requirements are set by the state on the functions of a religious leader.It also asks how EU member states are trying to diminish the threat of a radical having access to any form of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear scientific knowledge. EU states are expected to reply by the end of September. The answers will then feed into a commission document, due for publication in 2008, that will present an EU-wide strategy on violent radicatization.

European Islam

In addition, Mr Frattini is set to pursue and further the idea of establishing a so-called European Islam or Islam de l'Europe something floated by France's then interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy in 2006. That is quite difficult and ambitious, but the time has come to put on the table a political discussion to protect the large majority of Muslims living here peacefully who deplore and fight against radicalisation and the distortion of Islam for purposes of violence and hatred, Mr Frattini said. The concept is to have Islam fully and unambiguously respecting values and sanctity of life cherished in Europe, Mr Frattini's spokesperson said on the idea, referring to everything mentioned in the Charter of Fundamental Rights document laying out the economic, social and civic rights of EU citizens.

Mosque reality

Meanwhile, a BBC commissioned report has unveiled that only eight percent of imams preaching in British mosques were born in the UK, while only six percent of them speak English as a first language. Fifty percent of Muslim preachers come from Pakistan, twenty percent from Bangladesh and fifteen percent from India. The study reveals a deeply conservative body of individuals maintaining traditional languages, types of qualification and still largely recruited from the place of origin, the report's author, professor Ron Geaves, was cited as saying by the BBC.In addition, the study has shown that while the imams are well-qualified in the traditional Islamic curriculum, they lack the skills to adapt to modern society. Although there are social religious and political reasons that drive a need to transform the Imamate to a 21st century British context there is as yet little sign of the mosque imams or their employers being ready to professionalise, Mr Geaves said.

Moshe Feiglin Climbs into 2nd Place in the Likud Primary

Jerusalem, July 6, 2007 …Following is a statement issued by Moshe Feiglin, President of Manhigut Yehudit, the largest faction inside the Likud party in Israel, on the results of a recent Israel Radio poll: According to the Israel Radio Channel 2 poll results released on July 5, 2007, Manhigut Yehudit President Moshe Feiglin has pulled into the second place position ahead of former Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in the Likud primary for the party Chairmanship by a score of 14% to 8%. The winner of this election gains the right to run for the office of Prime Minister of the State of Israel from the Likud party. In the last primary in 2005, the first such poll showed Mr. Feiglin with 3% of the vote and he finished with 14%. If this trend continues in the current race, Moshe Feiglin will emerge victorious over the current leader, former Prime Minister Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu. Bibi Netanyahu continues to cling to the now-disgraced logic of the Oslo Accords and Israeli retreat. He clings to the dream of strengthening the moderate PLO whose ruling body was founded by Adolf Hitler’s close associate in fomenting the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem and Yasser Arafat’s mentor, Hajj Amin al Husseini in order to have yet another terror state created in the Biblical Heartland of the Jewish People, in what is commonly known as the West Bank.

Mr. Netanyahu’s insane and reckless policies will surely continue the proven formula that shows that the more land Israel gives away, the more Jews die. Moshe Feiglin's belief-based approach is the ONLY alternative leadership being presented to the Israeli public which opposes these failed policies. His future victory will provide new hope to Jews worldwide. Manhigut Yehudit is the largest faction inside the Likud party, and strives to Turn the State of the Jews into The Jewish State. Am Yisrael Chai.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Jewish leader: Israel should not be state for Jews, Former Knesset member urges Israelis to obtain foreign passports - July 6, 2007 - by Aaron Klein WorldNetDaily.com

TEL AVIV – A former Knesset member, international leftist Jewish leader and senior activist of Israel's peace camp, which seeks Israeli retreats from strategic territory, wants Israel to cease being a Jewish state and encourages all Israelis to obtain foreign passports. To define the state of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end. A Jewish state is explosive. It's dynamite, said Avraham Burg, an activist in the Peace Now movement and a former Knesset member from Israel's leftist Labor party. Burg, speaking to Israel's Haaretz newspaper, also served as chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, both of which are major Jewish organizations. The leftist Israeli leader said Israel should learn from the assimilation and inter-marriage of Jews in the U.S., where Jewish individuals marrying non-Jews has become a major phenomenon.

