What Makes People Tick?

  Last weekend, on Saturday the 7th of October, a great number of people got together to cross a border. Some flew over using gliders. Others toppled a fence in a lot of places. Through the breaches in the fence came people. Men. In cars. On motorcycles. They didn't come through that fence to find freedom, or to flee from persecution. They didn't cross the border hoping for a better life, for the fulfilment of a dream. The men who crossed the border, they came to kill, to murder. To shoot people in their homes. To kill babies and children in their beds. To go into communities full of people, civilians, and indiscriminately shoot everyone and everything. To go to a festival where people were dancing, enjoying themselves, and to shoot, kill, rape those people. The stories of the survivors are horrifying. Stories of people rushing for their cars, driving, being shot at. Stories of people running, being shot in the back. Stories of people hiding, being found, finding new places to ...

Personally, I'm for peace between Israel and the Arab / Muslim world, the Palestinians included. I'm for a one-state, a two-state, a three-state or even a four-state solution IF that solution brings peace, prosperity and stability for ALL people of the region. I definitely do not think that Hamas will bring peace to anyone. They are open and honest about their desires: To destroy Israel and kill the world's Jews.  Read the Hamas Covenant 1988  to find out for yourself, or read some excerpts of that Covenant through clicking the 'Hamas' tag underneath this post. In an ideal world a " One Land Two States " solution would be my suggestion for peace in the Holy Land. Turning the presence and reality of Israel from a 'bad thing' into a 'good thing' in the eyes of Muslims might help them see that the Jewish people are NOT the enemy. Look at what Israel has achieved since 1948, look at how they have managed to make the desert bloom, look at the ...

What else did the IDF do to minimize harm to civilians in Gaza? Read more --> https://t.co/tg9GtZH1A4 pic.twitter.com/Y33t0Ut9gx — IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 22, 2015

In 2014, when Hamas attacked innocent Israelis with numerous rockets day in day out, the world was mostly silent. Or I should say: The world quietly applauded the so-called Palestinian 'freedom fighters' and their despicable terrorist acts, calling them heroes and courageous people.  What is courageous about terror and hatred? What is courageous about killing innocents? What is courageous about sending rocket after rocket at men, women and children simply trying to live their lives? What is courageous about terror tunnels meant to attack non-combatants? What is courageous about hating Jews because an old book tells you that you should? Yet when Israel fought back, when the Jewish people responded by protecting their own instead of waiting to be slaughtered the way the world seems to think they should, the world reacted. The world shouted about the 'evil Jews' and the supposedly horrible acts they committed. The world shouted about 'concentration camps' in Gaza...

All lives matter. African or American or Asian - We are all human beings. The victims of the Garissa attack in Kenya are not just numbers. Some of the interesting artworks about #GarissaAttack shared online. #147isnotjustanumber #JeSuisKenyan (2/2) pic.twitter.com/i8xnCk1grs — Abdi Latif Dahir (@Lattif) April 5, 2015

All lives matter. African or American or Asian - We are all human beings. The victims of the Garissa attack in Kenya are not just numbers. Some of the interesting artworks about #GarissaAttack shared online. #147isnotjustanumber #JeSuisKenyan (1/2) pic.twitter.com/teJTXb5gvW — Abdi Latif Dahir (@Lattif) April 5, 2015

Today, April 1st 2015, the so-called State of Palestine has become a member of the ICC, the International Criminal Court. For the sake of innocent peace-loving civilian Palestinians who simply want to live in peace, security and safety, I welcome and applaud this move. However I also want to remind readers of this blog of what ICC membership for 'Palestine' actually means. The 'State of Palestine' is made up of Hamas-controlled Gaza and the Fatah-controlled West Bank - Judea and Samaria. WhileI am not a supporter of Hamas or of Fatah and personally believe that the Palestinian people would be better off without these so-called leaders, today I do not want to talk about my opinion, I simply want to share some facts: The Hamas Covenant 1988, known as the " The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement " is the founding document of Hamas. The document makes it very clear what Hamas' hopes and dreams are for the future. From that Covenant, here are three...

