Free Republic

N.O-S .: Rebecca, you are a celebrated human rights activist. For many years now you have been working with refugees and immigrants. Years before the refugee wave of 2015 you were already well-known because you demanded that these people be admitted to Germany without any limitation. So what made you change your mind? Rebecca Sommer: It’s not true that I ever supported “unlimited” admission of immigrants, because it’s impossible for any country to go on admitting people forever. I am a humanitarian and a human rights activist. For the first few years I thought that the people coming here were...

When it comes to Iran, do basic facts matter? Evidently not, since dozens and dozens of journalists keep casually reporting that Iran has a “nuclear weapons program” when it does not—a problem FAIR has reported on over the years (e.g., 9/9/15). Let’s take a look at some of the outlets spreading this falsehood in just the past five days: Business Insider (10/13/17): “The deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aims to incentivize Iran to curb its nuclear weapons program by lifting crippling international economic sanctions.” New Yorker (10/16/17): “One afternoon in late September, Secretary of State...

When a Christmas day fire broke out at a strip mall mosque in Houston Texas, the media was quick like a bunny to begin speculating on the “suspicious nature” of the fire and looking for a motive. CAIR was one of the first out of the gate to call it a hate crime. (NBC News) The Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on authorities to investigate a possible bias motive in the case, citing what it called a “recent spike in hate incidents targeting mosques nationwide.A mosque in Coachella, California, was damaged in an intentionally set fire...

THE father of the three-year-old boy whose lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach, rocking the whole world to its core, has been accused of being a people smuggler who captained the fateful voyage. A woman who lost two of her three children on the vessel made the stunning claims to Network Ten via her cousin, who lives in Sydney, on Friday night. The image of Aylan Kurdi’s dead body was the catalyst for Australia to accept 12,000 Syrian refugees who are fleeing persecution in their homeland.

....TheBlaze decided to speak with experts at some of America’s leading universities. One academic, a professor at Duke University, provided a candid assessment, but asked to remain off-the-record. Based on the images and analysis present in the WND report, he said that the script present on Obama’s ring appears to be Arabic and that it does, indeed, include the first portion of the shahada. “I think this is accurate,” he said of the description surrounding the ring.

The original WH transcript found at whitehouse.gov (I grabbed a cached version from yahoo.com; see my red brackets below) says the DNC participants LAUGHED after Obama said "we've created 2.1 million new private sector jobs in the past 15 months. Now, whitehouse.gov has changed the word "laughter" to "applause." Original version (yahoo cache):http://74.6.238.254/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-8&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fthe-press-office%2F2011%2F06%2F20%2Fremarks-president-dnc-event-0&fr=yfp-t-701&u=http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=http%3a%2f%2fwww.whitehouse.gov%2fthe-press-office%2f2011%2f06%2f20%2fremarks-president-dnc-event-0&d=207206940761&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=3f176b25,cd268517&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=YwoTaKsztkXVtdKV0ajhPQ-- Changed "doctored" version:http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/20/remarks-president-dnc-event-0

Aziz Dwaik, the highest-level spokesperson for Hamas and the elected speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, has claimed that Hamas is ready and willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist. His claim includes the changing of the Hamas Charter to reflect this claimed change in their relations with the Jewish State. This startling statement was made to British millionaire David Martin Abrahams in Hebron. He further claimed that Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh support the idea of establishing a Palestinian State within the pre 1967 armistice lines. David Martin Abrahams passed this information on to the Jerusalem Post....

WASHINGTON -- Recent remarks from WTOP commentator Cal Thomas have sparked controversy in the Muslim-American community. Now, an Islamic advocacy group is responding to Thomas' commentary. In his weekly commentary on WTOP Radio Monday, Cal Thomas discussed the recent thwarted terror attacks in the United Kingdom. "How much longer should we allow people from certain lands, with certain beliefs to come to Britain and America and build their mosques, teach hate, and plot to kill us?" Thomas asked. "Okay, lets have the required disclaimer: Not all Muslims from the Middle East and southeast Asia want to kill us, but those...

Saudi Arabia has long been known for its discretion and its subtle approach to diplomacy. As the home of Islam and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques a certain amount of detached nobility was expected from Saudi Arabia in its diplomacy. Over recent months we have seen that Saudi Arabia's nonpartisan detachment and its trusted dignity could be put to use also in a more active diplomacy-to great success. It is this development and the failed Middle Eastern policy of the Western world that have persuaded me to try to brush a picture of Saudi Arabia's policy today and over...

Of the thousands of people who gathered in the plaza of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign announcement last Saturday, only a handful were protesters rather than supporters. But there were 50 or so waving signs and chanting, “No abortion, no Obama.” Their voices might become a consistent presence as the senator makes his way around the country in his bid to win the White House. Abortion foes in Illinois, following the lead of registered nurse Jill Stanek, are targeting Obama (D-Ill.) for a number of “present” and “no” votes he cast on...