Just as there was something astonishing about German Jewry, in America, too, they created the potential for something astonishing. They created a situation in which the goy (non-Jew) can be my father and my mother and my son and my partner, Burg said. The goy (in America) is not hostile but embracing. And as a result, what emerges is a Jewish experience of integration, not separation. Burg criticized what he called Israelis' closed conception of religion, which he stated is orthodox, not humanist and not universal. He said other alternatives to Judaism must be offered.
Burg went on to call for the abrogation of Israel's Law of Return, which allows all Jews seeking sanctuary in Israel to become citizens. The law helped Jews facing persecution in countries such as Germany, Russia and Yemen. Burg compared the Law of Return, which singles out Jews, to rule under Nazi Germany.

The Law of Return is an apologetic law. It is the mirror image of Hitler. I don't want Hitler to define my identity. Burg then compelled Israelis to follow in his footsteps and obtain foreign passports. Burg left Israeli politics in 2004 and now is a citizen of France. He is still active as a leader in Israel's peace camp, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state and Israeli evacuations of the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Israel retreated from Gaza in 2005. Since then, Hamas took over Gaza and rockets have been regularly fired from the territory into nearby Jewish population centers. The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory bordering Syria and Lebanon and looking down on Israeli population centers. The Heights was twice used by Damascus to launch invasions into the Jewish state. The West Bank borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport.

EU to cut down mission at Gaza-Egypt border
07 Jul 2007 11:21:36 GMT Source: Reuters

JERUSALEM, July 7 (Reuters) - The European Union's monitoring mission at the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt will be reduced because it is unclear when the crossing will be reopened, a mission spokeswoman said on Saturday. Some 87 EU monitors and supervisors have been overseeing the Rafah crossing with Egypt under an agreement that took effect in November 2005 to help open up Gaza after Israel withdrew from the territory nearly two years ago. The spokeswoman said the number of monitors based in Israel would be cut back because Rafah has been closed since June 9 and because of the uncertainty about the future of the crossing following Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip on June 14. We are not foreseeing a return to normalcy in the near future, the spokeswoman said. She added that enough of the monitors would remain on standby to reopen the crossing on short notice if the situation allows.

We are maintaining ... our full operational capabilities in case the border is reopened, she said. It is unclear how many of the European monitors will be sent home. Hamas Islamists seized control of Gaza after weeks of fierce fighting with forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the secular Fatah faction. The European Union, the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said he would travel to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Sunday to visit thousands of Palestinians stranded there. There are many sick people who need care, he said.
Since Hamas's takeover, Gaza's main border crossings have largely been closed, including the Rafah crossing with Egypt, drawing criticism from some aid groups.
Proposals to open Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, instead of Rafah, to allow thousands of Palestinians to reenter Gaza ran into opposition last week from Hamas.

Pope revives old Latin Mass in concession to tradition; denies rollback of Vatican II - July 7, 2007 04:39 PM EDT

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday removed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass, reviving a rite that was all but swept away by the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The decision, a victory for traditional, conservative Roman Catholics, came over the objections of liberal-minded Catholics and angered Jews because the Tridentine Mass contains a prayer for their conversion. Benedict, who stressed that he was not negating Vatican II, issued a document authorizing parish priests to celebrate the Tridentine rite if a stable group of faithful requests it. Currently, the local bishop must approve such requests an obstacle that supporters of the rite say has greatly limited its availability. What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred and great for us, too, Benedict wrote.

The document upset Jews, since the Tridentine rite contains a prayer on Good Friday of Easter Week calling for their conversion. The Anti-Defamation League called the move a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations, the Jewish news agency JTA reported.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Benedict to publicly point out that such phrases are now entirely contrary to the teaching of the church. In reviving the rite, Benedict was reaching out to the followers of an excommunicated ultratraditionalist, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who split with the Vatican over Vatican II, particularly the introduction of the New Mass celebrated in the vernacular. The Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre in 1988 after he consecrated four bishops without Rome's consent. The bishops were excommunicated as well.

Benedict has been eager to reconcile with Lefebvre's group, the Society of St. Pius X, which has demanded freer use of the old Mass as a precondition for normalizing relations. The other precondition is the removal of the excommunication decrees. The Vatican did not address the excommunication issue Saturday and there was no indication if or when it would. The current head of the society, Bishop Bernard Fellay, welcomed Benedict's document in a statement. He said he hoped that the favorable climate established by the new dispositions of the Holy See would eventually allow other doctrinal disputes that emerged from Vatican II to be discussed, including ecumenism, religious liberty and the sharing of power with bishops. The old rite differs significantly from the New Mass. In addition to the Latin, the prayers and readings are different, and the priest faces the altar, to be seen as leading the faithful in prayer.

