October 24, 2011 | 9:43 am

Muslim author: Quran instructs Iran to free pastor

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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It no surprise that the Islamic Republic of Iran was unmoved by international pressure in sentencing Christian to death by stoning. But shouldn’t Iranian officials be moved by the Quran?

Hesham Hassaballa, author of the blog God, Faith and a Pen, argues that the Quran instructs Iran to set the pastor free:

A cursory reading of even a poor translation of the Qur’an would reveal that Islam places the sanctity of human life at the utmost of importance:

And do not take any human being’s life – [the life] which God has willed to be sacred – otherwise than in [the pursuit] of justice… (17:33)

And do not kill yourselves, for God has been merciful to you. (4:29)

Furthermore, the freedom to choose one’s own spiritual path is tantamount in the Qur’an; one only has to look and it would not be hard to find

There’s a lot more, so read the rest here.

October 23, 2011 | 9:25 pm

Separation of sexes on NYC bus

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

“Back of the bus” typically has a very discriminatory context. On the B110 bus through Brooklyn, that phrase has nothing to do with race. It has to do with gender and religion.

The New York Times reports:

the most obvious sign that the B110 is different was demonstrated Wednesday by Gitty Green, a 30-year-old mother who boarded the bus on Wednesday with her three children and a stroller and headed straight to the back.

As her two older sons perched on the seats behind her, she looked ahead at the men seated in front, mostly Hasidic Jews in wide-brimmed hats, and said, because her religion dictates the separation of the sexes, she never wondered what it would be like to sit with them.

“It’s such a normal thing for us that women and men are separate,” she said. “Most of the ladies go to the back.”

To be sure, the story makes no mention of a woman being told to go to the “back of the bus.” It’s just understood. But what would happen if a woman defied the norm?

The B110 bus is operated under a franchise from the city. But after Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is Jewish, learned about the religiously motivated separation of sexes on the bus, he said the franchise would be revoked unless the practice was changed.

More on coverage of the story, which began with a report in Columbia Journalism School’s The New York World, at GetReligion.

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October 22, 2011 | 6:45 pm

Report: Jewish sect trashes ice cream shop for promoting promiscuity

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Who knew that eating ice cream could be so erotic? Popsicles, hot dogs, bananas—sure. Maybe even kebabs. But two scoops of rocky road?

One of the more unusual stories I’ve read out of Israel, courtesy of the Daily Mail:

An ultra-orthodox Jewish sect trashed a Jerusalem ice cream parlour because they were disgusted by people licking cones in public believing it promotes promiscuity.

The owners of the Zisalek parlour in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood had put up posters asking people not to consume the snacks in public and installed separate entrances for men and women.

But religious zealots from the ultra strict Sikrikim sect did not believe the measures went far enough and broke in during the night to vandalise the premises.

Part of me hopes that this story is true, unlike the fake story about rabbis sentencing a dog to death by stoning because it carried the spirit of a cursed lawyer. But the rest of me hopes that this story is just as false because it is otherwise another indictment that ultra-Orthodox Jews are really out of touch with civilized life in Israel.

It’s one thing to actually think that ice cream cones make people horny and lead to sin. But it’s something far more extreme to trash an ice cream parlor in the name of G-d.

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October 22, 2011 | 4:33 pm

Egyptian jailed for insulting Islam on Facebook

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

In Egypt, insulting Islam on Facebook now can earn you three years in jail with hard labor. And the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t even running the show yet.

The story from AFP:

The Cairo court found that Ayman Yusef Mansur “intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and ridicule on Facebook,” the agency reported.

The court said his insults were “aimed at the Noble Koran, the true Islamic religion, the Prophet of Islam and his family and Muslims, in a scurrilous manner,” the agency reported.

It did not provide details on what he had written that was deemed to be offensive.

The vagueness regarding Mansur’s comments is also problematic, because it does little to put Egyptians on notice for what types of “insults” can result in jail and hard labor. Read the rest here.

(Hat tip: @religionnews)

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October 22, 2011 | 12:17 am

NYT on Sukkot, Occupy Wall Street and anti-Semitism

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Speaking of anti-Semitism, Occupy Wall Street’s anti-Semitic accents got picked up by the New York Times. The paper looked at what is happening in Zuccotti Park, where protesters are interacted with Jews celebrating Sukkot, before address the allegations of more than just fringe protesters hating on Jews.

A snippet:

An Oct. 13 article on the Web site of Commentary, a politically conservative magazine founded by the American Jewish Committee, though no longer affiliated with it, argued that “it isn’t just a few crackpots engaging in anti-Semitism.” The article said that the “main organizer behind the movement—Adbusters editor Kalle Lasn—has a history of anti-Jewish writing.”

Mr. Lasn did not return a message left on his Adbusters office voice mail in Vancouver, British Columbia. But Patrick Bruner, another member of the Occupy Wall Street press team, said the magazine Adbusters had helped prompt the protest movement with a call for action but otherwise had “not been active at all.” He said the Occupy Wall Street movement rejected any kind of racism or hatred, but also was “open source,” meaning that anyone could take part.

Read the rest here.

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October 21, 2011 | 7:36 pm

Guy Fieri an anti-Semite?*

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’ve never been able to stand Guy Fieri. (C’mon TGI Fridays!) Well, here’s a little fuel for the Fieri, via OC Weekly:

Breaking news: Guy Fieri isn’t just a giant tool, but allegedly also an anti-Semitic, homophobic, lecherous giant tool.

