Female Muslim Academic Champions Islam's (Abysmal) Treatment of Chicks; Bruce Bawer Gives Her a Righteous Smackdown

Bruce Bawer takes on a "repulsive" book with impeccable academic credentials. It's written by a Columbia University professor, a woman, and published by Harvard University Press. The author, a devout Muslim, criticizes those who criticize the Islamic oppression of women--and no wonder. It is just such oppression which is Islam's Achilles heel, so to speak, an obvious abridgement of rights that clashes with Western values and with modernity itself. So to defend how Islam views and treats women is to defend Islam at the expense of half of humanity. It is that, along with the author's duplicity and tu quoque arguments, that most disgust Bawer:

One way in which Abu-Lughod trivializes the oppression of Muslim women is by accusing Westerners of “trivializ[ing] gender issues in the United States and Europe.” It was Christians, not Muslims, she reminds us, who burned women as witches in colonial Salem. She even claims that frat-house gang-rapes are considered “acceptable” in the U.S. (Huh?) Why, she asks, haven’t any of the would-be saviors of Muslim women “taken up the cause of oppressed Jewish women, or questioned proud proof of the continuity of Judaism that is pinned on genetic markers passed down from father to son among the priestly group known as Cohens?” (No, I have no idea what she’s talking about either.)

Ah, yes, it always--always!--comes back to the Joooos. For if anything is a "genetic marker" passed down through the generations, it is the poisonous, pathological Jew-hate embedded in Islam's foundational text, the Koran.

J. Kay's Bizarre Word Choice Strikes Again

The fellow who said Sharon's Gaza disengagement was a "masterstroke" today calls Stephen Harper's "zeal" for Israel "manic." The definition of manic is:

1. 1.

   showing wild and apparently deranged excitement and energy.

   "his manic enthusiasm"

   synonyms:

   mad, insane, deranged, demented, maniacal, lunatic, wild, crazed, demonic, hysterical, raving, unhinged, unbalanced; More informalcrazy; vulgar slangbatshit "a manic grin"

   antonyms:

   sane

Harper's unwavering support for Israel is anything but "manic."  Alas, it's Kay's characterization that is batshit insane.

Update: In this tweet, Kay jokes about being "miffed" at being left out of Harper's official delegation. I say "jokes" because knowing how Kay feels about Israel--or rather, how he doesn't feel much of anything for it--I'm pretty sure he's pleased that he didn't have to go.

Update: A non-batshit insane assessment--call it the anti-Kay take--of Harper and his Knesset speech appears on the Commentary site:

Prime Minister Harper’s speech delivered before the Knesset on Monday was a case in point. Rightly, Harper spoke of Israel’s accomplishments, defending unequivocally its right to exist as a Jewish state and denouncing in no uncertain terms the new anti-Semitism that masquerades as anti-Zionism–or as Harper put it, “the old hatred has been translated into more sophisticated language for use in polite society. People who would never say they hate and blame the Jews for their own failings or the problems of the world, instead declare their hatred of Israel and blame the only Jewish state for the problems of the Middle East.” 

Ironically, when Prime Minister Harper came to rebutting the apartheid charge leveled against Israel, two of the Arab Knesset members present began to loudly interrupt him, before then promptly storming out–their very position in the Knesset, of course, serving to refute the accusation that they apparently felt so strongly about insisting upon.
This sense of obligation to speak out against such lies and bigotry clearly stems from the prime minister’s wider worldview. Harper declared unapologetically that we live in a world where “moral relativism runs rampant” and that “in the garden of such moral relativism, the seeds of much more sinister notions can be easily planted.” For, as Harper noted, “Those who, often begin by hating the Jews…history shows us, end up hating anyone who is not them.” 

Indeed, the most important aspect of Harper’s speech was the explanation he gave for why Canada would stand by Israel. Having begun by stating plainly, “Canada supports Israel because it is right to do so,” Prime Minister Harper went on to explain that “Israel is the only country in the Middle East, which has long anchored itself in the ideals of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.” 

Crucially, he observed that, “These are not mere notions. They are the things that, over time and against all odds, have proven to be the only ground in which human rights, political stability, and economic prosperity, may flourish. These values are not proprietary; they do not belong to one nation or one people. Nor are they a finite resource; on the contrary, the wider they are spread, the stronger they grow. Likewise, when they are threatened anywhere, they are threatened everywhere.”

Nothing "manic" about that.

Update: I posted this comment following the Kay screed:

I don't think people should panic,
But J. Kay thinks that Harper is "manic."
That kind of hysteria
Is sweeping the area--
But it's Kay's, whose disdain is titanic.

SWC Calls UNESCO Cancellation of Israel Exhibit "A Slap in the Face of Every Jew"--Yet Appears to Invites Even More Slapping

The story so far: the Simon Wiesenthal Center (key idea: "tolerance") created an exhibit about the 3,500 year-old connection between the land of Israel and the Jewish people. It was supposed to appear under the UNESCO imprimatur, but, bowing to pressure from Arabs, UNESCO cancelled the thing post haste. The U.S., which refused to co-sponsor the exhibit, condemned its cancellation (thereby trying to please everyone--and pleasing no one). Now Wiesenthal wants Zion-loathing Europe--yes, Europe--to hop on the condemnation bandwagon.
 
