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Muharram 14,1430/ January 11, 2009, # 4.
[65 issues of New Trend were published in 2008]
What is General Petraeus preparing for Afghanistan and Pakistan?
Please scroll way down.
Please look at the "anti-semitism" article below. Would you say
it is anti-semitism?
Please scroll down to end.
Latest in the Israeli assault on Gaza:
January 11, 2009, 4 PM Eastern Standard Time: Earlier today, a
powerful Israeli armored thrust into a suburb of Gaza City
was beaten back by volunteers of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The assault was started after SIXTY air strikes on Gaza City by
the Israeli air force during night time. The Israeli tanks and
infantry captured a few buildings but withdrew after stiff
resistance by poorly armed Islamic militias. The death toll in
Gaza has risen to 900 killed and 3,000 wounded, with 25%
of both figures women and children. Many bodies still are under
the rubble and are not included in these totals.
[Comment: Khalid Mishal, speaking from Damascus, declared that
the resistance would continue. However, Palestinians have small
supplies of ammunition while the U.S. is sending in a big
re-supply to Israel.] [See report below.].
[Iran, for all its talk, has not helped the Palestinians. They
have no anti-tank weapons other than RPGs usable at close range
and NO anti-aircraft guns . If al-Qaida or the Taliban had been
facing the Jews, the entire Israeli tank column would have been
blown up.]
From the JFGP web site
America's Jews: Fully Supporting Genocide in Gaza.
[In their own words.]
"Ira Schwartz, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia, commented, "The Greater Philadelphia Jewish
community has a long history of financial and moral support for
the State of Israel and our partnership community in
Netivot-Sedot Negev and we're committed and ready to assist in
any way we can if needed."
Finally, as we all seek peace, we must realize that the only
way to start a peace process in the region is by defeating
Hamas. Until this occurs, there will be more loss of innocent
lives on both sides of the equation."
Jamaat al-Muslimeen [News] What do U.S. Muslims say? [4 items]
P.O. Box 10881
Baltimore, MD 21234
1. Africa is Important for us:
Dr. Shabazz
returns from Visits to Kenya and Ethiopia
Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz just returned from extensive trips to
Kenya and Ethiopia. He is an honorary Kikuyu and visited sites
of symbolic importance to the Mau Mau's resistance to the
British during the struggle for Kenya's independence.
In Nairobi, Dr. Shabazz prayed at a grand mosque right in
downtown. At least 30% of Nairobi is Muslim. He found that
extensive areas of Kenya are a solid 100% Muslim. The southern
city of Mombasa is 80 to 90% Muslim.
In Ethiopia, he visited Addis Ababa and neighboring towns with
his adopted family. One of his adopted sons is a leading
educationist of Ethiopia and has set up a university known for
the quality of its education.
Dr. Shabazz noted that the majority of Ethiopia's people are
Muslims, at least 65%.
Dr. Shabazz is Professor/The Endowed Chair in Mathematics from
Grambling State University, Louisiana, and a philosopher of
Jamaat al-Muslimeen.
2. Dr. Kaukab Siddique, Ameer, Jamaat al-Muslimeen
Gaza helps us to learn: Stand firm against Israeli
oppression: Condemn Police Brutality in Oakland and New Orleans.
Boycott the Jews! Khutba against brainwashing.
January 9: Dr. Siddique gave the Juma khutba in Central
Baltimore, Maryland. Some of the main points of the khutba are
given here:
Text: "Do people think that they will be left alone on saying
"We believe." and that they will not be tested?" [The
Qur'an 29:2]
"The believers, men and women, are protecting friends of each
other: They command what is just and forbid what is evil: They
establish prayer and practice regular charity, and they obey
Allah and His messenger. On them will Allah pour His mercy: For
Allah is exalted in Power, Wise." [The Qur'an 9:71.]
-
Prayer in Islam is a means towards doing good. It is not an end
in itself. Belief must appear in action, otherwise it is fake.
As Imam Bukhari put it: "Iman IS 'Amal." [Faith is Action.]
-
We must study the Qur'an and Hadith and make them our
foundation. Remember that our masjids must not become like
churches where we keep praising God but do nothing to stop the
evil rampant in our world.
-
We must be aware that the world is a small place and everything
is interconnected.
-
Today the satanic forces of Zionist-corporate media are telling
Americans that evil is good. The media condemn the Islamic
resistance fighting for Palestine. The media praise and extol
Jewish-Zionist crimes against humanity.
-
The American people are facing BRAINWASHING on a grand scale.
