Reply to Stephen Kinzer on RFK's assassination

Stephen Kinzer writes in the Guardian.

Sirhan was not simply a "Jordanian citizen", as he was called at the time. He was an embittered Palestinian who had been born in 1944 to a Christian family in Jerusalem. During the war that broke out when he was four years old, Jewish insurgents seized his house, and his family was forced to flee. He was nearly killed in an Irgun bombing at the Damascus Gate, and witnessed other violent attacks that deeply traumatised him.

As a young refugee, Sirhan attended a school where teachers exhorted students to struggle for Palestinian rights. Later his family moved to California, and he was there when Israel seized East Jerusalem and other Arab territories in the Six-Day War of 1967. He told at a friend that he believed Fatah was justified in using terror to oppose Israeli rule.

During the 1968 presidential campaign, Sirhan came to identify Robert Kennedy, who he had originally supported, as a friend of Israel. Three weeks before committing his crime, he watched a documentary about Kennedy's involvement with Israel on CBS television. Soon afterward he heard a radio tape of Kennedy telling an audience at a Los Angeles synagogue that he would maintain "clear and compelling" support for Israel. After hearing it, a relative later testified, Sirhan ran from the room with "his hands on his ears, and almost weeping".

Sirhan timed his attack on Kennedy to coincide with the first anniversary of the opening of the Six-Day War. At his trial, he sought several times to place his crime in the Palestinian context. "When you move a whole country, a whole people, bodily from their own homes, from their land, from their business," he said, "that is completely wrong … . That burned the hell out of me." Few Americans had any idea what he was talking about.

Kinzer concludes that Sirhan Sirhan's murder of Bobby Kennedy was the first blowback against America from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. He places the cause of the murder directly at the feet of America's and RFK's support for Israel. But what he mentions, yet ignores in his conclusion, is the part that Palestian propaganda had to play in it.

Review this.

When news of Sirhan's background was flashed back to the Arab world after he killed Kennedy, many people there instinctively understood what had happened. They recognised the crime as a horrific expression of the violent frustration that young Palestinians were beginning to feel. [...]

and this.

As a young refugee, Sirhan attended a school where teachers exhorted students to struggle for Palestinian rights.

Though Kinzer doesn't say it, the English word "struggle" is often substituted for the Arabic word "jihad." Even though a Sirhan Sirhan was raised a Maronite christian definitely taught to wage jihad Palestinians have been teaching their children to hate and desire to kill Jews for 50 years now. Is it any wonder that the first generation of Palestinians in exile should have been infected by the Judenhass? They were affected by the war, and all wars are overwhelming, shattering, horrible experiences. Civilians caught up in war are understandably traumatized by them and their resulting prejudices and hatreds are understandable. But the hatred of Palestinians for Jews and Americans is something else. It is a sore spot intentionally rubbed raw and self-infected with poison. Because of that, it cannot be blamed on anyone other than the Palestinians themselves.

Related: We shouted out, who killed the Kennedys

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Technorati Tags: Jews, Jihad, Crime and Punishment, Sirhan Sirhan, Kennedy

Algerian Government Persecutes Christians and ex-Muslims

Habiba Kouider used to be a Muslim. Then she converted to Christianity and was baptized. Recently she was pulled off a bus by police who interrogated her in public, rifled through her purse, examining her bibles and other literature, and even performed a body search on her, all while firing hostile questions at her.

After examining the contents of the Christian woman’s handbag, police officers body-searched her and then proceeded to interrogate her.

“Why did you convert to Christianity, why did you forsake Islam?” the officers asked, according to comments by Mustapha Krim, published on the website collectifalgerie.free.fr.

Kouider has been charged with “practicing a non-Muslim religion” and is facing a three-year prison sentence requested by prosecutors.

Meanwhile, six Christians who had been worshiping in a private house in Tiaret, Algeria were arrested by non-uniformed secret police after they completed a worship service. They now face two years in prison for worshiping in a house and have released an open letter for help to the Christians of the world.

My dear brothers in faith all over the world, here is the tale of humiliation, injustice and persecution that your brothers in Algeria are subjected to daily, by society but in particular by the security services and the state. The latest event took place on May 9th, 2008 after leaving the Friday worship service, which we held in secret, in fear, in a brother’s house in Tiaret. We were taken by surprise when we were arrested openly in the street by security forces in plain clothes. These persons took us one by one, just like criminals, but our only crime was our faith in Jesus Christ, which has become a dangerous crime in Algeria.

My brothers, I will not describe the humiliation that we had to endure at the hands of these agents, as they were taking us to the central police station. When we had arrived they searched us one by one while insulting us, calling us renegades: those who have denied their faith in order to follow that of the west. They said we were accomplices and Isreali spies, and that we deserve to have our throats cut without any pity: a violent and inhuman aggression. Is it normal to arrest someone just because of his faith, in a country which pretends to be democratic and which says it respects human rights and personal freedom? On top of all that, we were kept there by the agents all night on Friday, in a prison cell in deplorable and undescribable conditions, without allowing us to phone our families or those dear to us. The next day we were taken before the Prosecutor of the Republic at the court in Tiaret, to ask us humiliating and embarassing questions, such as : « Why have you forsaken your ancestors’ religion? For money? » and « at what price have you been bought? » Finally we were free to go, with the order to appear in court on May 27th 2008 on an absurd charge : « Distribution of documents and books in order to destabilise the faith of muslims ». Hereunder is a copy of the order to be present at the trial. Brothers, I have written this so that you could be informed of the situation. We need your support in these difficult times, by all possible means (written, protestations…).

The 2006 Law in Algeria concerning Christianity and other non-Muslim religion is horrible. If you would like to complain, and you really should, the Algerian Embassy in Washington DC can be reached at the following addresses (try both).

Embassy of The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria 2118 Kalorama Rd, NW Washington , D.C 20008 Tel: (202) 265-2800 Fax: (202) 667-2174 Email: ambassadoroffice@yahoo.com

Embassy of The Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria 2137 Wyoming Ave, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008 tel: (202) 265-2800 fax: (202) 667-2174 E-mail: embalgus@cais.com

We do not regret things we have done so much as we regret things we have not done. Do not give yourself a reason to regret your silence about the persecuted Christians in Algeria. Speak up, even if just with an email.

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Technorati Tags: Freedom of Religion, Algeria, Christianity, Ex-Muslim, Sharia, Tyranny

Kerry, Obama, KO: Second Verse, Same as the First

See-Dubya has a terrific video comparison between John Kerry and Barack Obama with a great Shirley Bassey sound-track behind it. Not as dynamite as the Goldfinger theme, but better than any Bond theme since Diamonds are Forever. The combo is reeeeeal niiiice. Two thrills up Chris Matthews' leg. About a zillion Obama posters. Arugula. One unrepentant terrorist stomping on a US flag. One harridan actually proud of her country for the first time ever. Another harridan saying that Obama has no experience. A flip. A flip flop. A flopping flip. A flop. Rappers, Obama Girls, winter soldier testimony, and Robot Chicken uber-dork Seth Green giving a black power salute. Wolf Pangloss says, "check it out!"

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Technorati Tags: Obama, Video, Democrats