Thursday, 10 March 2011
Hamza Yusuf on Islamophobia and the rising Anti-Muslim Rehtoric
Pat Robertson and the Bill Maher’s show
Hamza Yusuf addresses Pat Robertson’s claim of Islam being “a violent political system” rather than a religion – Sheikh Hamza Yusuf denounces it as a “ridiculous” assumption.
Have Muslims replaced to Cold War communist bogeyman in the American psyche?
Interesting comment: Last year more people died from dog bites than from terrorist acts in America. Many of these attacks are carried out by fundamentalist CHRISTIANS against abortion doctors etc.
Media magnifying glass on the threat of terrorism
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf finds the distortion and over-blowing of the threat troublesome.
Sharia and the U.S
Quotes: “Sharia is not a threat to the U.S constitution”, “many aspects of the Sharia are completely distorted”, “America has always been multicultural”, and “If you live in America you have to follow US law”.
There are 16 states in America which are targeting Sharia!
Hamza Yusuf discusses Sharia and the misunderstandings behind such a Law. He teaches us it is mostly about prayer, fasting, charity. Islamic commercial law prohibits the exploitative usury laws which are in existence in the US.
Post 9/11 problems and Islamophobia
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf discusses Islamophobia and contrasts Europe (UK, France and Germany) with North America. He also touches on the impact on the Muslim community after 9/11. In fact there are more crimes against Jews than Muslims – so it is not as bad as people make out.
Presenting Islam as an “evil religion”
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf touches on the barrage of attacks directed against Islam via the media. The type of rhetoric Hamza Yusuf is concerned about is the mocking, attacks. Attacks such as demonising; “Muslims are demonically inspired” and “the Quran breeds terrorism” are denounced by Hamza Yusuf as “untruths”.
Peter King’s Congressional hearing on the “radicalization of American Muslims”
Quote: “Anything a Muslim does now, it is not seen as a lone nut case”
The right is trying to lump these isolated people (or small groups) into the larger Muslim community. These lone individuals/small groups do not represent Muslims as a whole.
Hamza Yusuf is concerned about the potential “demonization” of Muslims and is deeply troubled by idea of the US attacking Iran.
Muslims do have double standards
We, as Muslims, do criticize the West but are less vocal when it comes to wrongs committed by Muslim countries. Hamza Yusuf uses the poor treatment of South Asians (the maids) in Arabia as an example.
Protests in Orange County
Hamza Yusuf gives a balanced analysis of what happened at the protest. A lot of people left the protest when it became unsavory (i.e. aggressive). He does teach us (Muslims in the US) to acknowledge the pain/fear many Americans are experiencing.
Related:
Islamophobia in Orange County, CA
http://thefactsaboutislam.blogspot.com/2011/03/muslim-analysis-shocking-islamophobia.html
Arab Christian Islamophobes
http://thefactsaboutislam.blogspot.com/2011/03/arab-assyrian-christian-islamophobes.html
Feedback: yahyasnow@hotmail.com
Ibn here.
ReplyDeleteSome common responses from the Islamophobes here will be
(1) Hamza Yusuf is doing Taqiyya.
(2) Hamza Yusuf has not read Reliance of the Traveler
(3) an irrelevant incident where Muslims have done something wrong (courtesy of Anonymous)
“Sharia is not a threat to the U.S constitution”, “many aspects of the Sharia are completely distorted”, “America has always been multicultural”, and “If you live in America you have to follow US law”.
ReplyDeleteI thought Sharia law is Allah's law?
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE--More than 80 percent of all convictions tied to international terrorist groups and homegrown terrorism since 9/11 involve defendants driven by a radical Islamist agenda, a review of Department of Justice statistics shows.
ReplyDeleteThough Muslims represent about 1 percent of the American population, they constitute defendants in 186 of the 228 cases DOJ lists.
thumpety thump?
ReplyDeleteTUNIS - An Islamist party in Tunisia said Thursday it wants to install "by political means" a regime based on the strict Shariah form of Islamic law in the north African country.
ReplyDelete"We are working to install a regime founded on Shariah," said Ridha Belhaj, a spokesman for the party Hizb At-Tahrir.
The party claims that "Islam is the solution" to problems in Tunisia after the ouster of longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January following a popular uprising.
While denouncing violence, the party does not rule out "rebellion or civil disobedience in order to establish an Islamic state," Belhaj added.
