Libyan Muslims Destroy Graves of British War Dead

Chinese Muslims Slash 12 to Death with Knives

(BEIJING) — Officials on Thursday raised the death toll from a clash this week in China's heavily Muslim far west to 20, with police having shot a higher number of assailants from the Uighur ethnic group than previously reported.

The Xinjiang province's state-run website said nine assailants charged and slashed a crowd of civilians during Tuesday's violence in the Xinjiang community of Yecheng, killing 13 and injuring many others. Police then fatally shot seven attackers and detained two others, the report said.

Earlier state media reports put the overall toll at 12, describing it as a terrorist attack and saying 10 civilians and two assailants were killed. However, an overseas Uighur group, the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, said local Muslims were lashing out over government oppression and that most victims were armed Chinese security personnel.

U.S. government-backed broadcaster Radio Free Asia quoted a local government official who described the immediate aftermath of the attack, saying that people were screaming and trying to flee the scene, a pedestrian shopping street. The official, identified as the head of Yecheng county's land management department and named Abdukeyim, described the attackers as Uighurs and the victims as being from the country's Han Chinese majority.

Washington-based Radio Free Asia also cited local residents as saying that an influx of Chinese migrants into the area had bred resentment among Muslim Uighurs who felt disadvantaged in the competition for jobs.

The bloodshed late Tuesday came at a sensitive time, ahead of next week's opening of China's national legislature, when authorities tighten security nationwide to prevent anything that would mar the annual session.

The government has failed to win over Uighurs and other ethnic minorities through policies to boost economic growth and incomes as it increases police presence and controls religious practices to deter displays of separatism. China's ethnic Tibetan regions have also been unsettled in recent months by scattered demonstrations and clashes with authorities, as well as self-immolations in protest against the government's policies.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2107987,00.html#ixzz1ntJmCRFQ

Muslims "Refuse" to Integrate, German Study Finds

Nearly every fourth non-German Muslim rejects integration, questions western values and tends to accept violence, according to a study commissioned by the German Interior Ministry and released late Thursday morning. 

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said the study's results were worrying, according to in an interview published on Thursday.

“Germany respects the background and cultural identity of its immigrants. But we don’t accept the importation of authoritarian, anti-democratic and religiously fanatical points of view,” Friedrich told the Bild newspaper.

Whoever fights against freedom and democracy will not have a future here, said the minister - a member of the ruling Christian Democratic Union’s sister party, the Christian Social Union.

The survey showed that of Muslims living in Germany who were not German citizens, 52 percent favored integration, while 48 percent “strongly leaned toward separation” and clearly rejected German majority culture.

But when taking into account both Muslims who were German citizens and those who were not, the figure rose to 78 percent in favor of integration, versus 22 percent who favoured a more separatist approach.

The interior ministry’s study, “The Daily Life of Young Muslims in Germany” surveyed Muslims between 14 and 32 who had not become German citizens. It also interviewed several generations of Muslims living in Germany and evaluated television programmes.

There are currently around four million Muslims living in Germany, of which nearly half are German citizens.

The survey also showed that among the 14 to 32-year-olds there exists a "subgroup" of religious extremists who hold anti-western views and are reportedly prepared to use violence.

This group amounts to about 15 percent of Muslims with German citizenship and about 24 percent for Muslims who are not German.

Hans-Peter Uhl, the domestic affairs spokesman of the CDU/CSU faction in the German parliament, the Bundestag, told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung that the high number of Muslims who don’t want to integrate is “alarming.”

“Rejecting integration can, but it doesn’t have to, provide fertile ground for religious fanaticism and terrorism,” Uhl said in an article published Thursday. Uhl is calling for non-German Muslims to show proof of their integration.

The study was criticized by the Free Democratic Party, the government's junior coalition partner.

"I have to wonder that the BMI (Interior Ministry) used taxpayers' money to finance a study that produces headlines but no findings," said Serkan Tören, the FDP's parliamentary faction speaker for domestic politics.