They are being taught to love their masters and to hate the
Islamic world.
-
A young Black man is shot dead by police ON CAMERA in Oakland,
California, and demonstrators against the atrocity are
arrested. Such police murders are also reported from New
Orleans and just about all major cities in the USA over
the years.
-
Malcolm X [al-Hajj Malik Shabazz] understood how brainwashing
works. In his autobiography, we read the story of Malcolm
trying to straighten out his hair with lye so that he may look
like a White man. The mass culture had taught him to hate
himself and to love his "masters." He broke the chains with the
power of Islam.
-
Similarly, today we are taught that those who oppose Zionism
and Imperialism are "fundamentalists" if they pray and have
beards [or women with hijab], or are "extremists" if they
oppose America through demonstrations and boycotts, or
"terrorists" if they pick up arms to defend themselves and
hit back.
-
Don't be brainwashed. Allah Almighty is testing us. Tell our
children that the TV channels tell lies, the media are
controlled by Jewish-Zionist groups.
-
Always remember the global struggle. Islam is winning
everywhere. From the blood of the martyrs comes victory.
-
Iraq has brought 150,000 U.S. troops to a standstill. Obama is
being brought in to find a way of extricating them from Iraq.
They have been defeated.
-
In Afghanistan, the Taliban, according to latest reports
indicate that the Taliban now control from 50% to 70% of
Afghanistan. Obama will be used to try and save Kabul from the
forces of Islam.
-
The Hamas mujahideen are very poorly armed and hemmed into a
small area where every Israeli assault kills the women and
children of Gaza. No civilian in Gaza is telling Hamas to
surrender. EVERY CHILD is waiting for the day of revenge
against the Jewish terrorist entity.
-
After we have prayed and fasted and wept, call the radio, the
TV, the newspaper. Give the Islamic viewpoint. Use emailing,
make posters, protest, rally, demonstrate! As Imam Jamil
al-Amin has taught: "The extent to which you resist, is the
extent to which you are free."
-
If we just sit and pray and do nothing, we are SLAVES,
not Muslims.
-
Take care of our community: help homeless women, the political
prisoners, the sick, the jobless, those in debt. Don't waste
resources. Eat less, help the needy.
-
O Allah help the Muslims to unite on the basis of the Qur'an
and the authentic Hadith. Help us, O Allah, to stand up to the
kuffar, the munafiqueen, the tawaghit.
3. Imam Badi Ali, National Islamic leader of Jamaat
al-Muslimeen
Like Moses, pbuh, Palestinians know the Pharoah best and
will bring him down: The Qur'an warned us about Jews. Islamic
Unity Emerging as Gaza Bleeds.
January 9, 2009: Imam Badi Ali gave the Juma' khutba in
Greensboro, North Carolina. Here are some main points of
the khutba:
The Prophet, pbuh, said, "...He who helps his needy brother,
Allah will help in his need. And he who helps a Muslim to solve
a hardship, Allah will solve a hardship for him on the Day of
Judgment." [Hadith in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim]
The prophet , pbuh, said, "...Allah will help a person to the
extent that the person helps his brother." [Hadith in
Sahih Muslim]
The prophet, pbuh, said, "The example of the believers in their
being merciful among themselves and showing love among
themselves and being kind among themselves resembles one body,
so that, if any part of the body is not well then the whole
body shares the sleeplessness and fever with it." [Hadith,
Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim]
-
WE must learn from the Qur'an's extensive teachings about Jews.
Their behavior shows that they are rapacious and thankless.
They killed the prophets sent to them. They denied Jesus, pbuh,
and took credit for his death. They violated the Laws of God
and they worshipped the calf as soon as Moses left them for
a while.
-
In the life of Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, they betrayed his trust,
they tried to undermine the Islamic community, they secretly
joined hands with the pagans and tried to kill the Prophet,
pbuh, and his Companions.
-
In our own times, we can see the Jews setting up the criminal,
terrorist entity known as Israel. They committed genocide
against the Palestinian people and usurped their land by force
of arms, through terror, deception and fraud.
-
The Qur'an warns us about the tyranny of state power. It
specifically mentions Pharoah, Haman and Abu Lahab as
representatives of the power structure.
-
The Palestinians today are seemingly as helpless as Musa, pbuh,
was as a child in the hands of Pharoah. Musa [Moses] grew up in
very close proximity to Pharoah and knew his power and his
falsehood at close hand.
-
The Qur'an shows us that through seemingly helpless Moses,
Pharoah and his vast army were destroyed.
