Germany: Former ‘Nazi’ faces murder charges AKI reports: — “German prosecutors have charged an alleged former member of the Nazi SS with the killing of 58 Jewish labourers. The 90-year-old man is suspected of killing his victims near the village of Deutsch Schutzen in eastern Austria in 1945, a statement from a German state court said.”
— “The court has identified the suspect only as a ‘retiree from Duisburg’ ”
— ” ‘On 29 March 1945, the accused and his accomplices brought at least 57 Jewish forced labourers in several groups to a nearby forest area, where they had to give up their valuables and kneel by a grave,’ the statement said.”
— ” ‘The accused and other SS members then cruelly shot the Jewish forced labourers from behind.’ ”
— “While the accused has not been officially identified, German media reports have named him as Adolf Storms, a former member of the 5th SS Panzer Division, known as Wiking.”
“Anti-Jewish political groups like Hizb-ut-Tahrir seek to have a formal presence on campuses. This is how Ed Hussain, recalling his time as a college student in London, describes what he calls the ‘Islamist control of Muslim student population… At many universities the tactics of confrontation and consolidation of Muslim feeling under the leadership of Hizb activists were being adopted. The Hizb confronted the Jewish…lecturers…. What dumbfounded us was the fact that the authorities on campuses never stopped us.’ Hussain had been attracted to Islamism as a school-boy. A poster in his bed room quoted the famous appeal of Hassan al-Banna, the grandfather of Tariq Ramadan and founder of the Muslim Brotherhood:”
“Allah is our Lord.”
“Mohammed is our Leader. The Koran is Our Constitution. Violent Extemism is Our Way.”
“Martydom is Our Desire.”
“All over the world students at school or university put up posters of ‘revolutionary’ heroes like Che, or Mao, today Hugo Chavez or Sheik Nazrullah, without thinking through what they really stand for or have done. But how many have gone to sleep having done their homework under a poster urging jihad and expressing a desire for martyrdom?”
“At his college, Hussain helped cover the college walls as well as those in the street outside with a poster reading ‘Islam: The Final Solution’ because ‘deep down, we never really objected to the Holocaust… Without question we despised Jews and perceived a Jewish conspiraracy.’ Like a con-man who changes his name as he moves from town, Hizb is also adept at adopting new guises as it seeks to win over students to its anti-Semitic core beliefs. Islamist spokesmen have denounced Hussain’s expose of Hizb anti-Jewish work on campuses as being a lone example of what happened in the 1990s. Yet the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-Semitism reported that in December 2005, the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK organized a debate under the title ‘Zionism: The Greatest Enemy of the Jews.’ Some of the listed speakers were known to have expressed anti-Semitic opinions on previous occasions and the university cancelled the event. MPACUK riposted on its website saying ‘Jewish Societies’ were the same as ‘Zionist Socities.’ It accused Jewish students of working for Mossad and put up a picture of Spiderman using the classicial anti-Semitic motif of Jews spinning a web of control. In 2002, the University of Manchester Students’ Union discussed a motion that anti-Zionism was not anti-Semitism. The General Union of Palestinian Students distributed a leaflet before the vote which repeated classic anti-Semitic propaganda including the Benjamin Franklin forgery circulated by the Nazis, which claimed the American statesman had written an anti-Jewish tract in the 18th century which called Jews ‘vampires.’ The motion was defeated. The response of the Jew-haters was to throw a brick through the window of a Jewish student residence and a poster with the words ‘Slaughter the Jews’ was stuck on the front door.”
“So Ed Hussain’s description of Islamist anti-Semitism on the campus is far from an isolated example from the 1990s; the Jew-hatred in British universities has intensified this century. In 2005, the Glasgow-based national Scottish paper, The Herald, reported that Hizb, and other Islamist groups with different names but sharing the same political gene pool and anti-Jewish obsessions, were seeking to infiltrate Scottish universities. A Hizb spokesman admitted that the extremist organization was seeking to work ‘in Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh universities.’ Al Muhajiroun, the breakaway group from Hizb and arguably even more violent in its anti-Semitism, was also active in Dundee and other universities. According to The Herald, Dundee University ‘said it had no knowledge of radical Islamic groups being active on its campus’ while ‘Edinburgh University said it… did not object to religious groups holding meetings on campus as long as they operated within the law and did not deploy inappropriate tactics.’ But both Hizb and Al Muharjiroun exist to snuff out free speech and replace democracy. They are not religious groups in the same sense as Quakers, or Buddhists, or Mormons, or Orthodox Christians who wish to share their views on faith with others. Hizb and its off-shoots are deeply political and refuse to join in campaigns to condemn attacks on Jews worldwide.”
