Israeli jet strikes Hamas’ weapons factory

 

Jerusalem, Jan 29 : Israeli Air Force jet has struck a Hamas’ weapons manufacturing facility in the Rafah area in response to a Kassam rocket being fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel.

The air strike was the Israel’s first attack on a building inside the Gaza Strip since the end of Operation Cast Lead.

“As the sole authority in the Gaza Strip, Hamas bears full responsibility of all terror originating from within its area of control,” the Israel Government said in a statement.

The Kassam rocket was fired at southern Israel on Wednesday night. It came a day after Gaza operatives breached the cease-fire with a deadly bomb attack along the border, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The rocket hit an open area in the Eshkol region, causing no casualties or damage.

Following the attack on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that Israel would respond to every act of aggression, also to rockets fired at open areas.

In an official statement released overnight Wednesday, the government reiterated Livni’s words, saying that “the IDF will respond to any terror attacks in accordance with decisions made by the Israeli Government.”

Haim Yalin, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, said that the rocket represented a moment of truth for the government, and called for a firm response to avert the next war.

“During Operation Cast Lead, I and other local authority heads sat with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and told them: `It does not matter at what stage the military operation ends, what matters is what Israel does after the first rocket is fired,’” Yalin said.

“We have now reached that stage. If the government fails to respond, and says the rocket was fired by a marginal group; we will be faced with another war soon. If we respond as we should, then we can hopefully spare ourselves another war,” he added. (ANI)

Muslims take message on the road

As reported in St. Petersburg Times, on the 14th of December, 2008

[http://www.tampabay.com/news/religion/article937236.ece]

 

Muslims hope this billboard along Interstate 4 will entice the curious to visit the Web site and learn about their religion.

The billboard sits along the eastbound side of Interstate 4, just west of McIntosh Road. But unlike other signs hawking fast food joints, gas stations or amusement parks, this one poses a spiritual query:

“Purpose of Life? 877-WHY-ISLAM?…”

If you call the number you’ll reach an office in Somerset, N.J. run by the Islamic Circle of North America, a Muslim advocacy group based in Jamaica, N.Y. Once on the line, callers can ask just about anything.

The signs with catchy phrases and images is part of a national campaign by the nonprofit group to promote discussion about Islam and debunk stereotypes about Muslims. For Ramadan, they wrapped Chicago city buses with WhyIslam signs and put up ads on New York City subway cars, which sparked some controversy.

Last week, 24 billboards went up in 18 cities, including Orlando, Portland, Ore., and San Antonio, Texas. Many of them were in cities that do not have large Muslim populations.

“We felt, as American Muslims, our voice was not being heard,” said Naeem Baig, the group’s secretary general. “We have very limited access to the media, being a nonprofit without big pockets. We felt this was the best way to reach out to the general public.”

The billboard in east Hillsborough County, which went up a week before Thanksgiving, is the first of its kind in the bay area for the group.

Tampa was not among ICNA’s target markets, but Bilal Farooqi, a 23-year-old recent college graduate, requested the billboard and agreed to sponsor it.

He felt the need to take action after another nonprofit last fall distributed Obsession, a controversial DVD about radical Islam. That group mailed it and placed it in 58 newspapers around the country, including the St. Petersburg Times.

Farooqi asked his friends and several adults at the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area mosque in Tampa to help him raise the $1,900 needed to design the ad and rent the billboard in Seffner until the end of December.

Despite its clearly spiritual message, Farooqi says it is not about gaining converts, but about education.

“It’s a billboard, and you only get three or four words to make it catchy,” Farooqi said. “I couldn’t think of anything more catchy than that. If we just said ‘Islam is a religion of peace,’ people aren’t going to really be as intrigued by it.”

Despite his intentions, Farooqi worries he will be stung by the very attitudes the billboard campaign is trying to dispel.

A 2007 graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Farooqi frets that future employers may one day learn of his association with the campaign, misunderstand its purpose and deny him jobs.

Still he feels the message is more important.

“We don’t want everyone to just have this negative stereotype about Islam,” he said. “We’re just trying to do our part to get people to see that there is another side to the story.”