"In Islam, the nation has the right to overthrow its leaders, even by armed force," he said, while also denouncing the debate over gains by women in Tunisia, the only Arab country to ban polygamy.
The Hizb At-Tahrir intends to take part in elections set for July 24 to win representation in parliament, although it does not recognize its laws, "Shariah being the only source of laws," said the party's secretary general Abdelmajid Habibi.
He has also said if the Islamists are successful in winning power they would ban other parties.
The Hizb At-Tahrir is the Tunisian branch of a group founded in 1953 in the Middle East by an extremist element within Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and banned in other Arab countries....
NATIONAL REVIEW--This morning, Rep. Keith Ellison (Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, Minn.) appropriated a hearing on Islamic radicalism by weeping his way through a speech about whata-buncha-nasty-bigots Americans are. He chose as his case in point Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a Pakistani-born Muslim American who rushed to lower Manhattan on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, to assist in rescue efforts, and died in the collapse of the World Trade Center. Here’s how Representative Ellison tells the story of the aftermath of his death:
ReplyDelete"After the tragedy some people tried to smear his character solely because of his Islamic faith. Some people spread false rumors and speculated that he was in league with the attackers only because he was Muslim. It was only when his remains were identified that these lies were fully exposed. Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a fellow American who gave his life for other Americans. His life should not be defined as a member of an ethnic group or a member of a religion, but as an American who gave everything for his fellow citizens."
Does Ellison’s account check out with reality?
No. It is actually pretty close to the opposite of the truth. In fact, six weeks after the September 11 attacks — before Hamdani’s remains were identified, which Ellison implies to be the turning point of public perception — Congress signed the PATRIOT Act into law with this line included: “Many Arab Americans and Muslim Americans have acted heroically during the attacks on the United States, including Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old New Yorker of Pakistani descent, who is believed to have gone to the World Trade Center to offer rescue assistance and is now missing.” That is, Hamdani was actually singled out for particular high honors among the thousands of victims of the September 11 attacks.
There’s little evidence of the “rumors” of which Ellison speaks, either. Poke around yourself. Go to Google and search for Mohammed Salman Hamdani’s name, using various time frames from before today’s hearings (say, in the week after the September 11 attack). You’ll discover two discordant sets of returns: none for sites and news reports accusing Hamdani of being a terrorist, and many thousands of pages honoring him as a hero while claiming that
As many Americans protest Congressional hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims, newly released statistics show why such hearings are necessary. In a country where Muslims make up one percent of the population, more than 80 percent of terrorists convicted by the U.S. since 9/11 have been Muslims. That, by definition, is a correlation.
ReplyDeleteDEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE--More than 80 percent of all convictions tied to international terrorist groups and homegrown terrorism since 9/11 involve defendants driven by a radical Islamist agenda, a review of Department of Justice statistics shows.
Though Muslims represent about 1 percent of the American population, they constitute defendants in 186 of the 228 cases DOJ lists.
On Thursday, the House Homeland Security Committee holds its first hearing into radicalization among Muslim Americans. Critics have taken issue with the focus on one religious minority, but the DOJ list shows that radical Islamists are disproportionately involved in terror-related crimes.
Al-Qaida is involved in the largest number of prosecutions, representing 30 percent of the 228 terror cases involving an identified group. Hizballah-affiliated defendants are involved in 10.5 percent of the cases and Hamas is part of 9 percent. Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba was involved in 6.5 percent of the cases.
The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and the Colombian FARC lead the non-Islamist terrorist groups, combining for 14 percent of the total. (Read more.)
"Sharia is not a threat to the U.S constitution”, “many aspects of the Sharia are completely distorted”, “America has always been multicultural”, and “If you live in America you have to follow US law”.
ReplyDeleteLet's see just how wrong that statement is.
Since Sharia law is Allahs law it violates the first amendment to the Constitution, by declaring that this law is from GOD. Second since Sharia law limits freedom of speech, i.e. Blasphemy laws this to violates the first amendment to the Constitution
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Since under Sharia law Christians and Jews are forbidden from caring weapons to defend themselves this violates the 2nd Amendment as well as thee ninth amendment which is equal protection.
Since Sharia law mandates that Christians have to put up Muslim travelers for three days and nights. This violates the 3rd amendment.
Since Sharai law mandates chopping off heads, limbs, flogging, etc... this violates the Eight amendment. The right against cruel and unusual punishment.
So lets see just off the top of my head, we have 6 violations of the US constitution.
Thumpety Thump Thump.
