Free Republic

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Tuesday that using only military means to fight the threat of Islamic State in Syria could radicalize more Sunni armed groups and spark greater violence. “Our long-term strategic objective in Syria remains a political solution,” Ban told the U.N. Security Council. The United Nations is spearheading efforts to end a civil war sparked by President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests more than three years ago. “A purely military response to the vicious new threat posed by (Islamic State) could ultimately contribute to the radicalization of other Sunni armed groups and spark a...

The children of refugees who fled Lebanon's civil war for peaceful Australia in the 1970s form a majority of Australian militants fighting in the Middle East, according to about a dozen counter-terrorism officials, security experts and Muslim community members. Of the 160 or so Australian jihadists believed to be in Iraq or Syria, several are in senior leadership positions, they say. But unlike fighters from Britain, France or Germany, who experts say are mostly jobless and alienated, a number of the Australian fighters grew up in a tight-knit criminal gang culture, dominated by men with family ties to the region...

Under the Islamist AKP, Turkey has become a state sponsor of terror. Its links to ISIS are the worst kept secret in the region as ISIS fighters treat Turkey as a gateway to the ISIS Jihad.But Biden made the mistake of quoting Erdogan and had to apologize for it. Vice President Biden on Saturday apologized to Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for saying the Turkish leader admitted his country made mistakes by allowing foreign fighters to cross into Syria.Biden spoke directly to Erdogan to “clarify” comments made on Thursday at Harvard University and apologized for “any implication” that Turkey or...

Israel's Foreign Ministry says it will summon Sweden's ambassador following that country's decision to recognize a Palestinian state. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement that he "regrets" that Sweden "rushed" to make its decision without properly understanding the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. On Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said the ambassador would be summoned Monday.

Lefty “feminists” spend a lot of time talking about “objectifying” women. Islam reminds us of what that really means. Right down to the price tags.The Islamic State is great if you’re a Sunni Muslim male. If you’re a non-Muslim woman, it’s hell on earth. But that’s true of Islam. “[W]omen and children who refused to convert were being allotted to ISIL fighters or were being trafficked … in markets in Mosul and to Raqqa in Syria,” according to the UN report. “Married women who converted were told by ISIL that their previous marriages were not recognised in Islamic law and...

THE sleepy rural town of Young in the cherry-picking heart of NSW has undergone a radical transformation. It is now the unofficial Muslim capital of the outback. Arabic is the second-most common language in Young, about 150km northwest of Canberra, which has a population of 400 Muslims. Local police say they are concerned about the potential radicalisation of youths, and The Daily Telegraph found one former musician convert who says he would marry off his 13-year-old daughter if Australian law permitted it. Mohammad Carson, formerly Thomas Carson, says he believes sharia law should be enacted globally, that the September 11...

During its conquests in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State has had to come up with a method to allow all those non-Sunnis who ended up converting to Sunni Islam instead of being killed—the Christians, Yazidis, Shias, who for whatever reason remained under IS territory—to be identified as true and legitimate Muslims. Accordingly, it has been issuing “non-infidel certificates.” Like a driver’s license, these certificates have the picture of the one named and explain to any Islamic State soldier that the named is now a Muslim and thus it is now “impermissible to lash, crucify, or rape him.” The certificate...

Muslim leaders here are worried a push to send the SAS to fight ISIS-linked terrorists could fuel a backlash among the Muslim community in New Zealand. Speaking to Radio New Zealand, Wellington's Kilbirnie mosque's Secretary of the International Muslim Association of New Zealand, Tahir Nawaz, says supporting the fight in Iraq would be a bad idea. "We are a very good community here, we are very co-operative," Mr Nawaz said. "Once New Zealand troops are sent there, our public attitude could change. At the end of the day there would be people living here whose roots are in the countries...

Christians in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley have begun arming themselves in preparation for an Isis (now known as the Islamic State) offensive as it seeks to expand its territorial control outside of Syria. Up to 3,000 militants from the Islamic State and other jihadists occupy the mountain range between Lebanon and Syria near the Sunni town of Arsal. As IS seek to grab land outside of the mountain caves and farms they currently control, Christian volunteers have now created village defence forces to protect against the Sunni militants who have taken up to 21 Lebanese soldiers and policemen hostage. "We are...

An HFD employee is under investigation and on administrative duty because of something he posted on his personal Facebook page. The post is set to a backdrop of an American flag and reads, "Proud Infidel. F*** Islam and F*** Muslims." It was posted to his timeline earlier this month, and at one point, it was even his profile picture. When we brought it to the attention of the Houston Fire Department, Chief Terry Garrison responded with a statement, "As soon as I was made aware of the situation, I adopted a complaint on the matter, launching an internal investigation." "Your...