Tören said religious commitment among young Muslims is often an "empty shell" that has nothing to do with actual religious practice but with "provocation and cultural segregation."

The German-Turkish politician said there is no automatic connection between religion and violence. "Other studies and my personal experience show that."

Wolfgang Frindte, a psychologist and a key investigator for the study, said its results did not surprise him.

He told news magazine Spiegel Online that the number of Muslims living in Germany who hold radical views is decreasing, as more Muslims distance themselves significantly from Islamic terrorism.

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Israeli-Arab Supreme Court Justice Refuses to Sing the National Anthem

Arab citizens of Israel have more freedom than any other Arabs in the world.  Logic would dictate that they would show some appreciation for that freedom.  No such luck for Israel,  instead of embracing Israeli democracy and building it up, Arabs who rise to high levels in the society use their positions to undermine the State of Israel and its freedoms.

Israeli Arab Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran was facing major criticism after he failed to sing Israel's national anthem at the closing of an official ceremony to mark the end of former Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch's term in office.

The anthem was sung at the closing of the special event on Tuesday and as all the judges were standing together facing the crowd – for the traditional group photo – it was easily noticeable that Joubran chose not to join his colleagues in song.

Instead, the Arab justice chose to stand silently beside them.

Joubran's associates rejected the criticism, however, saying that in the name of freedom of expression there is no problem with a judge who apparently does not believe in the Zionist national anthem and chooses not to sing it.

Referring to the issue Wednesday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the judge should address his "split personality" and that he would hopefully "draw his own conclusions," as one cannot be a Supreme Court justice while shunning Israel's national anthem.

Number of Mosques in America Increases by 74% Since 2000

This article interprets the dramatic increase in the number of mosques in America as a sure-fired sign of rapid Muslim integration.   Therefore, those of us who are worried about Islam in the West are merely alarmist Islamaphobes.  

However, Muslims see the construction of mosques as a sign of Islamization and so do I.

While protests against new mosques in New York, Tennessee and California made headlines, the overall number of mosques quietly rose from 1,209 in 2000 to 2,106 in 2010.

And most of their leaders say American society is not hostile to Islam, according to a comprehensive census of U.S. mosques and survey of imams, mosque presidents and board members released Wednesday.

"This is a very healthy community," said lead researcher and study author Ihsan Bagby, an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky.

They're also very engaged: The study finds "98% of mosque leaders say Muslims should be involved in American institutions and 91% agree that Muslims should be involved in politics."

The study — The American Mosque 2011 — was sponsored by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research (Hartford Seminary), the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, as well as the nation's largest Islamic civic and religious groups, including the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Muslims feared being "marginalized, demonized and isolated" after 9/11, said Safaa Zarzour, secretary general of the Islamic Society. But the new study shows they have "kept their eyes on the prize — becoming part of mainstream America."

Major findings include:

•States with the most mosques are New York (257), California (246) and Texas (166).

•Most mosques are in cities, but 28% were in suburban sites in 2010, up from 16% in 2000.

•Mosques are ethnically diverse. The major participants are South Asians, Arabs and African Americans, with growing numbers of new immigrants including Somalis, West Africans and Iraqis. The study did not include Nation of Islam mosques because it is a separate religion.

•Most mosque leaders (87%) say "radicalism and extremism" are not increasing among Muslim youth, "in their own experience." They say the greater challenge is "attracting and keeping them close to the mosque."

All religious groups should be worried about losing their youth, said David Roozen, who directs the Hartford Institute, which overseas an every-decade look at the growth and health of U.S. religious congregations, Faith Communities Today.

Islam will continue to grow, he said, and the old summation of American religion -- Protestant, Catholic, Jew — may soon be revised. But it won't be Protestant, Catholic Muslim, Roozen said.

"The fastest growing group of all is those with no religion," Roozen said.

Although the study does not claim to say how many Muslims are in the USA, Bagby estimates there are 2.6 million "mosque participants" — people who have attended prayers for Eid (a major holy day) or Friday prayers or were considered participants by the mosque leader survey.