@Yahya
ReplyDelete"Interesting comment:.. Many of these attacks are carried out by fundamentalist CHRISTIANS against abortion doctors etc."
If by interesting you mean a total distortion of reality then i agree with you.
"More than 80 percent of all convictions tied to international terrorist groups and homegrown terrorism since 9/11 involve defendants driven by a radical Islamist agenda, a review of Department of Justice statistics shows."
Source 1
DOJ Stats
What makes this even more interesting is that Muslims represent only 1 percent of the US population.
This is almost as bad as the bold face lie that Crybaby Keith Elison made at the congressional hearings, that a young American Muslim who died during the Dawah campaign on 9-11 was targeted with a smear campaign linking him to the attack.
A TOTAL LIE.
Muslims when are you guys going to own this problem. As Dr Jassir said it is YOUR PROBLEM. Quit playing the victim, and get in front of this thing.
Question: "Do the Mosques know that they are responsible for radicalizing your son"
ReplyDeleteAnswer: "Sure they know, there waiting around to do it again to someone else's child. Thats why I'm here today... I hope your listing, I hope your learn something...No american family has to go through what we are going through today." Mr. Melvin Bledose
Question:"Did the Mosque ever apologies or taking responsibility for radicalizing your son"
Answer:"No instead they attacked us and insulted us and called us tools of the Infidel... They call us liar's" Mr Bihi
Video
Radical Modertate wrote: "Interesting comment:.. Many of these attacks are carried out by fundamentalist CHRISTIANS against abortion doctors etc."
ReplyDeleteIf by interesting you mean a total distortion of reality then i agree with you.
"More than 80 percent of all convictions tied to international terrorist groups and homegrown terrorism since 9/11 involve defendants driven by a radical Islamist agenda, a review of Department of Justice statistics shows."
Me: The quote was taken from Sheikh Hamza Yusuf - he is CORRECT as he was speaking about terrorist attacks in AMERICA. Your "stats" are related to "international terrorism" - so your being a little unfair in using those stats to counter that particular quote - even more unfair if you maintain it as a "distortion of reality" - be fair and retract your allegation.
PS, you do not want me to pull out the FBI stats on terrorism - they would put your agenda to shame.
Radical Moderate, please try to be balanced. I'm pretty sure if you eveer meet a Muslim you would get along with him providing you put your anti-muslim stance aside. Muslims are people too. Give us a break...
Peace
@Radical Moderate
ReplyDeleteAgain you are bringing forth something in the News which is an ISOLATED incident which can NEVER be seen as representative of the larger Muslim community. I've been in a number of mosques and met many Muslims - I've never cometo know a bloke who was wearing a suicide belt. These folk who are involved in terrorism are the EXCEPTIONS not the norm!
Be fair. Let's stop this fear-mongering.
I really don't understand why you are ignoring the FACT more people die due to dog bites in the US than from terrorist actions - I don't see the dogophobes flooding dog-loving websites...instead you are using isolated instances to bash your fellow human beings.
I'm calling for balance. Sheikh Hamza Yusuf is teaching us to be balanced - both Muslims and Non-Muslims.
Peace
Iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another
Highlights from Melvin Bledsoe's Testimony
ReplyDelete“I want to talk about those complicity in of private Longs murder. The ISLAMIC RADICALS who programed and trained my son to kill. I want to tell the world what happened to my son.”
Bright future turns into nightmare for a mans only son.
“We sent him off to University, our dream for him turned out to be a nightmare...He helped out with the family business... After his sophomore year”, he came home...a family conversation went from normal to heated regarding the Muslim religion....”we thought something had changed”....after he came home a second time...”he took down all the pictures off the wall in his bedroom”...”even took the pictures of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. He said he converted to Islam, and he would only honor ALLAH...Dr King was nobody to him... We begged him not to take down the picture of Dr Martin Luther King Jr he took it off the wall anyway...We discovered that Carlos had dropped out of school”, he lost his temporary job walking dogs because he “turned the dogs loose in the woods. Because he learned that dogs were filthy creatures...I really couldn’t understand how he could do that because Carlos had grown up with dogs in the house since he was 5 years old.”
“He had no interest in coming home even for the holidays...All this is part of his brainwashing...Carlos changed his name... his culture was no longer important to him...only the Islamic culture mattered to him now.”
Hunters, Yemeni and Jihad training.