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) believes it is his right as a Muslim to be sworn into Congress with the Quran. But apparently, the freshman lawmaker doesn’t believe it’s Rep. Tom Tancredo’s (R-Colo.) right to smoke a cigar in his congressional office. Ellison’s office called the Capitol Hill Police on Tancredo last Wednesday night as Tancredo was in his office smoking a cigar. The lawmakers have neighboring offices on the first floor of the Longworth House Office Building. Tancredo was still stunned a day later. “It’s very bizarre,” said Tancredo, who has never met Ellison. “Seemed to me not a good...

Al-Husainy was a guest. This was the Islamic cleric that gave a prayer invocation at the DNC Winter meeting this last Friday. Sean was at his best attempting to get a yes or no answer out of the cleric. The cleric was at times incomprehensible and even managed a humerous literal "you talkin to me" moment that just cracked me up!

Faith and Politics By Joel Mowbray The Washington Times February 7, 2007 Less than two weeks after Sen. Barbara Boxer very publicly rebuffed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the high-profile Muslim organization scored a surprising victory courtesy of a different leading California Democrat, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. When Mrs. Boxer rescinded an award that her office had given to a CAIR official, she cited the group's terrorist ties and its inability to condemn Islamic terrorist organizations. Faced with the same public record, Mrs. Pelosi weeks afterward decided to place a freshman congressman who was heavily backed by CAIR on...

In today's Independent, Patrick Cockburn writes: There are growing suspicions in Iraq that the official story of the battle outside Najaf between a messianic Iraqi cult and the Iraqi security forces supported by the US, in which 263 people were killed and 210 wounded, is a fabrication. The heavy casualties may be evidence of an unpremeditated massacre. A picture is beginning to emerge of a clash between an Iraqi Shia tribe on a pilgrimage to Najaf and an Iraqi army checkpoint that led the US to intervene with devastating effect. The involvement of Ahmed al-Hassani (also known as Abu Kamar),...

. . . despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars, the United States has lost the battle for Iraqi public opinion: "Insurgents, sectarian elements, and others are taking control of the message at the public level." Videos of U.S. soldiers being shot and blown up, and of the bloody work of sectarian death squads, are now pervasive. The images inspire new recruits and intimidate those who might stand against them. . . . Most large-scale attacks on U.S. forces are now filmed, often from multiple camera angles, and with high-resolution cameras. The footage is slickly edited into dramatic narratives: quick-cut...

A group of Afghan Muslim clerics threatened on Sunday to call for a holy war against the United States in three days unless it hands over military interrogators reported to have desecrated the Koran. The warning came after 16 Afghans were killed and more than 100 hurt last week in the worst anti-U.S. protests across the country since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban for sheltering Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. The clerics in the northeastern province of Badakhshan said they wanted U.S. President George W. Bush to handle the matter honestly "and hand...

FAIZABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- A group of Afghan Muslim clerics have threatened to call for a holy war against the United States in three days unless it hands over military interrogators reported to have desecrated the Quran. The warning on Sunday came after 16 Afghans were killed and more than 100 hurt last week in the worst anti-U.S. protests across the country since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban for sheltering Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. The clerics in the northeastern province of Badakhshan said they wanted U.S. President George W. Bush to handle...

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged the United States on Saturday to prosecute and punish anyone found guilt of desecrating the Koran as anti-U.S. protests flared for a fifth day. Sixteen Afghans have been killed and more than 100 hurt since Wednesday in the worst anti-U.S. protests across Afghanistan since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. Newsweek magazine said in its May 9 edition investigators probing abuses at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay found that interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in...

The Pakistani foreign minister has said that if reports that US guards at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Koran are true, they should be severely punished. Khurshid Kasuri said that the allegations had provoked outrage throughout the Islamic world. At least seven people died and many more were hurt in protests in Afghanistan this week over the issue. The US has described the incident as abhorrent, and pledged prompt action if the allegations prove to be true. A number of protest rallies were held in Pakistan on Friday. 'Outraged Muslims' "Yes, it's abominable the reports that emanated from Guantanamo Bay," Mr...

Sydney, April 9: The West must end "Islamophobia" and Muslim nations must tackle the causes of religious extremism, such as poverty, to win the fight against terrorism, the head of the world's largest body of Islamic nations said on Friday. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, chairman of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said the war on terrorism could not be won by military might alone. Abdullah said in a speech in Sydney that the West and the Muslim world must unite to tackle the "root causes of terrorism", such as poverty. "The increasing gulf and misunderstanding between...