Bagby says he reached the number by taking mosque attendance reported by the leadership and multiplying the average number of attendees by the number of mosques.

Bagby's report concludes, "If there are 2.6 million Muslims who pray the Eid prayer, then the total Muslim population should be closer to estimates (by Bagby) of up to 7 million."

No other survey projects even 3 million Muslims in the USA.

For example, a 2010 survey on global Muslim population by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found there were 2.6 million Muslims, including adults and children, in the country. And a 2011 survey by the same research group found 2.75 million Muslims, including 1.8 million adults.

Bagby disputes other studies, saying they underestimate because they are based on random phone interviews and many Muslims, particularly immigrants, will not discuss their religion with a stranger on the phone.

However, the Pew research, which included phone interviews in four languages, also synthesized data from the Census Bureau and immigration authorities. Pew used country-of-birth information with data from surveys on the percentage of people from each country, or group of countries, who belong to various faiths.

Drunk Palestinian Hijacks Bus in Norway

A 24-year-old Palestinian man has admitted he was behind the hijacking of a bus on Monday evening in an incident that left passengers terrified in Skien, south-eastern Norway.

The hellish episode began at around 7.30pm when the man refused to buy a ticket and instead threatened the driver with an emergency hammer he found on-board the bus.

The 24-year-old then declined to let any of the passengers off the coach.

”He told the driver he was not allowed to drive at less than 60 kilometres per hour. It was a scary experience,” one passenger, Sandra Svendsen, told newspaper VG.

Svendsen, 15, said she and her fellow passengers believed the hijacker was intoxicated. After several minutes had passed, one passenger shouted out that he had to pick up his children.

The hijacker then gave the driver permission to stop the bus. Sensing their opportunity, and much to the hijacker’s dismay, all of the passenger quickly slipped out of the bus once it had come to a halt.

”He became furious. He shouted to the driver:’ Don’t let them off, don’t let them off’,” said Svendsen.

Alone with the driver, the hijacker ordered his to continue the journey. By then, the police had begun to give chase, eventually catching up with the bus at nearby Bjørnstad.

Once the bus had stopped the 24-year-old took to his heels . He was arrested at 8pm, around 700 metres from where the bus had pulled in.

Police said the driver had emerged physically unscathed.

”But he was very shaken by the incident,” said investigating officer Jens Arne Bærland.

Prosecutor Odd Skei Kostveit said the 24-year-old hijacker was a stateless Palestinian who lived in Porsgrunn but did not have a Norwegian passport.

Police have encountered the man on several occasions previously in connection with intoxication and public order offences,

”The man appeared intoxicated on Monday evening and was recently released from psychiatric care,” said Kostveit.

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In Egypt, Islamic Jihad against Christians on the Rise

Thankfully stories such as the one below are becoming increasingly common in the mainstream media.  Granted, the jihad against the Coptic Christians of Egypt is still reported as "sectarian violence."  But the clear victim of this "sectarianism" can no longer be ignored by the liberal media which are normally desperate to see the causes of conflict in the world coming from multiple "complex" and equally guilty sources.  This journalistic cover up becomes especially acute when covering stories about Muslims killing people who are not Muslims.


The sad plight of the Copts has a single cause and that is Islamic jihad and Muslim bigotry for other religions which is deeply embedded in the Koran and in the minds of those who read it.

Blackened rubble is all that is left of Abskharon Suleiman's appliance store in the northern Egyptian village of Sharbat.

Suleiman is a Coptic Christian, and his upstairs apartment, as well as his children's homes and shops, were gutted and looted in an attack last month by young Muslim men.

In Egypt, growing tensions between Muslims and Christians have led to sporadic violence. Many Egyptians blame the interreligious strife on hooligans taking advantage of absent or weak security forces. Others believe it's because of a deep-seated mistrust between Muslims and the minority Christian community.

The incident in the rural community of Sharbat started as most interreligious clashes in Egypt do — with a rumor of an illicit liaison between members of different religious sects.