“What I can only describes as Hunters”, tricked Carlos into going to Yemin, told him he would teach English, the school turned out to be a intake front for Jihadi's... After being arrested on a Visa charge he is put in a cell with other Muslims “True EVIL DOERS” hardcore Al Quida operatives. “The last straw in his radicalization.”
“There is something wrong with Muslim leadership Memphis, what happened to my son in those Mosques is enormant”...This wrong called political correctness, you can even call it political fear. Fear of stepping on special minority population toes, even when a segment of that population wants to stamp out America and everything we stand for. We are loosing American babies...Yes you are hearing about my son today, but tomorrow it could be your son...one thing for sure it would happen again...We must stop these extremist invaders from rapping the minds of American citizens.”
“Carlos grew up a happy go lucky kid, always had a big smile on his face, loved to crack a joke or two everyone liked him. He loved to play team sports, like basket ball and football. He loved woman and dancing, listing to music
Today we have two families that have been destroyed. This could have been prevented, I would like to see something change, that no other family in this great country of ours has to go through and face what our families are facing today. God Help us, GOD HELP US."
No wonder Muslims don't want this hearing, no wonder terrorist organizations like CAIR are opposed to this. The truth is coming out.
Video Source
@Yahay Snow
ReplyDeleteI didn't respond to the dog bite statement because it is really stupid. People in american die from lots of things, so to say that we should ignore the threat of Islamic Terrorism because of this is foolish.
Secondly yes we have had hearings on dog attacks in the US, just about every level of government from local city and state to even congressional and senate hearings. We passed laws. Like mandatory leash laws. Maybe we should pass some of those same laws to stop Muslim terrorism.
@Yahya Snow
ReplyDeleteYou said...
"ISOLATED incident which can NEVER be seen as representative of the larger Muslim community. I've been in a number of mosques and met many Muslims - I've never cometo know a bloke who was wearing a suicide belt"
Sir you really need to watch the Congressional hearings on Radicalization of American Muslims.
The problem is not that Muslims are showing up with bomb belts strapped to there chests. The problem is that nobody is talking about it in the Islamic community. Those that do speak out are oustrasized, called friends of infidels, kuffar, and apostates. CAIR tells Muslims not to talk to the FBI, Muslim leaders in MN tell single Muslim woman not to report their sons missing, if they do they will be sent to GETMO. SOMETHING IS WRONG MAN, and putting your fingers in your ears and saying La La La la Allah La la la, will not solve the problem. Talking about dog bites will not solve the problem. Pointing your finger at someone else will not solve the problem.
There is a wall of silence, when it comes to this. Like you and Hamza Yousef said, you guys would rather talk about dog bites then what is happening in your own communities.
THIS IS YOUR PROBLEM, TAKE OWNERSHIP OF IT AND SOLVE IT.
@Yahya Snow
ReplyDeleteOne more thing on the dog bite issue. you do realize that there are laws in the US that makes a Pet owner responsible for their dogs. So if a dog mauls someone the pet owner in some case's can be charged with a crime, be sued in civil court and the animal is put down.
Maybe we should have similar laws when it comes to Islam?
Radical Moderate,
ReplyDeleteI notice you continue to push this news story – I was listening to a bit of George Galloway on “The Week” and he did not mention this news story and I have not heard it on the radio or seen it in print in the UK. You must remember, internet usage is global nowadays – it is not American specific. The horrendous news in Japan and NZ along with the increasingly worrying situation in Libya is at the forefront of our news, and I assume, world news. May Allah help these people. Ameen
I just don’t understand why you folk do that – you bring forward negative news stories about Muslims and expect us to answer for the isolated Muslim (s). Be fair. What do you want Muslims to say? I just don’t get your purpose.
Yes, the dog bite point is a little “out there” but it just goes to show how the media over-inflate the risk of terrorism and fear-monger – specifically the right wing media. Sadly, we have it in the UK too. Recently, a journalist from the gutter press resigned due to the anti-muslim stance of the paper he was working for, amongst other reasons. His resignation letter was in the Guardian and is linked to via the LM blog.
If you have a spare moment, please do view the FBI stats that I have managed to track down – I alluded to them earlier.
The stats are for the period 1980-2005 and show 94% of terrorist acts are NOT due to Muslims – only 6% were due to Muslims.