If you care about what happens in the world, in the United States, in Israel, in the Middle East, in Europe... If you care about the survival of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of opinion and free press... Watch this video of (former mayor of New York) Rudy Giuliani speaking out about world issues, the danger of power in the wrong hands and how to make the world a better place.  I am - shock horror - quite a fan of (American president) Obama and very much appreciate that he is attempting to bring the entire world together or at least that he's trying to talk to the Arab / Muslim world, not just to white / European / western / Christian countries. What I think is ridiculous is that the American president does not seem to want to link terrorists motivated by (their particular version of) Islam to Islam as a global religion .  I refuse to blame all of Islam (as a religion) or all Muslims for the horrible and despicable acts of a relatively small gro...

Terrible. At least 15 attacks took place in France after the #CharlieHebdo massacre. And it will continue. pic.twitter.com/AzrD4pRjFC — Emran Feroz (@Emran_Feroz) January 9, 2015

Dutch television news ( RTL Nieuws ) has just reported that a large part of the Kurdish city Kobani in Syria, right on the Turkish border, is now under the control of the Islamic State terrorist group. Volgens een andere functionaris hebben de terroristen enkele gebouwen aan de oostkant van de stad veroverd, ondanks de voortdurende luchtaanvallen door de Amerikanen. Er zijn ook berichten dat IS al een groot deel van de stad, zo niet het grootste deel, in handen heeft. Dat vertelt onder meer de vertaler van correspondent Roel Geeraedts. Die vertaler is een Koerd die uit Kobani komt. Freely translated: One officer says the terrorists have captured several buildings on the east side of town, despite ongoing American air strikes. There are also reports that IS already controls a large part of the town, if not most of the town. There has been fighting around Kobani for some time now, inside it since the last few days. The fighting has been going on for weeks, however now it seems ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the United Nations General Assembly on 29 September 2014. The Times of Israel published the full text of his speech online. May the world listen, for a change, and see the truth of what Israel's Prime Minister is saying. "Our hopes and the world’s hope for peace are in danger. Because everywhere we look, militant Islam is on the march.  It’s not militants. It’s not Islam. It’s militant Islam.  Typically, its first victims are other Muslims, but it spares no one. Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Kurds — no creed, no faith, no ethnic group is beyond its sights. And it’s rapidly spreading in every part of the world." The past few months have shown very clearly that the 'Islamic State' does not care about Christians, Jews, Yazidis or Kurds. It does not even care about other Muslims who happen to think for themselves and disagree with the terrorist group's extremist views. American and British journalists were ...

A women's clothing store in the United Kingdom named after an Egyptian mythological figure becomes the target of hate mail and harassment, as the UK's  Daily Mail reports . Source:  Isis Boutique  Facebook page Jill Campbell is the owner of women's clothing store Isis Boutique in Malvern    (Worcestershire). Her store is named after the Egyptian goddess Isis. Ms Campbell came up with the name after leaving Oxford in 2007, explaining "The river in Oxford is named locally as ISIS and it is also the Egyptian goddess of magic, mystique, beauty and femininity which is everything the shop is all about." The boutique has been in business for seven years. The past few months, as the western world has been getting to know the terrorists and murderers in Iraq and Syria known as "ISIS", Ms. Campbell's store has been coming under threat. Not because she supports ISIS or anything like that but because the name of her boutique sounds similar to one of th...

I am very glad that this video is only fictional.  Way too many people dead in Gaza, among them many innocent non-combatants. Shortages of water, food, electricity and just about everything else. Rockets being launched from inside or next to mosques, schools, hospitals, houses. The threat of being forced into being a human shield ; of being executed for disagreeing with the establishment, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. All of that is very real .  What is also very real is the threat that Hamas and groups like it pose. It is time that the world stops blaming Israel for a conflict that is being caused by radical fundamental Islam. The "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria has crucified Christians, has killed fellow Muslims, are attempting to exterminate the Yazidi people. Remember the horrible events of 9/11? London subway bombings? Suicide bombings throughout Israel? Dutch documentary-maker Theo van Gogh killed in Amsterdam while riding his bike? Pro-Palesti...