Germany: Those behind neo-Nazi radio station face judges
— Deutsche Welle: “On the first day of their trial, the accused, ranging from 20 to 36 years old, were charged with incitement to hatred and running a criminal organization. A police raid on their premises in March seized extensive material connected to German neo-Nazi organizations. According to prosecutors, the radio station, named European Brotherhood Radio, was founded in 2006 and had broadcast music that included hate slogans against minorities and denied the Holocaust. It is also thought to have accessed material on the Internet that described how to build a bomb.”
— “(ChattahBox)–A new neo-Nazi white supremacist group, named Victory Forever has mysteriously appeared on the Internet, placing at least one ad in a high school newspaper that misleadingly advertises free music downloads. But when connecting to the site, the only available music downloads are of white power hate music, with plenty of disturbing neo-Nazi ideology, virulent anti-Semitism, homophobia and ‘white resistance’ items for sale, including a CD of Aryan Pride music, called ‘Fetch the Rope,’ swastika stickers, free e-book downloads of the infamous Turner Diaries and other neo-nazi tomes and white resistance flyers.”
— “The Victory Forever site also offers young recruits plenty of racist malevolence with the stated purpose, ‘to disseminate White resistance music as widely as possible around the World.’ ”
— CDN: “Court Seeks Help to Link Murders in Turkey to ‘Deep State’ ”
— CDN reports “Judges and prosecutors in the trial regarding the murder of three Christians in this southeastern city in Turkey on Friday (Nov. 13) renewed their request for help from the Istanbul High Criminal Court as reports mounted linking the slayings to top gendarmerie officials.”
On November 16, 2009, members of the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center extended their activities from Florida to Ohio attacking Islam as attendees at an event led by others which was reportedly intended to address religious freedom in Columbus, Ohio, in the case of Rifqa Bary, who states that she has been threatened for converting from Islam to Christianity.
We object to Dove World Outreach Center’s tactics as counterproductive and objectionable to the cause of promoting human rights and religious freedom.
At the November 16 Columbus event, we have been told that attendees came from: “Wisconsin, Toronto, California… Michigan, New York, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana.” Although we were not in attendance at the November 16 event, we recognize the challenges that any event organizers might in having a consistent message from diverse members of the public from different parts of the country.
R.E.A.L.'s Human Rights Approach to Public Outreach and Dialogue in Columbus - November 13
We support universal human rights, including freedom of religion, for all people – as well as supporting human dignity and respect as fundamental human rights as well. During our November 13 public outreach event, we talked to a number of local Columbus individuals who were Muslims who listened to our concerns on human rights issues and politely debated us on some points.
Our point was that all human beings deserve our universal human rights, regardless of their religion. We stated that no one has the right to deny freedom of religion or freedom of conscience to others. We pointed to the threats alleged by Columbus’ Rifqa Bary that she stated she was threatened for changing her religion from Islam to Christianity. We addressed the July 2009 Chicago event with 700 attendees supporting an anti-democracy extremists group (rationalizing anti-human rights views based on its interpretation of Islam) that passed out brochures defending the “death penalty” for those “traitors” who left Islam. We addressed the “honor killings” by religious extremists in Ohio, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, and Indiana that had been rationalized based on a religious extremist ideology. Finally, we pointed to the global problem illustrated by a recent Pew Global Poll in Pakistan that stated that 78 percent of Pakistanis “favor death for those who leave Islam.” Like the global scourge of so-called “honor killings,” such anti-freedom ideological views are against those who seek freedom of conscience and religion as universal human rights.
R.E.A.L. had such discussions with local Columbus area Muslims in a spirit of civility, dignity, and respect for human rights. This resulted in agreement and reflection on some of these human rights concerns. That is what public outreach on human rights issues is all about, reaching the public where we seek to affect change.