In fact, Jewish extremists exceeded Muslim extremists.
http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/01/not-all-terrorists-are-muslims/
Over the years, Muslims have pointed to Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City as evidence that non-Muslims commit major terrorist attacks against America. Anti-Christian bigots have also used it to make similar points against Christians, even though McVeigh was–for all intents and purposes–an atheist. But, as Oklahoma City investigative television reporter and author Jayna Davis has pointed out over the years, McVeigh was repeatedly seen with an Iraqi Muslim, Hussain Al-Hussaini, believed to be a then-agent of Saddam Hussein or some other anti-American Muslim force.
ReplyDeleteDavis has made a pretty good case over the years, especially in her exhaustive book, “The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing,” that Al-Hussaini a/k/a “John Doe #2″ (as the FBI referred to him in its investigations) was connected to the attacks on the Murrah Building and that the bombing was not the work of a lone, disgruntled anti-government White guy and his militia buddies, but rather the work of foreign Islamic interests who desired to attack America. No one has been able to refute the evidence that Jayna Davis has presented in making this case.
Read the rest: http://www.debbieschlussel.com/34112/homeless-muslim-arrest-reminds-us-of-ok-city-bombing-muslim-connection/
Radical Moderate, I don't appreciate your immature comment. You wrote:
ReplyDeleteSOMETHING IS WRONG MAN, and putting your fingers in your ears and saying La La La la Allah La la la, will not solve the problem
Me: Please stop this. I will tell you Islamophobia is a BUSINESS. People are making cash out of demonising Muslims. By portraying Muslims as the enemy right-wing websites have a focus - which is essentially a cash cow!
People like yourself are nothing more than consumers.
Governments are pushing through defense spending - billions of pounds - without check due to this over-inflated threat of Muslim terrorism.
Sir, to spend so much cash on defense whilst in a global cash crisis is nothing short of outrageous.
Perhaps your country is doing just fine with the job situation but the UK news is full of job cuts. I'm pretty certain crime levels will increase due to this - as well as the suicide rate as folk will be pushed into difficult situations, in fact many are in these trying times right NOW.
Sadly, Islamophobes have Muslims on their minds whilst the real problem lies behind the corner - the financial problem which will hit you and your local community shortly - if it has not already done so.
It's no fun having to be extra alert to crime. Its no fun hearing about suicides due to depression. these are real, everyday proelms we are facing. Yet you folk want to over-inflate the threat of terrorism
Be fair and balanced.
Peace
Will get ready for prayer now.
I bid you good night.
Mission No. 77: Egyptian Government Involved in Church Bombing?
ReplyDeleteCAIRO -- Less than a month after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's caretaker government faces a new crisis: what to do about thousands of documents that protesters seized from State Security Agency offices over the weekend.
The military-led interim authority has demanded that the classified files kept by Mubarak's dreaded internal spy agency be returned. Instead, they're being scattered throughout Egypt, with files turning up on Facebook and Twitter hourly, forcing the government to respond to them and raising fears among some activists that their value has been reduced for any future prosecutions for torture and kidnapping.
Some of what the documents contain is salacious and sinister.
One file includes a sex tape purportedly involving a Kuwaiti princess and a prominent Egyptian businessman. Another paints Egypt's highest-ranking cleric as a womanizer.
Israa Abdel Fattah, 32, a labor organizer and blogger, shared her file with McClatchy and marveled at the thoroughness of the surveillance. The file included detailed transcripts of e-mails sent from her Gmail account and phone conversations with her ex-husband. The feeling of violation was indescribable, she said.
"I knew they were watching me, but I never imagined they knew all this information about me," she said. "My friends tried to take me out to dinner that night. They tried to make me laugh, but I couldn't. I told them I should be alone, so I took my papers and went home."
Perhaps the most controversial document to surface was one that purports to lay out State Security's involvement in a church bombing on New Year's Day in Alexandria. The bombing killed 21 people and wounded 80, the worst violence against Egypt's Coptic Christian minority in more than a decade.
The legitimacy of the document hasn't been determined, but its distribution touched off protests Sunday in Cairo by hundreds of Coptic Christians.
Copts, especially those in Alexandria, had suspected state involvement in the bombing, noting that a stepped-up security force that was supposed to have protected the church had vanished before the bomb exploded.
According to the document, one of eight said to discuss attacks on churches, State Security used a jailed Islamist to help organize the plot, including details on the church's entrances and exits. The document was dated Dec. 2, 2010, and was addressed to the interior minister. It referred to the church bombing as "Mission No. 77." (Read more.)
Seventeen Percent of American Voters Believe Muslims Are Treated Unfairly
ReplyDeleteDespite incessant complaints of "racism," "bigotry," and "Islamophobia" from the media, politicians, and Muslim organizations, most Americans aren't convinced that Muslim Americans are being treated unfairly.
