April 16, 2007

A moment of silence for Virginia Tech...

Association for World Education Appeals to UN to Repudiate Hamas’ Incitements to Commit Genocide

The Association for World Education issued the following statement today. (No link - provided to this site by Mr. David Littman, one of the authors of the document).

ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION

WORLD UNION FOR PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

INTERNATIONAL HUMANIST AND ETHICAL UNION

Palais des Nations, Geneva, Monday, 16 April 2007 (11:00 a.m.)

 

Appeal to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour

To speak out unequivocally to the PA against any “direct and public incitement to commit genocide”(IIIc)

Madam, on 30 March 2007 – the last day of the fourth session of the Human Rights Council – Hamas spokesman Dr. Ismail Radwan ended his “prayers to Allah” in a sermon with these words, broadcast on the Palestinian Authority’s TV:

“The Hour [Resurrection] will not come until the Muslims will fight the Jews and the Muslims will kill them, and the rock and the tree will say: ‘Oh, Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him!’” And he concluded, to a packed mosque audience, with a call for “Jihad-fighting worshippers”:
“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. It will not be liberated through negotiations, but through the rifle, since this occupation knows no language but the language of force…O Allah, strengthen Islam and Muslims, and bring victory to your Jihad-fighting worshippers, in Palestine and everywhere… Allah take the oppressor Jews and Americans and their supporters!” (Cf. Charter, art. 13)

The relevant video of this sermon can be seen on the Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin (12 April 2007)
http://bp1.blogger.com/_Av6IV14Ta1A/...

Madam, we wish to draw your attention again to article III (c) of the Genocide Convention, which states clearly that: “Direct and public incitement to commit genocide” shall be punishable. Since 1989 we have frequently warned the Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission on Human Rights, and for the past decade the HCHR, that the 1988 Charter of Hamas is genocidal.

As noted in written statement E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/NGO/41, HAMAS is committed to an eternal jihad against “the Jews” – until Allah's victory is implemented. The land of Palestine must be cleansed from their impurity and viciousness. Muslims are obliged to fight and kill the Jews wherever they find them.

The HAMAS Charter’s Article 7, in its conclusion, states: “HAMAS aspires to implement Allah's promise, whatever time it may take. The Prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: ‘The Hour [Day of Judgment] will not come until the Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: Oh Muslim! Oh Abdullah! [Slave of Allah], there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. This will not apply to the Gharqad tree, which is a Jewish tree.’”

This genocidal call is justified by a hadith, a controversial ‘saying’ attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and described by the authoritative 9^th century compilers al-Bukhari and Muslim – that since 1988 has become a commonplace belief among Islamists. On 12 April 2002, the PA-nominated Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi delivered a Friday sermon at Gaza City’s main Sheikh Ijlin Mosque, broadcast live on the PA’s TV. He quoted extensively from this hadith – even including the curious reference to the "Jewish" Gharqad tree, in preaching his specific genocide against “Jews” – and a global Jihad for all humanity.

“We believe in this hadith. We are convinced also that this hadith heralds the spread of Islam and its rule over all the lands (...) ‘from the ocean to the ocean ’.” Sheikh Madhi concluded: “Oh Allah, accept our martyrs in the highest heaven (...) Oh Allah, show the Jews a black day (...) Oh Allah, annihilate the Jews and their supporters (...) Oh Allah, raise the flag of Jihad across the land (...) Oh Allah, forgive our sins.” And, on 13 July 2003, a Palestinian academic, Dr. Hassan Khader, founder of the Al Quds Encyclopaedia, quoted this hadith during a lecture on the PA’s TV. (see PMW Bulletin, 14 July 2003)

Madam, we ask you, as High Commissioner of Human Rights, to speak out unequivocally to the Palestinian Government and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference against this incitement to commit genocide. It should be made clear that this culture of hate and death – a “direct and public incitement to commit genocide” – is condemned by the OHCHR and the international community.

René V.L. Wadlow / David G. Littman / Roy W. Brown (Representatives to the UN in Geneva)

Update 4-16-07: Mr. Littman has emailed me that he is the author of the document, and that it has been accepted by three NGO's: AWE, WUPJ, IHEU. The document has three signatories -  one for each NGO.

Mr. Littman also refers us to this important prior document, which he prepared in 2003.

Major Development in Iraqi Government: Sadr Ministers Resign

All 6 of the ministers loyal to al-Sadr have withdrawn from the Iraq cabinet, which contains 38 ministers in total. From the NY Times:

BAGHDAD, April 16 - Moktada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric, withdrew six ministers loyal to him from the Iraqi cabinet today, in the first major shake-up of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's government since it was installed a year ago.

Legislators working for Mr. Sadr said that Mr. Sadr was withdrawing his ministers from the 38-member cabinet because the Iraqi government had refused to set a timetable for pulling American troops out of the country.

These 6 ministers were all of al-Sadr's ministers in the cabinet. From a Media Line article published immediately prior to the resignations:

The Muqtada A-'Sadr Current holds six ministerial posts and 30 out of 275 seats in the parliament.

This is a significant development. For years Sadr's goal has been to substitute Sharia law for the current Democratic government of Iraq. From a 2004 Washington Post article:

...Sadr's goal was at least in part to hijack Shiite leadership and the nation's political process just as Iraqis are beginning to take control of it. His uprising challenges both religious moderates like Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and secularists like Allawi. Sadr's vague but virulent platform seeks rigid Islamic governance. It capitalizes on opposition to U.S. troops.

MSM is trying to present this as a blow to the Iraq government. From the NY Times (same link as above):

The move is the first time Mr. Sadr has followed through with a threat to cut some of his ties with the government and with Mr. Maliki, a conservative Shiite whose grip on authority largely rests on Mr. Sadr's political support.

From AP: (same link):

The departure of the six ministers, while unlikely to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, deals a significant blow to the U.S.-backed leader, who relied on support from the Sadrists to gain office.

But to have had, in the Iraqi cabinet, such a large group that was dedicated to the destruction of Democracy, was inevitably dangerous to that government.

Both the NY Times article and the AP article present info contradicting the premise that the departure of the ministers was a blow to the government.

From the NY Times article:

Mr. Sadr's ministers are generally seen by Iraqi and American officials as at best incompetent, so replacing them could bring long-term benefits to the ministries.

From the AP article:

The White House said al-Sadr's decision to pull out his ministers does not mean that al-Maliki loses his majority.

"I'd remind you that Iraq's system of government is a parliamentary democracy and it's different from our system. So coalitions and those types of parliamentary democracies can come and go," said Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman.

In fact, this drastic curtailment of al-Sadr's influence on the Iraqi government, is such a favorable development, that one wonders exactly how it came about. The Times speculates that al-Sadr purposely cut off his ability to control ministers in the Iraqi government:

The move by Mr. Sadr, who went underground at the start of the new Baghdad security plan in February, appeared to be an attempt by the young cleric to shore up his reputation as the leading opposition figure in Iraq's fragmented and acrimonious political landscape.

He wanted to "shore up his reputation as the leading opposition figure" by destroying his own ability to control government ministers? That seems unlikely.