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By | July 28, 2010 at 1:52 pm | Permalink
New Music Video from Bahrain Teaches Children to Become "Martyrs" For Allah
Please visit the link below for the latest music video targeting children and teaching them to become "martyrs" for Allah. Besides airing on YouTube, the video is currently aired on the Islamic satellite channel for children called "Birds of Paradise" which broadcasts from Bahrain. The children's choir is also called "Birds of Paradise" and the head of the channel, Khalid Maqdad, is a Palestinian Jordanian.
This video was brought to my attention by my colleague Qanta Ahmed, who recently received an email from her friend in Saudi Arabia, lamenting about how his twelve-year-old daughter is being taught in school that "becoming a martyr on the road to freeing Palestine from infidels is the highest and most noble thing..." To the father's dismay, this confused his child whom he has always taught to befriend other children from all faiths, in the father's own words, his daughter's teacher "totally contradicts what I say to her on how its nice to have friends from all over the world regardless of their religion or ethnicity!"
The video is one of the most well produced I have seen to date, the tune is very catchy and note the little girl at the end, who must be no more than four years old...
To view "When We Die As Martyrs" click here.
By | June 21, 2010 at 6:22 pm | Permalink
Qanta Ahmed on Palestinian Media Watch
Just over one week ago, I had the opportunity to share dinner with Qanta Ahmed and Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch (an organization that translates and distributes television and print Palestinian media and school text books.) At the dinner, Itamar shared his recent findings about the hate-filled media organization responsible for indoctrinating innocent Palestinian children towards violence.
Qanta, a female Muslim doctor and author of the book In the Land of Invisible Women, shares her thoughts on meeting Itamar for the first time and his work in her latest article posted on the Huffington Post here, and copied in part below. One reader responded to Qanta's article with a disturbing post to which you may read my reply by scrolling to the end of the article.
The Adventures of Itamar Marcus and the Hamas Bunny: Palestine at Play
It was unusually blustery as I hurried to dinner. I pulled my silk coat closer to my throat, unaware I would soon be as unsettled as the weather. Itamar Marcus was in town, and instructions were that we had to eat "Kosher Kosher."...Something about Itamar was immediately winsome, warm. I liked him at once. Without knowing why, I promptly recognized there was an air of urgency to the evening. Rather like taking a history from a complicated patient, I began peppering him with questions, worried I wouldn't have time to learn everything I needed...Over a decade and a half ago, while working as an advisor for an Israeli ministry, he stumbled upon Arabic medium broadcasts emerging from the Palestinian Authority. In his accidental discovery, he had fallen into an extraordinary abyss, leading headlong into the wellspring of an unparalleled Pop Culture of Death. As he talked, we each fell under his spell, transfixed for long silences as we followed his journey...
Read more of Qanta's article here.
Palestinian Media Watch can be accessed by clicking here.
By | May 18, 2010 at 10:05 pm | Permalink
Invitation to a Beheading: South Waziristan Park, on Steroids (By Qanta Ahmed)
Please see this latest article "Invitation to a Beheading" posted on the Huffington Post by Dr. Qanta Ahmed. The article details an invitation Qanta and I received to watch a video depicting a beheading of an adult male carried out by a child between the ages of 9 to 12. The scene was particularly appalling as the child was too weak to saw off the head of the man being executed, and therefore the gruesome decapitation lasted well over 10 minutes.
To our horror, Qanta and I watched the video. I could not stand the gore and excused myself. I couldn't help noticing however, the fact that while my natural reaction was to be repulsed at such a scene, the child had no such reaction. Rather, he had been accustomed to such violence most likely because he had witnessed it before, either in person or through similar beheading videos, and was therefore desensitized to the blood and tissue that came pouring out of the man's neck. The lack of horror on the child's behalf, and the fervor expressed by screaming of adults who encouraged the child to continue sawing, evidences amongst other things, the level and effects of violent indoctrination aimed at innocent Muslim children.
Please feel free to comment on the post and to forward the article along.
By | May 3, 2010 at 2:10 pm | Permalink
We support the efforts of Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen who has just introduced H.R. 5065, the UNRWA Humanitarian Accountability Act, please write her and express your support as well! This is a very important and timely bill that calls for much needed accountability...See the text below:
Demand Accountability for U.S. Taxpayer Dollars: COSPONSOR THE UNRWA HUMANITARIAN ACCOUNTABILITY ACT (H.R. 5065)From: The Committee on Foreign Affairs - Minority Staff
Sent By: Alan.Goldsmith@mail.house.gov
Bill: H.R. 5065
Date: 4/20/2010
How the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees Spends U.S. Aid:
Hiring Violent Extremists, Condemning Israel, Favoring Hamas
DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR U.S. TAXPAYER DOLLARS:
COSPONSOR THE UNRWA HUMANITARIAN ACCOUNTABILITY ACT (H.R. 5065)
Dear Colleague:
From its creation, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), charged with providing humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees, has taken over $3.6 billion from the U.S., its largest donor.
In return, UNRWA disregards U.S. law by refusing to screen its staff and aid recipients through U.S. watch lists for ties to violent extremist groups like Hamas. As UNRWA's former general counsel wrote, "UNRWA makes no attempt to weed out individuals who support extremist positions."
Indeed, a number of UNRWA personnel have been discovered to be affiliated with Foreign Terrorist Organizations, including Humam al-Balawi, who reportedly carried out a suicide bombing that killed seven Americans and one Jordanian in Afghanistan on December 30, 2009.
Further, UNRWA officials have continued to compromise that agency's strictly humanitarian mandate by engaging in agitation, propaganda, and advocacy on behalf of the Palestinians, displaying public, blatant bias against Israel and in support of Hamas.