-
Similarly, Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, destroyed the power of the
Jews and the pagans, both physically and metaphorically,
although in military power, Muhammad, pbuh, was very
weak seemingly.
-
Today, it seems that the Jews have jet fighters, tanks,
helicopters, artillery and that they will win. The blood of the
Palestinians is flowing: the Jews are killing all the people of
Gaza, men, women, children, but inshallah, the blood of Gaza
will bring victory. The seemingly weak will win, inshallah,
because of their strong belief in Allah. The martyrs will go to
al-jannah, inshallah, and their Jewish oppressors will go
to jahannum.
-
Within America, we must organize, mobilize and speak out. The
people of America must be freed from the Zionists of all kinds,
be it Jewish Zionists, Christian Zionists or Muslim Zionists.
-
Muslims must realize that agents of Zionism and imperialism
have been placed in positions of power in our countries. These
tawaghit [rulers who do not judge by Allah's Law] are
the source of great danger within the Muslim ranks. The Qur'an
warns about taghoot repeatedly. The Qur'an has clear teachings
about hypocrites [munafiqueen]. Owing to these agents within
the Muslim world, Muslims are unable to move against Israel.
The weakness is within the Muslim countries.
-
As the Hadith of the Prophet, pbuh [quoted above] leave no
doubt, we must care for our people, we must be united and we
must feel the suffering and hurt of our ummah, otherwise
calling ourselves Muslims is futile.
-
The United Nations is a tool of the U.S. and western powers.
The U.N. actually created the criminal "state" of Israel. It is
used to manipulate, divide and deceive the Muslims. Look at the
shameful silence [first] and then delay after delay, and then a
tricky resolution which ignored Islam and Hamas altogether.
-
Do not be deceived by Jews who speak against Israeli
atrocities. They are NOT against Israel which is the source of
the suffering in Asia and Africa. They simply want to keep
what the Jews took by force but without atrocities. It is a
foolish claim that Israel has any legitimacy.
-
Do not be deceived by the West. Islam alone can liberate the
Muslims. First we were in a stage of nationalism. Then we came
under attack by overwhelming forces. The answer was the
maryrdom bomber. The third stage will be that of LIBERATION
thru Islamic victory. It will come because so many
accepted martyrdom.
Jamaat al-Muslimeen wants the ummah to notice the snakes
within the ummah who are coordinating the Israeli
operations against Gaza. First picture, playboy king Abdullah
with Israeli terrorist Olmert and Israeli puppet Mahmoud Abbas.
Second and third picture, Mahmoud Abbas kissing Condoleeza Rice
and shaking her bloodstained hand. Fourth and 5th photo,
Mahmoud Abbas working with Israeli terrorist Olmert. The U.S.
wants to make Abbas the leader of Palestine, somewhat like
Karzai is the leader of Afghanistan. And the dirtiest of them
all, Hosni Mubarak, the tyrant of Egypt, with Israeli
terrorist Tzipi.
Knoxville, Tennessee. Unusual Demonstration for Gaza:
Distribution of Boycott Brochure
by
Yusuf Irelandi
[Jamaat al-Muslimeen]
The usually quiet Muslim community in Knoxville was jolted into
action by the overwhelming tragedy unfolding in Gaza. Today
[January 10] a successful demonstration was held against the
assault on Gaza. An important aspect of this activity was
Jamaat al-Muslimeen's
BOYCOTT
brochure against businesses which support Israel . The brochure
was so popular that more than 80 people took it happily as the
word spread about what was in it.
The brochure was reprinted locally from the original.
Powerful rally in Istanbul, Turkey in support of Gaza.
[Jan 10, 2009]
January 10, 2009: Historic pro-Gaza rally in London, England
outdid even Muslim countries. Palestinian flags from one end to
the other. The large Muslim presence in Britain, drawing
Muslims from Indo-Pakistan, Arab countries, Africa and the West
Indies is beginning to have impact. Impressive pro-Palestinian
rallies were also held in Germany, Norway, France and other
European countries.
Pakistanis have poured out their hearts for Gaza and Palestine.
Every city has seen large demonstrations condemning Israel and
U.S. support for Israel as well as Indian occupation of Kashmir.
Here a massive Islamic rally in Karachi organized by Jamiate
Talaba-e-Arabia carries the green banners of Islam and calls
for Jihad.
U.S. Sending Large New Arms Shipment to Israel including
3,000 tons of Explosives
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:25:45 GMT
The Pentagon plans to make a large arms delivery to Israel,
rising fears that the military campaign in Gaza will go on for
a long time.