Rasmussen Reports--Most voters don’t believe their fellow citizens are unfair to Muslim Americans. They also think Muslims in this country should be louder in their criticism of potential domestic terrorist attacks.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 17% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that most Muslims in America are treated unfairly because of their religion and ethnicity. Sixty-three percent (63%) disagree and say they are not treated unfairly while 20% are not sure.
A plurality (49%) of liberal voters, however, says there is bias against Muslim Americans. Eighty-one percent (81%) of conservatives and 57% of moderates disagree.
But only 10% of all voters think American Muslims are speaking out enough against potential terrorist attacks in the United States. Fifty-seven percent (57%) disagree and say they are not speaking out enough. One-in-three voters (34%) are not sure. (Source)
Tomorrow, or soon, they will pillory us again as the "world's policeman." "U.S. launches first missiles against Gadhafi forces," from CNN, March 19:
ReplyDeleteTripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The U.S. military has launched its first missiles in Libya against Moammar Gadhafi's forces, a senior Defense Department official said Saturday.
Earlier, French fighter jets deployed over Libya fired at a military vehicle on Saturday, the country's first strike against Moammar Gadhafi's military forces who earlier attacked the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
U.S. Tomahawk missiles have landed in the western area around Tripoli and Misrata, the American military official said.
"He's clearly been on the offensive," the official said of Gadhafi. "He said that he was going to do a cease-fire and he continued to move his forces into Benghazi."
The military official said the attacks on Gadhafi's forces will be part of a multiphase approach in a sequential and deliberate manner.
"The U.S. will be at the front end of this, providing the unique capabilities that the U.S has," the official said.
While French jets launched the first attacks on Gadhafi's forces, Americans jets will be part of the enforcement. "When this commences, we'll have American aircraft involved," the official said.
The French Defense Ministry said its attack aircraft being used to take out tanks and artillery have deemed Benghazi and the surrounding area an "exclusion zone."
The French are using surveillance aircraft and two frigates in the operation to protect civilians. The aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle will soon depart Toulon, France.
"Our air force will oppose any aggression by Colonel Gadhafi against the population of Benghazi," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking after an international, top-level meeting in Paris over the Libyan crisis.
"As of now, our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town," he said, calling the intervention a "grave decision."
The international show of force is much welcomed by besieged rebel forces who have called for backup to help them stave off a government offensive against their positions in Benghazi and other rebel-held enclaves
An opposition spokesman in Benghazi said Gadhafi forces that assaulted the city earlier Saturday are now positioned outside the town. However, the forces are preparing for more attacks.
Western and Arab allies were coordinating the use of military assets to thwart Gadhafi's offensive.
Canada will be one of four principal partners helping to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya. Six Canadian CF-18 fighter jets are en route to an Italian base in Sicily and the HMCS Charlottetown will be in position to help with the naval blockade against Libya.
British officials held a crisis meeting Saturday evening.
The United States continued to broadcast the message that it is a member of, and is assisting, the coalition, rather than taking the lead role.
"America has unique capabilities, and we will bring them to bear to help our European and Canadian allies and Arab partners to stop further violence against civilians including through the effective implementation of a no-fly zone," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
Sarkozy said Gadhafi still has time to stop its activities. As of Friday, France, Britain, the United States and Arab League nations passed along a warning for Gadhafi to stop his operations immediately...
JERUSALEM – Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 50 rockets into Israel on Saturday, the heaviest barrage in two years, Israeli officials said, while Hamas police beat up and confiscated equipment from reporters.
ReplyDeleteA Hamas official was killed and four civilians were wounded when Israel hit back with tank fire and air strikes, said Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Adham Abu Salmia....
Note how the shameless AP highlights the Palestinian casualty claims of the Hamas spokesman.
Israeli police spokesman Tamir Avtabi said Gaza militants fired 54 mortar shells at Israeli border communities within 15 minutes. He said two Israeli civilians were lightly wounded by shrapnel and residents were advised to stay at home or in bomb shelters.
Hayim Yellin, head of the Eshkol region where the mortars exploded, said they were the same type as those intercepted on a cargo ship last week loaded with weapons Israel said were sent by Iran to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he will file a complaint at the U.N. after Saturday's unusually large barrage of rockets. In a statement, Lieberman said the Palestinians "primary goal is destroying Israel."...