UNRWA has repeatedly castigated Israel for her actions to defend innocent civilians from rocket and mortar attacks from violent extremist groups in Gaza, and former UNRWA commissioner-general Karen AbuZayd blamed Israel, not Hamas, for the winter 2009 conflict in Gaza. UNRWA has also urged foreign governments to deal directly with Hamas.
Making matters worse, UNRWA continues to bank with Arab Bank and Commercial Bank of Syria, which the U.S. deems or believes complicit in money laundering and Terror Financing.
Nonetheless, the Administration has chosen to contribute another $95 million to UNRWA in 2010 to date. Further assistance to UNRWA contravenes existing law, undermines U.S. interests, rewards UNRWA's intransigent and unacceptable behavior, and misuses taxpayer dollars.
Therefore, I have introduced the UNRWA Humanitarian Accountability Act (H.R. 5065), which demands accountability for U.S. taxpayer dollars by conditioning assistance to UNRWA on concrete actions by UNRWA to cease its unacceptable behavior and uphold its strictly humanitarian mandate.
To cosponsor or for more information, please contact Alan Goldsmith at X68467.
Sincerely,
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN
Ranking Member
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
By | April 21, 2010 at 3:37 pm | Permalink
The Children's Rights Institute (CRI) - Cardozo Chapter
&
Cardozo Advocates for Kids
Present:
THE UNITED NATIONS & CHILDEN IN ARMED CONFLICT:
A Case of Paralysis or Progress?
Panel Discussion
followed by
Q & A with Renowned Experts
Panelists:
Simon Deng – Former Child Slave; Human Rights Advocate
Dr. David Scharia – Legal officer, Counter-Terrorism
Committee Executive Directorate, United Nations Security Council; Former Senior Deputy Attorney General (Supreme Court), Israel.
[Speaking in his Personal Capacity]
Sapna Zaidi – Editor-in-Chief, Muslim World Today Newspaper;
Director, Islamist Watch at the Middle East Forum
Heather Robinson – Independent Journalist; Middle East Commentator;
Regular Blogger for Huffington Post; Contributor to the American Spectator
Moderator:
Brooke Goldstein – Director, Children's Rights Institute; Director, The Lawfare Project; Human rights attorney; Award-Winning Documentary Film Producer
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
55 Fifth Avenue, New York City
February 8, 2010
5 - 7 PM
Lobby & Moot Court Room
Light food and refreshments will be served.
The event is free of charge and open to the public.
By | January 20, 2010 at 1:34 pm | Permalink
Intimate Dinner Event to Commemorate Signing of UN Declaration of Human Rights
On Thursday December 10th 2009, I will be speaking at an intimate dinner event to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The dinner is sponsored by the group Responsible for Equality and Liberty and will be held in conjunction with similar events taking place across the globe, including in Washington D.C. and Nuremburg, Germany.
The question that will be asked is: "Where has the United Nations gone astray from its originally articulated vision of human rights?"
The event's flyer is available for download in pdf format here. The dinner will take place at Samalita's Restaurant (located at 87th and 1st Avenue) and speakers, beside myself, include award-winning investigative journalist and nationally-syndicated columnist Joel Mowbray and New York City based journalist Heather Robinson whose writings focus on human rights and Middle East politics, including pro-democracy movements in the Muslim world.
The cost to attend the dinner is $30, which includes a three-course meal. There are vegetarian options available at dinner.
To RSVP and for more information, please email redtulips@gmail.com.
Hope to see you there!
By | December 2, 2009 at 1:05 pm | Permalink
New Documentary on the U.N.
Finally, a new documentary has just premiered, co-produced by my friend Ami Hortowitz, entitled "UN ME."
"The film exposes the incompetence and corruption at the heart of the United Nations, while filmmakers Ami Horowitz and Matthew Groff show how an organization created to ennoble mankind now actually enables evil and sows global chaos…"
Be sure to watch the trailer here.
And to everyone, a happy and healthy thanksgiving!
By | November 24, 2009 at 3:12 pm | Permalink
Save the Date: Dec 10th 2009 R.E.A.L Event on the United Nations
Mark your calendars for Dec 10th 2009, the anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. To commemorate, I will be speaking at an event hosted by the organization Responsible for Equality and Liberty (R.E.A.L.). REAL is putting on a global awareness campaign about the United Nations failure to uphold the very principles it enshrined on December 10, 1948. Specifically, I will be speaking about how UNRWA is complicit in the brainwashing and indoctrination of Palestinian children, and about the hypocrisy and bias that dominates UN Resolutions against Israel, culminating in what I see as a form of "lawfare" against the sovereign state. (That is, the use of the law as a weapon of war to delegitimize Israel's right to self-defense.) More on the location and time of this event to come…
By | November 24, 2009 at 3:11 pm | Permalink
Shabbat with Chabad
This Friday night (Nov 20th) I will be the guest speaker at a Shabbat dinner hosted by the Chabad Israel Center. The official invitation can be viewed here. Please feel free to come and to forward the invitation on to those of your friends who may be interested in attending.
I would also like to share a short transcript of a recent interview the BBC published with a young boy who was beaten, drugged and forced to become a suicide bomber by the Taliban. Fortunately he managed to flee to safety and is now being held in the custody of the Pakistani army. For the text as well as a video of the interview, please see here (note the interview with the boy starts around the 2 minute mark in the video.)
Always be sure to check out CRI's News & Videos page here for the most up-to-date tracking of events, articles and issues related to child suicide bombing.
By | November 15, 2009 at 6:45 pm | Permalink
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