The US is trying to hire a merchant ship that can carry
hundreds of tons of weapons from Greece to Israel later this
month; Reuters reported citing tender documents it had obtained.
According to the US Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC), the
ship will transport 325 standard 20-foot containers of what has
been called 'ammunition' from the Greek port of Astakos to the
Israeli port of Ashdod on two separate trips in the second half
of January.
A description on the manifest says the containers will be
loaded with 'hazardous material', such as explosive substances
and detonators, without giving any more details.
The Pentagon announced the tender for the ship in the last
hours of 2008. The two deadlines set for the deliveries are
January 25 and the last day of the month.
Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed the planned arms
shipment to Israel, but denied that the delivery was linked to
the Israel's deadly offensive in Gaza.
"This previously scheduled shipment is routine and not in
support of the current situation in Gaza," said Air Force Lt.
Col. Patrick Ryder.
However, a senior military analyst in London, who wished to
remain unnamed, said the timing of the shipments shows that
they may be 'irregular' and linked to the military operation
in Gaza.
The tender for the ship followed a December US arms delivery to
Israel, which was also carried out by a merchant ship.
This is while shipping brokers in London who have carried out
weapon deliveries for the British and US military in the past
say that shipment of such a large cargo of weapons to Israel
is rare.
"Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot...
this is pretty rare and we haven't seen much of it quoted in
the market over the years," one broker said, on condition
of anonymity.
Tender documents indicate that the German ship hired by the US
in early December also carried a massive cargo of weapons that
weighed over 2.6 million kg and filled up to 989 standard
20-foot containers to Ashdod from North Carolina.
In September, the US Congress approved a plan to sell Israel
1,000 bunker-buster bombs, of the Guided Bomb Unit-39 (GBU-39),
that use GPS to find their way and are able to penetrate deep
fortified constructions, such as Iran's nuclear facilities.
Last week, The Jerusalem Post, reported that the first shipment
of the missiles arrived in early December, adding that the
bombs had been used in the military onslaught in Gaza.
So far, Israel's 15-day offensive in the besieged Palestinian
enclave has claimed the lives of more than 800 Palestinians and
wounded almost 3500.
Hamas on the other hand says Palestinian fighters have so far
killed at least 30 Israeli soldiers and wounded more than
80 others.
MJ/DT
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=81515§ionid=351020202
"The battle...has to begin here. In America. The only
institution more powerful than the U.S. government is American
civil society. The rest of us are subjects of slave nations. We
are by no means powerless, but you have the power of proximity.
You have access to the Imperial Palace and the Emperor's
chambers. Empire's conquests are being carried out in
your name."
Arundhati Roy
Top 5 lies about Israel's assault on Gaza
01/05/2009
Lie #1: Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and
is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never
targets civilians.
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of
property in the world. The presence of fighters within a
civilian population does not, under international law, deprive
that population of their protected status, and hence any
assault upon that population under the guise of targeting
fighters is, in fact, a war crime.
(Watch video:
Israeli guns bombard Gaza in escalation of Hamas war
)
Moreover, the people Israel claims are legitimate targets are
members of Hamas, which Israel says is a terrorist organization.
Hamas has been responsible for firing rockets into Israel.
These rockets are extremely inaccurate and thus, even if Hamas
intended to hit military targets within Israel, are
indiscriminate by nature. When rockets from Gaza kill Israeli
civilians, it is a war crime.
Hamas has a military wing. However, it is not entirely a
military organization, but a political one. Members of Hamas
are the democratically elected representatives of the
Palestinian people. Dozens of these elected leaders have been
kidnapped and held in Israeli prisons without charge.
Others have been targeted for assassination, such as Nizar
Rayan, a top Hamas official. To kill Rayan, Israel targeted a
residential apartment building. The strike not only killed
Rayan but two of his wives and four of his children, along with
six others. There is no justification for such an attack under
international law. This was a war crime.
Other of Israel's bombardment with protected status under
international law have included a mosque, a prison, police
stations, and a university, in addition to
residential buildings.
Moreover, Israel has long held Gaza under siege, allowing only
the most minimal amounts of humanitarian supplies to enter.
Israel is bombing and killing Palestinian civilians. Countless
more have been wounded, and cannot receive medical attention.
Hospitals running on generators have little or no fuel. Doctors
have no proper equipment or medical supplies to treat the
injured. These people, too, are the victims of Israeli policies
targeted not at Hamas or legitimate military targets, but
directly designed to punish the civilian population.