Sorry, SWC, but that request strikes me as being the height of masochism, not unlike this:

UNRWA Is the Problem. Getting Rid of UNRWA Is the Solution

This NYT piece aims to highlight the desperate plight of Palestinian "refugees" living in a refugee camp in the West Bank.

What it really does, though, albeit unintentionally, is demonstrate how the UN via UNRWA maintains a permanent population of permanently angry, ginned up, entitlement-crazed "refugees," and that that in itself is a huge problem.

Do ‘Sophisticated’ Brits at the Economist Believe Jews Control Washington?

Yup.

Update: More evidence that, in the British context, "sophisticated" is a synonym for "Jew-hating."

Michelle Malkin Sends "Jihad-Coddlers" Kerry and Obama a Memo

Here it is (not that those two will ever "get it"):

Memo to stupidly rich elitist John Kerry, richly stupid progressive Barack Obama and the administration's bleeding-heart bureaucrats in a bubble: Financial bankruptcy is not, and has never been, the "root cause" of Koran-inspired hatred and violence against nonbelievers. Lack of intellectual stimulation is not, and has never been, the "root cause" of radical Islam's centuries-old and never-ceasing imperative to establish a worldwide caliphate and conquer the West. The root cause of civilizational jihad is unmitigated evil and arrogance, not lack of compassion, understanding or social justice. 

Former University of Toronto Prof Who Heads Up Middle East Section of Madrid-Based "Peace" Outfit Finds Stephen Harper's Support for Israel "Baffling"

It must have something to do with that Christian end-of-days stuff, says the baffled peace proponent on the Al Jazeera site. Which, when you think about it, tells you a lot more about him--his worldview, mindset and prejudices--than it does about Harper and/or Israel.

Update: Here's someone else who's baffled by the speech:

Hanna Kawas, chair of the Canada Palestine Association, called Harper’s speech one-sided, and said the prime minister wrongly overlooked “the crimes” of Israel, which he called a “settler colonial state.”   

“He’s supporting Israel — and blindly,” said Kawas. “It could have been written by (Israeli premier Benjamin) Netanyahu himself . . . . We shouldn’t encourage Israel to continue with their path.”

Yes we should. Because the wretched alternative is on display today in Gaza, Egypt, Syria, et al and etc. (BTW, "Hana Kawas wants to educate people on Canadian complicity in Israeli apartheid"--so you know what kind of knucklehead he is.)

Update: My letter to the Toronto Star (where Kawas's comments appeared):

Hanna Kawas says Prime Minister Stephen Harper should have condemned Israel because it's "a settler colonial state." Leaving aside the fact that the relationship between Jewry and Israel long predates anti-Western theories about colonialism, pretty much every English-speaking democracy, Canada included, started out as a "settler colonial state." So to decry Israel on that basis is to decry Canada, too.

 

Which was rather the point of the prime minister's Knesset speech--that Canada and Israel have much in common, and, faced with many of the same enemies, ones who loathe our common commitment to democracy and freedom, much to defend.

Remember When Obama Said Al Qaeda Had Been Decimated?

Yeah, that was a massive load of b.s. It would have been more truthful had he said something along the lines of, "If you like your Al Qaeda, you can keep your Al Qaeda." But it was an election year, and the truth would have likely put a Republican in the White House.

Canadian Muslims Facebook Page Mega-P.O.'d About Harper's Israel Visit

Hardly a shockeroo. They want the prime minister to see all those "apartheid sites" his hosts won't show him.

Just In Time for the Winter Olympics, Sochi Gets "Potemkinized"

The prettified facades that have been erected to put a crumbling slum in the best light are unlikely to fool anyone who doesn't want to be fooled:

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A shining new $635 million highway on the outskirts of Sochi stands next to a crumbling apartment block with a red "SOS!" banner on its roof. 

The residents of 5a Akatsy street have lived for years with no running water or sewage system. Construction for the 2014 Winter Games has made their lives more miserable: The new highway has cut them off from the city center. Even their communal outhouse had to be torn down because it was found to be too close to the new road and ruled an eyesore. 

The slum is one of the many facets of a hidden dark side in the host city of next month's Winter Olympics, which stands side-by-side with the glittering new construction projects that President Vladimir Putin is touting as a symbol of Russia's transformation from a dysfunctional Soviet leviathan to a successful, modern economy. While state-run TV trains its cameras on luxury malls, sleek stadiums and high-speed train links, thousands of ordinary people in the Sochi area put up with squalor and environmental waste: villagers living next to an illegal dump filled with Olympic construction waste, families whose homes are sinking into the earth, city dwellers suffering chronic power cuts despite promises to improve electricity...

Putin/Potemkin: same guy, different era.



Update: More Sochi "fun"--the "black widow" wore pink.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Speech to the Knesset Was, In a Word, Amazing

He isn't the orator that Barack Obama is; the sonorous, pumped up prayer-meeting tones just aren't his shtick. But then, he also isn't the mealy-mouthed equivocator/moral relativist that the American is, and has always been. Harper's words were plain-spoken, sincere, and heart-felt. He made me proud to be a Canadian, a Canadian Jew, and a Zionist.

He gets it, really and truly. And, in terms of resolute and wise leadership, he leaved the glib but gifted teleprompter-reader in the White House back at the starting line, still trying to get his bearings five years into his presidency.

Update: Here's how most of Canada's media elites think--like this Maclean's magazine putz who used Harper's Knesset speech as an opportunity to play a drinking game.

Hope he gets a killer of a hangover.