Last week, President Obama spoke to the United Nations about the growing threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In the course of that speech, he discussed a wide variety of threats to Western civilization, ranging from Ebola to global warming, from chaos in Syria to China’s incursions in the South China Sea. The speech seemed unfocused, meandering. But it held together thanks to one common thread: Barack Obama believes that words solve everything. Particularly his own.Obama’s narcissism isn’t mere arrogance. It’s messianism. It’s pure faith that his verbiage can alter the course of history. “We are here,”...

Nathaniel Roi Arami fell to his death at a construction site in Israel. An “Arab co-worker” was questioned and released, but now the “incident is now being investigated as a possible nationalistically-related murder.” There is nothing unique about this story. It is one of many just like it that have come before, and many more like it will surely follow. But it epitomizes the willful ignorance that blankets not only Israel, but the U.S. and the West in general, on this issue. If Nathaniel Roi Arami was murdered, it wasn’t because his killer was an “Arab” who was acting for...

Iran says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "baselessly" associated the Islamic world with the Islamic State group during his address to the United Nations General Assembly. In a reply to the Monday speech, Iran also said Netanyahu continued a policy to "sabotage and disrupt" Iranian negotiations with world powers over the country's nuclear program. The Israeli leader told the United Nations Iran is trying to trick the world into accepting an agreement to end sanctions while still allowing it to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has long declared its nuclear program to be for peaceful purposes. Netanyahu said Iran is on...

The Iraq War lies now mostly in the realm of myth. We have forgotten exactly how we got both into and out of the war. The October 2002 joint congressional authorization to go to war was not just about fears of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Other worries prompted broad bipartisan support for the resolution. A majority of Democratic senators (as evidenced by their passionate speeches from the Senate floor) cited many of the resolution’s 23 writs. The latter were mostly concerned with things other than WMD: harboring terrorists, offering bounties for suicide bombers, giving refuge to at least one...

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), sometimes called ISIS or IS, is a Sunni extremist group that follows al-Qaida’s anti-West ideology and sees a holy war against the West as a religious duty. With regard to nonbelievers, the Quran commands, “And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out.” The Quran contains many other verses that call for Muslim violence against nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.Contrast the words of the Quran with the statements of limp-wristed Western leaders such as this by President Barack Obama: “We...

Islamic insurgent groups such as Boko Haram use the Qur'an to justify their actions. This has led many non-Muslims to see Muslims - especially those with full beards and dressed in hijab - as terrorists. But in fact, the vast majority of Muslims, including devout youth from across Nigeria, are united in condemning the nefarious acts of religious extremists.Concepts such as 'terrorism', 'insurgence' and 'extremism' are often associated with Islamic jihad. But it is erroneous to equate this term with violence, according to Toyeeb (20), a Muslim student in Oyo in south-west Nigeria."Non-Muslims who want to know about Islam should...

Members of Minnesota's large Somali community gathered Sunday to condemn the recruitment of youth by terrorist groups and urge collaboration to find solutions to address the problem. About 100 people attended a town hall meeting to denounce groups such as the Islamic State and al-Shabab, which together have recruited more than two dozen fighters from Minnesota since 2007. U.S. Attorney Andy Luger told the crowd he's working hard to bring more resources to the community to address the root causes of the problem. "I have two children and if somebody was recruiting my children to go overseas and die, I...

Videos showing Islamic extremists beheading western hostages are putting young Britons off pursuing jihad in the Middle East, one of the UK’s most senior police officers has suggested. Sir Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, said footage of the shocking murders had backfired as far as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was concerned, serving as a deterrent rather than a recruiting poster. Sir Peter, who is leads on counterterror for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said the “sheer brutality” of the ISIL footage was discouraging young British Muslims from getting involved....

There is a plan by the US government to train 15,000 Muslim jihadis, in a supposed plan to fight ISIS, as we read from Reuters: A Western-backed opposition force of around 12,000 to 15,000 will be needed to retake areas of eastern Syria controlled by Islamic State militants, the top U.S military officer said on Friday, as the Pentagon outlined the first steps in a U.S.-led training program that could run several years.The Pentagon said its assessment teams have already arrived in Saudi Arabia to help map out a U.S.-led program there expected to train more than 5,000 Western-backed opposition...

Police say the beheading had nothing to do with his Islamic faith.KFOR reported: The FBI is now looking into Nolen’s background after his former co-workers said he tried to convert them to Islam after recently converting himself.Lewis says the FBI is working in conjunction with the Moore Police Department, especially when it comes to the religious aspect of the case.At this time, it is not known if the suspect’s beliefs played a role in the attack. Vaughan Foods after the beheading (News 9)Police also say there is no link to terrorism. It was just a random workplace beheading. ABC7 reported:...