In this case, it was about a Coptic Christian man and Muslim woman, each of them married to someone else, explains Muslim merchant Magdy Abu Sheashaa.

He claims the man had suggestive photos of the woman on his phone, though neither he nor anyone else interviewed actually saw the pictures.

The rumor was enough to send a frenzied mob to the alleged offender's house on Jan. 27. That building was near Suleiman's property.

Abu Sheashaa says Suleiman's grown sons fired handguns into the air to try to disperse the crowd. The mob then shouted insults at the Coptic family and demanded they leave the village where they had lived for two decades.

"They threw rocks through the windows and set our building on fire. I was sure we were going to die," says Um Suleiman, the elderly wife of the merchant.

Police Didn't Act

Witnesses say police officers who came did nothing. Instead, Muslim neighbors and friends of Suleiman intervened. They formed a protective cordon around the Christians and brought them to Magdy Abu Sheashaa's home.

They threw rocks through the windows and set our building on fire. I was sure we were going to die.

- Um Suleiman, an elderly Christian woman whose home was recently burned down by a mob of Muslim men

Abu Sheashaa says a group of Muslim elders later came to express their sympathy to his Coptic friend. But they also urged him to move out like the mob was demanding.

The elders said they felt it was no longer safe for Suleiman and his family to stay in Sharbat.

They stayed with Muslim friends for a while, then moved into a cramped apartment an hour's drive away.

Suleiman's eldest son says they want to go back home.

But they are afraid of being attacked again, he says, even though a committee sent by the Egyptian parliament decreed last week that the family has the right to live in Sharbat.

Ihab Ramzy, a Coptic Christian lawmaker who was a member of the committee, says he understands the family's fears.

Islamists Will Hold Power

Islamists won Egypt's recent parliamentary elections, and this has created a feeling of helplessness in the Coptic Christian community.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which is the strongest Islamist faction, has vowed to protect Christians and other minorities. And Egyptian experts and human rights activists say there is no evidence of any official or organized effort to terrorize Christians.

"Is there an extremist wave that is identifying Christians and trying to drive them out of Egypt? Personally, I doubt it, but you know, maybe I'm naive," says Mahmoud Sabit, an Egyptian historian who lives in Cairo.

Sabit says Copts get nervous when Islamist candidates talk about incorporating more Islamic law, or Shariah, into Egyptian society.

"So this I think is one of their great fears, is a reversal and suddenly finding themselves ... as second-class citizens," he says.

Most Copts, like the Suleiman family, refuse to discuss those fears publicly.

But last December on a talk show on Egyptian TV, a Christian caller who gave her name as Mervat accused the guest — an ultra-conservative Salafist — of trying to drive Christians out of Egypt.

The Coptic Christian caller accuses Hazem Salah Abu Ismail — who is a presidential candidate — of inciting hatred and violence by demanding women wear veils and Egyptians not drink alcohol. She argues that if Christians don't comply, they will be attacked.

Friction In Southern Egypt

Alfy Adly, a Coptic who is an obstetrician, says such attacks are already happening in his hometown of Qena in the south.

He recounts how a Salafist mob cut off the ear of a Coptic landlord and drove out the Coptic governor last year.

He adds that one extremist in his neighborhood has been stalking his family and has threatened to kill his daughter. Adly videotaped some of this on his cellphone:

In the tape, the man screams: "I will kill her under the stairs here, I will show you. I swear to my mother I will kill you, you are dirt."

The man then breaks the door to Adly's house.

Adly says he's gone to the police in Qena numerous times with such evidence, but nothing has been done.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, an activist group, has been tracking attacks on minorities, including Christians.

Its director, Hossam Bahgat, says he understands their frustration over the lack of justice. He says it's also troubling that some Christians are resorting to violence to fight back.

But he adds that the revolution last year that ousted then-President Hosni Mubarak has made Egyptians much more aware of interreligious strife, and willing to help those being attacked.

"The positive sign, of course, is that there is an ever-growing movement of primarily young people who are willing now to defend these values against any attack or push-back," he says.

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