Lie #2) Hamas violated the cease-fire. The Israeli bombardment
is a response to Palestinian rocket fire and is designed to end
such rocket attacks.
Israel never observed the cease-fire to begin with. From the
beginning, it announced a "special security zone" within the
Gaza Strip and announced that Palestinians who enter this zone
will be fired upon. In other words, Israel announced its
intention that Israeli soldiers would shoot at farmers and
other individuals attempting to reach their own land in direct
violation of not only the cease-fire but international law.
Despite shooting incidents, including ones resulting in
Palestinians getting injured, Hamas still held to the
cease-fire from the time it went into effect on June 19 until
Israel effectively ended the truce on November 4 by launching
an airstrike into Gaza that killed five and injured
several others.
Israel's violation of the cease-fire predictably resulted in
retaliation from militants in Gaza who fired rockets into
Israel in response. The increased barrage of rocket fire at the
end of December is being used as justification for the
continued Israeli bombardment, but is a direct response to the
Israeli attacks.
Israel's actions, including its violation of the cease-fire,
predictably resulted in an escalation of rocket attacks against
its own population.
Lie #3) Hamas is using human shields, a war crime.
There has been no evidence that Hamas has used human shields.
The fact is, as previously noted, Gaza is a small piece of
property that is densely populated. Israel engages in
indiscriminate warfare such as the assassination of Nizar Rayan,
in which members of his family were also murdered. It is victims
like his dead children that Israel defines as "human shields"
in its propaganda.
There is no legitimacy for this interpretation under
international law. In circumstances such as these, Hamas is not
using human shields, Israel is committing war crimes in
violation of the Geneva Conventions and other applicable
international law.
Lie #4) Arab nations have not condemned Israel's actions
because they understand Israel's justification for its assault.
The populations of those Arab countries are outraged at
Israel's actions and at their own governments for not
condemning Israel's assault and acting to end the violence.
Simply stated, the Arab governments do not represent their
respective Arab populations. The populations of the Arab
nations have staged mass protests in opposition to not only
Israel's actions but also the inaction of their own governments
and what they view as either complacency or complicity in
Israel's crimes.
Moreover, the refusal of Arab nations to take action to come
to the aid of the Palestinians is not because they agree with
Israel's actions, but because they are submissive to the will
of the US, which fully supports Israel. Egypt, for instance,
which refused to open the border to allow Palestinians wounded
in the attacks to get medical treatment in Egyptian hospitals,
is heavily dependent upon US aid, and is being widely
criticized within the population of the Arab countries for what
is viewed as an absolute betrayal of the Gaza Palestinians.
Even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been regarded as a
traitor to his own people for blaming Hamas for the suffering
of the people of Gaza. Palestinians are also well aware of
Abbas' past perceived betrayals in conniving with Israel and
the U.S. to sideline the democratically elected Hamas
government, culminating in a counter-coup by Hamas in which it
expelled Fatah (the military wing of Abbas' Palestine Authority)
from the Gaza Strip. While his apparent goal was to weaken
Hamas and strengthen his own position, the Palestinians and
other Arabs in the Middle East are so outraged at Abbas that it
is unlikely he will be able to govern effectively.
Lie #5) Israel is not responsible for civilian deaths because
it warned the Palestinians of Gaza to flee areas that might
be targeted.
Israel claims it sent radio and telephone text messages to
residents of Gaza warning them to flee from the coming
bombardment. But the people of Gaza have nowhere to flee to.
They are trapped within the Gaza Strip. It is by Israeli design
that they cannot escape across the border.
It is by Israeli design that they have no food, water, or fuel
by which to survive. It is by Israeli design that hospitals in
Gaza have no electricity and few medical supplies with which to
treat the injured and save lives. And Israel has bombed vast
areas of Gaza, targeting civilian infrastructure and other
sites with protected status under international law. No place
is safe within the Gaza Strip.
http://english.aljazeera.com/news/articles/39/Top_5_lies_about_Israel_s_assault_on_Gaza.html
Petraeus: Afghan, Pakistan problems are really one
Agencies: Jan.9
WASHINGTON: US policy to win in Afghanistan must recognize the
poor nation's limitations and its neighborhood, especially its
intertwined relationship Pakistan, the top US military
commander in the region said Thursday.
Army Gen David Petraeus, who became a household name overseeing
the war in Iraq, now oversees the fight in Afghanistan as well.
He predicted a long war in Afghanistan, without quantifying it.