Benedict, a conservative theologian, has made no secret of his affinity for the Tridentine rite and has long said the faithful should have greater access to it. But more liberal Catholics have suggested that in liberalizing the use of the rite, Benedict was sending a strong message that Vatican II was not the break from the past that some view it as being. In addition to Jewish concerns, bishops in France and liberal-minded clergy and faithful elsewhere expressed concerns that allowing freer use of the Tridentine liturgy would imply a negation of Vatican II and create divisions in parishes since two different liturgies would be celebrated. Benedict said those fears were unfounded in a letter to bishops accompanying the Latin text.
He said the New Mass remained the normal form of Mass while the Tridentine version was an extraordinary one that would probably only be sought by a few Catholics.

The document doesn't impose any return to the past, it doesn't mean any weakening of the authority of the council nor the authority and responsibility of bishops, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said. However, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, the head of the French bishops' conference, warned that the move will create divisions. There will be resistance from both sides, he told Le Monde. The liberal lay church group We Are Church said that the move represented a step back from Vatican II and could set an even more conservative direction for the church. It warned of a new split within many parishes, diocese and finally the entire Roman Catholic Church. It is to be feared that while it appears to only be about the old Mass, in reality it is an attempt to set the Catholic Church on a new old course, the group said.

Ricard, speaking on France-Info radio Saturday, said the move does not mean the entire church is becoming more fundamentalist. Just because you have in a family a cousin who is a bit different, whom you tolerate and accept, doesn't mean that the whole family adopts his positions or his way of life, he said. The document was welcomed by traditional Catholics who remained in good standing with Rome but simply preferred the Tridentine liturgy and have long complained that bishops had been stingy in allowing it, said Michael Dunnigan, chairman of Una Voce America, the largest lay organization in the United States dedicated to promoting wider access to the traditional Mass. The traditional Mass is a true a gem of the church's heritage, and the Holy Father has taken the most important step toward making it available to many more of the faithful, he said.

Gov't Votes to Free 250 Terrorists
by Hillel Fendel (JULY 8,07 INN)

The government, in its Sunday morning weekly session, approved the release of 250 convicted Arab terrorists from prison, as a goodwill gesture to PA chief Abu Mazen. Only terrorists without blood on their hands are to be released. Some of the terrorists being freed attempted to murder Israelis but missed their targets.Voting against the proposal were Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, the four Shas ministers (Yishai, Attias, Nahari and Yitzchak Cohen), and Tourism Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch of Yisrael Beiteinu. Yisrael Beiteinu leader Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman was not present, but voted in writing against the deal.
Shas ministers stated that if Arab terrorists are freed, Jews in prison for security-related crimes should also be released.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted at the cabinet session that releasing the 250 terrorists will not convince Hamas and Hizbullah terrorists to free their IDF hostages. He explained that the move was a good will gesture to support Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas’s new government. I have come to the conclusion that releasing the prisoners will not affect the chances of bringing Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser home, said Olmert. The families of all three captives are in France to attend a rally calling for the freedom of their loved ones, who were kidnapped in the south and north by terrorists last summer. The families will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Monday. Minister Mofaz said the decision was pointless, in that releasing 250 small-fry would not help Abu Mazen at all. He predicted that in any event, Hamas and Fatah would re-unite within several months.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) at their summit in Sharm el-Sheikh two weeks ago that he would release the terrorists. The Cabinet did not discuss the specific terrorists who are to be freed. The General Security Service (Shabak) provided Olmert with a list of terrorists that could be released, but Olmert returned the list. He said it contained mostly terrorists who are to be freed within a short time in any event, and that releasing such terrorists would not help Abu Mazen. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter agreed, saying that the release of terrorists whose jail terms end within 2-3 years would actually hurt the PA chief. Dichter also noted that “none of the gestures we made since 1994 (releasing terrorists in exchange for Israeli hostages, dead or alive) ever resulted in any PA action against terror.

