Posted on 02/03/2006 1:13:01 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
PARIS - An international dispute over European newspaper cartoons deemed blasphemous by some Muslims gained momentum on Thursday when gunmen threatened the European Union offices in the Gaza Strip and more European papers pointedly published the drawings as an affirmation of freedom of speech.
In Gaza City, masked gunmen swarmed the European Union offices on Thursday to protest the cartoons, and there were threats to foreigners from European countries where the cartoons have been reprinted. The gunmen stayed about 45 minutes.
A newly elected legislator from Hamas, the radical Islamic group that swept the Palestinian elections last week, said large rallies were planned in Gaza in the next few days to protest the cartoons, which depict the Prophet Muhammad in an unflattering light. Merely publishing the image of Muhammad is regarded as blasphemous by many Muslims.
"We are angry very, very, very angry," said the legislator, Jamila al-Shanty. "No one can say a bad word about our prophet."
The protests spread to Indonesia today, with Islamic hardliners barging into a building housing the Danish Embassy and burning the European country's flag. The Indonesian government had earlier condemned the drawings, as did Afghanistan.
In Iraq, Islamic leaders urged worshippers to stage demonstrations following weekly prayer services today. Iran summoned the Austrian ambassador, whose country holds the EU presidency.
The conflict is the latest manifestation of growing tensions between Europe and the Muslim world as the Continent struggles to absorb a fast-expanding Muslim population whose customs and values are often at odds with Europe's secular societies. Islam is Europe's fastest-growing religion and is now the second-largest religion in most European countries. Racial and religious discrimination against Muslims in Europe's weakest economies adds to the strains.
The trouble began in September in Denmark, when the daily Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons lampooning intolerance among Muslims and Islamic links to terrorism. A Norwegian magazine published the cartoons again last month, and the issue erupted this week after diplomatic efforts failed to resolve demands by several angry Arab countries that the publications be punished.
The cartoons include one depicting Muhammad with a bomb in place of a turban on his head and another showing him on a cloud in heaven telling an approaching line of smoking suicide bombers, "Stop, stop, we ran out of virgins!"
They have since been reprinted in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and Hungary. BBC broadcast them on Thursday.
Late Thursday morning, about a dozen gunmen appeared at the European Union offices in Gaza, firing automatic weapons and spray-painting a warning on the outside gate: "Closed until an apology is sent to Muslims." The men handed out a pamphlet warning Denmark, Norway and France that they had 48 hours to apologize.
The office, staffed only by Palestinians at the time, reportedly received a telephone warning that the gunmen were coming, and was quickly closed.
Another armed group, the Abu el-Reesh Brigades, which is connected to Fatah, said Norway, Denmark, France and Germany must apologize within 10 hours or their citizens in Gaza would be "in danger."
In Nablus, on the West Bank, two masked gunmen kidnapped a German from a hotel, thinking he was French or Danish, Agence France-Presse reported. They turned him over to the police after they realized their mistake.
Ping
This further discredits the islamofascists. Maybe the combination of riots in France, crime across Europe, and attacks on basic liberties will finally wake up those in the EU.
Duh...
I've normally tried to reserve my anger for specific actors and not wide swaths of people.. But Jesus.. Someone needs to instruct these people (with bullets, if necessary) that theocracy is the reason their nations have remained sh*tholes since the crusades. And before. I feel like it'll be a thousand years before these people find their own Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Voltaire, Kant, etc. When they find their own Jefforson, perhaps they'll look back in shame. Or perhaps, we'll have to wipe them off the face of Earth before they ever get the chance.
Jefferson...
"This further discredits the islamofascists. Maybe the combination of riots in France, crime across Europe, and attacks on basic liberties will finally wake up those in the EU."
How do you think our ACLU would react if the cartoons had been first published here? Support the Muslims?
This is so strange. 9/11, Madrid, Bali, etc. etc. etc. none of these things began the true Global war between Islam and the Rest of Us, but it seems like a bunch of cartoons will?
More evidence the real enemy is Islam!
World war 1 started with the assasination of Arch Duke Ferdinand
World War 2 started with the Invasion of Poland
World War 3 started with the printing of Cartoons?
The Dread Cartoons of Blasphemy
Fake Cartoons Spread by a MUSLIM to Inflame
Here is an LGF slideshow of the Mohammed cartoons originally published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten: Jyllands-Posten slideshow. What's so revolting about all of this is how the American MSM has self-censored regarding this "blasphemy". Per my own accounting, at least 14 countries have published some or all of these cartoons, including Mexico and...JORDAN. And there's more to come...
What are these neanderthals going to do? Kill us all in those countries?
The power of Islam? HAAAAAAAAAAA! Le Monde prints a new Mohammed cartoon
My aggrievement:
Lexington Herald-Leader Columnist: Arabs Justified in Nuking Israel
Larry Webster, a contributing columnist for Kentuckys Lexington Herald-Leader, says Israel deserves to be attacked with nuclear weapons. (Hat tip: Igor.) link: 144 comments
" The true face of the Left laid out for all to see."
A Peaceful, Tolerant Day of Anger
Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi, best pal of London mayor Ken Livingstone and leading frontman for the global jihad, is calling for a day of anger: Day of anger threatened over cartoons of Prophet. "Day of tantrum" is more to the point.
You know, a peaceful, tolerant day of anger. link: 89 comments Time for a Hanson archive piece "After 30 years of listening to nauseating chanting from Teheran to Islamabad to Nablus, hearing the childish rants about "The Mother of All Battles" and "The Great Satan," and witnessing presidents from Carter to Bush burned in effigy, the ritual torching of the American flag, the misspelled banners of hatred, the thousands of paint-by-the-numbers posters of psychopaths from Khomeini to bin Laden...The problem is you, not us you, you, you
We Got Mail!
Today a gentleman from Morocco searched Google in French for Jyllands-Posten carton of mohamed, discovered LGF, and used our contact form to fire off a fan letter with the subject line mohamed:
f*ck you!!!!! and f*ck to everybody wanna touch our mohamed... I think LGF is about to coin yet another great term: mohamed. I, too, wash my hands after I touch my mohamed :-) You know, this could become the Web's next "all your base" if we play it right.
The ACLU has already gone for bat for Sami Al Arian...nuff said!
Hey Jamila...may your worthless prophet be pigbacked before being spit roasted by a monkey and a dog.
They can't find any of the above because Islam is fundamentally a theocracy, at its root. There is no other way for it to be.
Christianity has always regarded itself as separate from earthly powers, something which has frequently annoyed the earthly powers. There have been times when the State has been able to use the Church or vice versa, but these are abuses and are always corrected quickly because of the fundamental dynamic of Christianity.
Furthermore, Islam is literalist and allows no interpretation of its scriptures, which are pretty crazy to begin with. Christianity has always allowed for interpretation of the Bible, leaving aside a few sects like snake-handlers in the mountains or something hardly representative.
By contrast, every time a more "moderate" less literal form of Islam shows up, it is promptly stamped out - by other Muslims.
We are angry very, very, very angry," said the legislator, Jamila al-Shanty. "No one can say a bad word about our prophet."
Ah, yeah than can Jamila-baby. It's called Freedom of Speech. Deal with it.
ohh boy you are in troubel now....substute Allah for mohammed and they'll really go after you!
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