Petraeus told a Washington audience that a winning strategy in
Afghanistan will look different from the one in Iraq. He
offered few specifics as the incoming Obama administration
assess its options in the seven-year-old Afghanistan war that
has gone much worse than anticipated, just as US fortunes have
improved in Iraq.
He also suggested the US and its partners may one day have
common purpose with Iran, another Afghanistan neighbor, in
stabilizing and remaking that country.
"There has been nothing easy about Afghanistan, indeed nearly
every aspect has been hard and that will continue to be the
case in 2009 and the years beyond," Petraeus said in an address
to the United States Institute of Peace.
The address was part of a conference highlighting world trouble
spots at the moment of political transition in the United
States. The institute released a sober outline of problems in
Afghanistan as part of the session.
The report said the US and its partners have shortchanged
Afghanistan by focusing on short-term goals pursued without a
cohesive strategy or clear understanding of how the
decentralized country works. It suggested President-elect
Barack Obama should refocus the US war and rebuilding effort in
Afghanistan and think of the project as the work of at least
a decade.
Petraeus' own review of US strategy in Afghanistan is expected
to be presented to Obama the week after he takes office Jan.
20. The plan would shift the focus from the waning fight in
Iraq to the escalating Afghan battle.
Petraeus linked Afghanistan's fortunes directly to Pakistan's.
"Afghanistan and Pakistan have, in many ways, merged into a
single problem set, and the way forward in Afghanistan is
incomplete without a strategy that includes and assists
Pakistan," and also takes into account Pakistan's troubled
relationship with rival India, Petraeus said.
On Iran, Petraeus said he would leave the details to diplomats.
But he suggested that the longtime US adversary could be part
of a regional effort to right Afghanistan. Afghanistan's
strategic location and recent history both as a cradle of
terrorism and source of most of the world's heroin make it of
interest to nations from the West to the Middle East and beyond.
"Iran is concerned about the narcotics trade - it doesn't want
to see ... extremists running Afghanistan again any more than
other folks do," Petraeus said.
[Editor of New trend asks: Which headline is more correct? 1st
or second?] [Courtesy Daily Telegraph, UK]
Gaza killing sparks attacks on Jews across Europe
Israel's invasion of Gaza has provoked a surge in anti-Semitic
violence across Europe with attacks on Jewish sites in France,
Belgium and Britain.
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 5:09PM GMT 06 Jan 2009
In France, home to Europe's biggest Arab and Jewish populations,
unidentified attackers rammed a car into the gate outside a
synagogue in the southern city of Toulouse late on Monday and
set it on fire with a petrol bomb.
No-one was hurt, but it has revived memories of a sharp upturn
in anti-Semitic crimes in 2000, with the outbreak of the second
intifada or Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. In
2002, as fighting raged in the Middle East and Afghanistan
prior to the allied invasion of Iraq, some 2,300 Jews left
France for Israel because they felt unsafe.
Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said: "I am, in fact,
worried by the international situation. My concern is that the
situation should not degenerate in our country, that the
violence not be imported."
President Nicolas Sarkozy, currently on a peace mission to the
Middle East, condemned the synagogue attack.
In a statement issued by the Elysée, he said France would "not
tolerate international tensions translating into violence
between communities."
Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to the European Union, said
there was undoubtedly a link between the attack and fury among
France's five million Muslims at "images from Gaza".
On Saturday, a pro-Palestinian demonstration turned violent,
with a mob of around 500 protesters burning cars and looting a
Paris jewellers.
France's Union of Jewish Students has recorded two attacks on
kosher stores in Bordeaux, one on a Jewish apartment in Paris
and another on a synagogue in Toulon since New Year's Eve.
"We insist the public authorities quickly investigate these
warning signs of a new wave of anti-Semitic acts on our
doorstep," said the Jewish community's Central Consistory.
Similar incidents have also been reported in Belgium, where a
Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in Brussels
on Monday.
No injuries were reported, but the building sustained damage.
Joods Actueel, a Jewish magazine, has received a dozen death
threats including those by an anonymous man who threatened a
suicide attack to "avenge the suffering of the Palestinians". A
Jewish home was firebombed over the weekend.
In Britain, one Jewish charity, the Community Security Trust,
or CST, has reported 24 anti-Semitic incidents in the past
week; the most serious occurred on Saturday when three youths
tried to set fire to Brondesbury Park Synagogue in northwest
London. The CST said that the threat had increased after calls
from Hamas leaders to attack Jewish people around the world.
2009-01-13 Tue 01:55:28 cst
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