The Times of Israel reports that Saudi Arabia's 90-year old King Abdullah spoke out against extremism and terrorism on Friday 01 August 2014 in a statement read out on Saudi Arabian television. The Custodian Of The Two Holy Mosques (located in Mecca and Medina) stressed that both Israel and Hamas were responsible for the violence in Gaza which, in the King's words had led to "various forms" of terrorism, whether from groups, organisations or states. "In his remarks, the king pressed Muslim leaders to unite against extremism, saying terrorists are wrongfully carrying out deadly acts in the name of Islam and tarnishing the religion’s “purity and humanity.”  His remarks appeared to be directed at groups like the Islamic State and its allies, which have taken over territory in Iraq and Syria and whose fighters view the Western-allied Saudi ruling family as enemies.  “It is shameful and disgraceful that these terrorists are doing this in the name of religion, ki...

For those who say that Israel 'created' Hamas, for those who believe that Hamas is some sort of mostly-peaceful organisation, here are some quotes from the Hamas Covenant 1988 : "The Islamic Resistance Movement: The Movement's programme is Islam. From it, it draws its ideas, ways of thinking and understanding of the universe, life and man. It resorts to it for judgement in all its conduct, and it is inspired by it for guidance of its steps." "Time extent of the Islamic Resistance Movement: By adopting Islam as its way of life, the Movement goes back to the time of the birth of the Islamic message, of the righteous ancestor, for Allah is its target, the Prophet is its example and the Koran is its constitution. Its extent in place is anywhere that there are Moslems who embrace Islam as their way of life everywhere in the globe. This being so, it extends to the depth of the earth and reaches out to the heaven." "The Islamic Resistance Movement is...

The words "Free Gaza From Hamas" seem to be popping up everywhere on social media. I hope this means that the world is starting to wake up, just a bit, to the reality of Hamas. It is a terrorist group intent on the destruction of a nation and the extermination of a people. I understand that in 'the West' we see images of what is happening in Gaza and sympathise with the plight of the people who are effectively stuck in Gaza. We should sympathise with them because they are suffering and they deserve a better life than they have now. However we need to consider, very carefully, what the money or goods we are sending to Gaza are being spent on. Are they being spent on making the lives of people in Gaza better, or are they being spent on making the lives of people in Israel worse? Construction materials meant for Palestinians routinely enter Gaza from Israel. To be exact, 4,680 trucks carrying 181 thousand tons of gravel, iron, cement, wood and other supplies have ...

Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of Hamas founding member Sheikh Hassan Yousef. After realising that Hamas was a violent organisation that he did not want to be a part of, he left Hamas and eventually moved to the United States. Mr. Yousef is also the author of the book " Son of Hamas " published in 2010. Judging by the reviews on Goodreads, it looks to be a very interesting book. I have to admit that I'd not heard of this book nor of Mosab Hassan Yousef until about an hour ago when I was alerted to the video below. In this video , Mosab Hassan Yousef speaks to CNN about his decision to leave Hamas and explains candidly why he could no longer be a part of such a brutal regime. If you watch anything today, watch this video! "In the mosques Hamas taught us that without shedding innocent blood for the sake of the ideology we wont be able to build an Islamic state. They were preparing us from the age as young as five years old.   This is the ideology that Hamas w...

Want to know what life is like in Israel? Watch this very touching video made by Dana bar-on who lives very close to the Gaza border. She brought tears to my eyes, which is why I'm sharing this video. Source: 10 minutes about living on the Gaza border ,YouTube

Yale University's Avalon Project has a copy of the Hamas Covenant 1988  in their archives. The following is a direct quote. I encourage all readers to read the entire Covenant and to form your own opinion based on your personal interpretation of the document. Article Thirteen:   Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.  Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion.  Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. "Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know." Source:  Hamas Covenant 1988 , The Avalon Project Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library

Yale University's Avalon Project has a copy of the Hamas Covenant 1988 in their archives. The following is a direct quote. I encourage all readers to read the entire Covenant and to form your own opinion based on your personal interpretation of the document. Article Seven:    The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:    "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.    The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.    Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."  (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem). Source: Hamas Covenant 1988 , The Avalon Project Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library