Most of ICNA’s efforts are funded by the national group and its more than 22 chapters. The national group took in more than $3.2-million in public donations in 2006, according to federal tax filings for nonprofits.

Some of the billboards can cost as much as $15,000 to rent in major cities, Baig said. The one in Seffner was a bargain at $1,900, partially because it wasn’t rented.

At the group’s New Jersey offices, Jawad Ahmed, leads the volunteers that take the calls generated by the billboards.

He estimates they field an average of 500 calls a month. On some months, particularly after strong advertising campaigns, more than 1,000 calls pour in, Ahmed said.

Florida ranks third behind New Jersey and New York among the states that call into the national hotline, he said. High interest from the Sunshine State might reflect ICNA’s heavy marketing efforts in Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami.

The organization does not yet track calls by the cities from which they are placed. Ahmed tries to keep track informally by memorizing area codes.

Most often, callers ask about the Prophet Mohammed, the supposed oppression of Muslim women, and the basic tenants of Islam. A fair amount call to rant.

“I had one call of 90 seconds of continuous, nonstop curses, cursing God, Muslims, Islam,” said Ahmed, who is an imam at a New Jersey mosque. “But I just kept silent and waited for him to stop.”

After the caller finished his rant, Ahmed said he talked to the man for half an hour about Islam and agreed to send him some brochures about the faith.

So far, it’s tough to tell if the locals in east Hillsborough County are among those calling the hotline.

Workers at companies along Interstate 4 in the Seffner area said they had not seen the sign. Neither had people who live in the trailers, block houses and subdivisions that are almost literally in the billboard’s shadow.

Nothing against Islam, they said. They just take local roads and don’t often venture onto the interstate.

U-Turn! Israel accepts using White Phosphorous

 

The incident being investigated is believed to be the firing of white phosphorous shells at a UN school in Beit Lahiya on January 17 (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)

 

This is turning out to be a really interesting after-math topic.

After denying to allegations of using white phosphorous, the Israeli government has confirmed the usage of the banned chemical substance in the Gaza offensive.

Subhanallah…

And as the news piece reported in The Times goes, the Israeli government is denying that they tried covering it up in the first place! Can it get more idiotic than this??? Read it here: Israel admits using white phosphorous in attacks on Gaza

The same was posted on this blog: Gaza Special – Controversial Chemical used

The Times did a brief timeline on the White Phosphorous Expose:

CHANGING TUNE

January 5 The Times reports that telltale smoke has appeared from areas of shelling. Israel denies using phosphorus

January 8 The Times reports photographic evidence showing stockpiles of white phosphorus (WP) shells. Israel Defence Forces spokesman says: “This is what we call a quiet shell – it has no explosives and no white phosphorus”

January 12 The Times reports that more than 50 phosphorus burns victims are taken into Nasser Hospital. An Israeli military spokesman “categorically” denies the use of white phosphorus

January 15 Remnants of white phosphorus shells are found in western Gaza. The IDF refuses to comment on specific weaponry but insists ammunition is “within the scope of international law”

January 16 The United Nations Relief and Works Agency headquarters are hit with phosphorus munitions. The Israeli military continues to deny its use

January 21 Avital Leibovich, Israel’s military spokeswoman, admits white phosphorus munitions were employed in a manner “according to international law”

January 23 Israel says it is launching an investigation into white phosphorus munitions, which hit a UN school on January 17. “Some practices could be illegal but we are going into that. The IDF is holding an investigation concerning one specific unit and one incident”

Source: Times database

Is the Gaza offensive successful?

The Economist posted an article on a growing Israeli controversy, among the Israelis, of whether the recent military operation in Gaza was worthwhile. 

It should be noted by the readers that the general elections will be held in Israel next month, and one of the “unofficial” reasons stated by news reports at the beginning of the offensive was that the governing parties wanted to show the people of Israel their might in protecting them.

Read it here: Israel after Gaza – Counting the cost

God’s Army: Mormon Missionaries

When will the Muslim community take heed? When will Dawah become an essential to a Muslim like breathing air?