My promise was given after a careful investigation and consultations, Olmert said. I have no illusions that this very gesture will change the situation in the Middle East. However, we hope to be able to use every means that can strengthen and encourage the moderate elements in the Palestinian Authority, so that we can go in the direction of creating conditions of real dialogue.This strengthening the moderates strategy has governed much of Israeli policy since the signing of the Oslo Accords with Yasser Arafat in 1993. Ever since then, the Fatah terrorist organization has received guns and money that were used to murder hundreds of Israelis, has refused to change its charter calling for Israel's destruction, and has lost control of Gaza to Hamas. Fatah Charter Article 15 states: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the liquidation of the Zionist presence in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation peoples and governments with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. MK Effie Eitam (National Union) called upon Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu to quit the coalition following today's decision. His party colleague MK Aryeh Eldad said that the release of the 250 terrorists to the scarecrow Abu Mazen is political and ethical bankruptcy on the part of the Prime Minister.

Cal Thomas criticized, commended for telling it like it is about Islam
Chad Groening and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow.com - July 9, 2007

Recent comments about Islam by nationally syndicated columnist and commentator Cal Thomas have brought sharp criticism from a U.S.-based pro-Muslim lobbying group and praise from the head of a Minnesota-based pro-Israel ministry. In a July 2 commentary aired on radio station WTOP in Washington, DC, Thomas discussed the recent car-bomb terror plots that were thwarted in Great Britain. Eight Muslims are in custody in connection with the attacks; most of them worked for Britain's health service and come from countries in the Middle East and India. How much longer should we allow people from certain lands, with certain beliefs to come to Britain and America and build their mosques, teach hate, and plot to kill us? Thomas asked in his radio commentary. Not all Muslims from the Middle East and southeast Asia want to kill us, he conceded, but those who do blend in with those who don't. Would anyone tolerate a slow-spreading cancer because it wasn't fast-spreading? Probably not. You'd want it removed. Two days later, the same radio station carried a response to Thomas's remarks from Ibrahim Hooper with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that exists to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America through media relations, lobbying, education, and advocacy. Ibrahim Hooper, one of the founders of the group who now serves as national director for communications, spoke on behalf of CAIR.

I would imagine that [Cal Thomas's] next step is the expulsion of the Muslim-American community, said Hooper. We condemn extremism. We've condemned terrorism. We've issued dozens of condemnations on dozens of terrorism attacks. But guys like Thomas come along and want to say every Muslim should be suspect and should be treated in a certain way, the CAIR spokesman continued. That's not just and that's not the American way. Hooper also accused Thomas of spreading misinformation, referring to him as an Islamaphobe and labeled Muslims who commit terrorist acts as a tiny minority of people who are misusing the faith. More often than not, he added, the people who do these types of things are going even to listen to me. WTOP permitted Thomas to respond to CAIR's comments on July 4. The syndicated columnist took the opportunity to say that the U.S. has had its share of disinformation people,implying that Hooper and CAIR are among them. Such groups, said Thomas, argue that there's no real threat and the real threat are the people who are pointing it out, not the people who are plotting to destroy us.

He also noted that several prominent liberal Democrat leaders in the U.S. Senate have expressed their concerns about CAIR, pointing out the group's extreme rhetoric [Dick Durbin of Illinois] as well as ties to terrorism and intimate links to Hamas [New York's Charles Schumer]. The truth hurts, Thomas concluded in his follow-up remarks on WTOP. I'm not making this stuff up...we gotta connect the dots. It's a little late after things begin to explode. Jan Markell is founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries, a pro-Israel ministry based in Maple Grove, Minnesota. She is praising Thomas for taking a firm stand on the issue of Muslim terrorism. I am just thankful that there are a few people out there like Cal Thomas who will tell it like it is, says Markell, because I'm still waiting for some sort of a rally by Muslims, particularly in America, who are going to start demonstrating against the violence. I don't see it happening.

And she contends the far left in America has not made the connection, even after decades of debate. I think that political correctness has America's highest leaders today, as we speak, saying once again a great religion has been hijacked.That is nonsense, says Markell. I'm with Cal Thomas. Tell it like it is or in 20 years, we don't have a country. Thomas also suggested that the United States needs to monitor Muslims more closely. Markell says she does not find it surprising that the Council on American-Islamic Relations views Thomas' aired comments as incitement against Muslims.2007 American Family News Network