Regarding the campaign by the Dove World Outreach Center, it is also clear that two wrongs don’t make a right. Just as it is wrong for religious extremists to call for violence against those who seek freedom, it is also a challenge to human dignity and respect for protesters by wearing shirts stating “Islam is of the devil.” Working for human freedom and human rights begins with respect and dignity, and focusing on what you are for, not what you are against. This is why our organization is called “Responsible for Equality And Liberty.”
Our universal human rights begin with love. We can’t love our fellow human beings and deny their basic equality, liberty, and universal human rights. Moreover, we can’t hate our fellow human beings and claim to be fighting for human rights causes as well.
To those who state that the activities of the Dove World Outreach Center reflect “Christian” views, we note repeated protests of Dove World’s activities in Florida by Christians (and others), as reported in the Gainesville Sun, WCJB TV20 News, and by The Christian Post.
The Columbus Dispatch reported on the reaction by some at the Columbus November 16 rally to the members of the Dove World Outreach Center wearing the shirts “Islam is of the devil,” stating “Paige Bailey, who was at the rally, said she was troubled by that message. Rifqa wouldn’t like the focus to be on opposing Islam but rather on helping people come to Christianity, said Bailey, who met Rifqa through Christian groups at Ohio State University.”
From a human rights perspective, we believe that campaigns of outrage demonizing others is counterproductive in effecting change in human rights, because the point of a human rights campaign is to reach our fellow human beings. Moreover, according to the Christian Bible Romans 3:23, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The Dove World Outreach Center quotes the Christian Bible chapter of John on the front of their shirts that on the back states Dove’s message that “Islam is of the devil.” We recommend that they examine John 15:12: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
Whether it is outreach on religion or outreach on human rights, we believe that, ultimately, Love Wins.
On Friday, November 13, 2009, R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey and Karen Imm met with the public in Columbus, Ohio and students on the campus of Ohio State University (OSU) to address the issues of the growing threat to religious freedom in America and around the world, as represented by the Rifqa Bary case in Columbus, Ohio.
R.E.A.L.'s Jeffrey Imm in Columbus, OH - Public Awareness on Religious Freedom and Rifqa Bary Case
Our emphasis was on the inalienable human rights of religious freedom in defiance to those extremists who seek to reject freedom of conscience to those who leave Islam or choose another religion, as well as those extremists who have committed ideological violence and “honor killings” to oppress and intimidate other women.
We urged the Columbus public to act in Columbus and demand that the Columbus courts take Rifqa Bary’s alleged threats seriously, as too many Muslim women have died in America because their the growing threats to their religious and personal freedoms were not being taken seriously.
We spoke, engaged the public, and passed out fliers and materials at locations in downtown Columbus during morning and evening rush hour, and spent the lunch time and afternoon with Ohio State University students at their “Oval” on campus. We also spoke near the Ohio Statehouse. We visited the Columbus Dispatch, first informing them of our planned protests, then offering to provide the Dispatch with additional information on the story not yet published, and then finally protesting in front of the Columbus Dispatch offices.
During of engagement with the public and OSU students, we made them aware of the issues, and the next hearing for Rifqa Bary planned for December 22 in Columbus.
Engaging Columbus Public on Broad and High Streets on a Chilly, November Morning
R.E.A.L. at Ohio State University
R.E.A.L.'s Jeffrey Imm Discusses Threats to Religious Freedom in America With Ohio State Students and Why We Must Be Concerned About the Rifqa Bary CaseOhio State University - Getting Ready to Engage OSU StudentsWhy the Rifqa Bary Case MattersThe Threat to Religious Freedom and Threat of "Honor Killings" is Growing in AmericaIdeological Violence Against Women is TerrorismCall to Columbus Public to Defend Religious FreedomIn America - Extremist "Honor Killings" Against Women!Handing Out Fliers on Threat to Religious Freedom in AmericaUrging Columbus Dispatch to Address Religious Freedom Issues in the News!Coming Back Later to Give "The News" on Extremism Threats to Religious Freedom to the Columbus Dispatch Once Again...Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) Supporters at Ohio Statehouse - Columbus, OH