A special report from a program on PBS covering the trainings undergone by new joinees to the Latter Day Saint Church: [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1122/cover.html]

COVER:
God’s Army: Mormon Missionaries
February 1, 2008    Episode no. 1122

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: This weekend of Gordon Hinkley’s funeral, we note that a major part of his legacy is the global reach of Mormon missions. It’s traditional for church members, especially young people, to leave their homes to spend up to two years seeking converts. Hinckley embarked on his own mission to England in 1933. After that, he worked to improve training and support for the program. There are now 53,000 Mormon missionaries in about 145 countries and territories. Several years ago, we took a look at the church’s mission training program and the young Mormons who were part of it. John Dancy reported the story. 

JOHN DANCY: They show up in suits and ties and Sunday best. These 19- to 21-year-olds have been called to serve as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons. Yesterday they were wearing jeans and T-shirts. Today, they are referred to as Elder or Sister. Immediately they are thrown into an unfamiliar world. 

When they agree to serve a mission, they commit to go anywhere the church needs them. Men serve two years; women, 18 months. They pay their own way, or their family or congregation does. The church now has missions in 120 nations and territories. The missionaries will spend three to eight weeks here, depending on the language they study, learning how to be missionaries. Training goes on from dawn to late at night. 

 

Elder Earl C. Tingey

Elder EARL C. TINGEY(Executive Director, Missionary Department): You want them to leave home and go out and start this new venture, learning a language. It’s not easy to be eight weeks and learn a foreign language, and to learn new techniques of meeting people, learn how to take care of yourself, learn how to wash your own clothes. All of that is new to most of these young men and young women, and by leaving their families and starting anew — look forward, not backward. 

DANCY: The Missionary Training Center teaches 48 different languages — more if necessary. That is because the LDS church believes every person should hear their message in his or her own language. Teachers are usually returned missionaries. Often in the early going the spirit is willing, but the tongue just won’t cooperate. But within a few weeks, missionaries have mastered basic conversation, enough to teach others about Mormon beliefs: that God appeared with Jesus to young Joseph Smith in a forest grove in upstate New York in 1820 and told him he was restoring the true church originally organized by Jesus Christ. Mormons also believe Jesus appeared again after his resurrection, this time to an ancient civilization in the New World. The record of that event is contained in the Book of Mormon, which they believe is divinely inspired, like the Bible. 

 

“Serving a mission is voluntary, but the LDS culture exerts strong social pressure on young people to serve. “

Serving a mission is voluntary, but the LDS culture exerts strong social pressure on young people to serve. 

A problem for the church is that many new converts the missionaries make don’t stay active. They drop out after the missionaries who converted them go home. 

Mr. McNIVEN: You immediately want to write letters. You want to go find them. You want to go revisit. You want to go back and say, “Hey, don’t you remember all those great experiences we had together?” and “How can I help?” 

DANCY: Missionaries, whether they serve on Temple Square in Salt Lake City or in Outer Mongolia, must learn to deal with rejection. Most people they approach don’t accept their message. 

 

“There are now 53,000 Mormon missionaries in about 145 countries and territories.”

HEIDI ANDERSON(Missionary who served in Stockholm, Sweden): Every door that slams in your face, or not, but every person that’s not interested, it’s almost a test. Do you really believe what you’re saying? Do you really believe in this message of Christ and that God has a plan for you, that there are prophets still on this Earth today? And I think that we have to confront those questions and answer them in our minds and in our heart every day. 

MICHAEL SMART (Missionary who served in Manchester, England): The hardest was when they had little kids. When the missionaries came and talked to my mom and dad and I knew what I’ve gained and continue to gain from my parents’ accepting that message and teaching it to me, and I just wish they would do the same. 

DANCY: Every Tuesday a new group of missionaries leaves Salt Lake City; this one for South America. For the next 18 months to two years, these young men and women will work 16 hours a day, six days a week. Through the efforts of missionaries, the Mormons expect to have 71 million members worldwide in another 50 years. 

For RELIGION AND ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, I’m John Dancy in Salt Lake City.