I’ll skip to the anti-Semitic stuff. Here’s Gregory Pratt of the OC Weekly’s sister-publication in Minnesota talking with David Page, who created “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”:

“They were demanding tremendous research from my people, and pictures, but they didn’t want to pay for them,” Page says. “Guy said to me: ‘You know, it’s true: Jews are cheap.’”

In fairness, lots of business people are cheap. No need to pick on The Jews.

Does this warrant labeling Fieri an anti-Semite? I don’t know. He’s clearly a tool. I didn’t even need to read this article to know that. But a drinking buddy of, oh, Mel Gibson. Not sure this really rises to that level.

*UPDATED: Jesse Derris, a spokesman for Fieri, called me tonight to say that the statements attributed to Fieri in the City Pages article were patently false. “That’s not the way he thinks, not the way he talks,” Derris said, reiterating something he told SFist.

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October 21, 2011 | 10:47 am

Another Judgment Day missed

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Harold Camping first said the end was coming May 21. After that passed, he said it would be another five months. But for the second time in five months, Judgment Day has come and gone without the judgment.

The passing of judgment day was big news the first time. Now no one really seems to care. Thankfully.

Via news24:

Reached by telephone on Thursday, network spokesperson Tom Evans declined to comment on Camping or his prophecies, except to say he had “retired” as a radio host but remained chair of the board of Family Stations Inc.

Camping had little to say when he answered the door of his home in Alameda, wearing a bathrobe and leaning on a walker.

“We’re not having a conversation,” he said, shaking his head with a chuckle. “There’s nothing to report here.”

Well put. There are much better ways to deploy the limited resources at most newspapers.

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October 20, 2011 | 12:12 pm

Qaddafi’s death and Israel’s future

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Qaddafi has been killed and the last stronghold of his supporters has fallen to Libyan fighters.

Is this the last piece in the reshuffling of the Middle East following the Arab Spring? And what does it all mean for Israel?

Rob Eshman has some thoughts:

Libya never took part in any of the major wars against Israel, but it did provide financial and other backing for Palestinian terror groups over the years.  Anti-Israel sentiment in Libya is high. This despite the fact that one indelible footnote to the Libyan Revolution was the boost it received when a young Israeli, Noy Alloshe, posted a video mocking Qaddafi for his “Zenga Zenga” speech.  That video went viral and helped further remove the fear associated with the dictator.

But in the political realm, overtures Israel made to support the rebels were rejected.  If you want to read some chilling language, see the comments from Libyans following a YouTube post by a Libyan Jew who returned to Tripoli to restore a synagogue there.  The man barely escaped with his life.

(skip)

As in Egypt and elsewhere, years of propaganda have brainwashed entire populations against Israel and Jews.  Repairing that damage will take time.

That man would be David Gerbi, whose story I mentioned here.

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October 18, 2011 | 3:38 pm

Occupy Wall Street and anti-Semitism

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Jews are history’s most popular scapegoat for financial calamity. It’s often the Jews—the Jews who love money, the Jewish bankers, the Jews who control the global economy, whom get blamed by people who don’t like their financial situation.

And, of course, it’s unfair. As I wrote in what seemed like the middle of the global economic meltdown:

Jews didn’t choose to become moneylenders and usurers. In Medieval Europe, the financial “industry” was one of the only fields open to them, and that was only because the church prohibited Christians from partaking in such a vile profession, one suited for, in Martin Luther’s words, “a brood of vipers and children of the devil.”

The church eventually dropped its restriction, but the moneylending tradition remained with Jews wherever they landed. I’m not sure why this is; it’s something I’m exploring for a future article. But a reasonable explanation is that money is fungible, property and businesses are not. And when anybody who looks or acts like you is having their assets seized or their community expelled by state governments every few decades, well, you look for ways to CYA.

But for centuries this phenomenon has provided fodder anti-Semites. The above ad shows that for some of the Occupy Wall Streeters there is nothing new under the sun. These anti-Semites are not at the center of Occupy Wall Street, but this post at On Faith suggests that liberal leaders and politicians should be condemning such behavior.

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October 18, 2011 | 10:59 am

Gilad Shalit: Finally free

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Lots of stories and images of Gilad Shalit’s release at JewishJournal.com.

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October 17, 2011 | 2:28 pm

Why are people wondering whether Jim Schwartz is Jewish?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s discomforting to discover that the most popular story on my blog right now is a two-year-old post about the Detroit Lions head coach, Jim Schwartz. That’s because I can imagine only one reason this post is drawing visitors from Google.

Schwartz was involved in quite the dust-up with Jim Harbaugh, head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, after the Niners beat the Lions yesterday. It’s been all the talk of ESPN and sports talk radio. And when I looked to see why folks were checking out this old Schwartz post, Statcounter told me that the Google searches were for phrases like “is the coach of the detroit lions jewish” and “Jim Schwartz Jewish?”

He’s not. But the bigger question is why would people wonder that after seeing Schwartz and Harbaugh go nose to nose?

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October 17, 2011 | 12:36 pm

Israelis debate the wisdom of the Shalit prisoner exchange

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

If you’re wondering what Israelis think of the 1,000-to-1 prisoner exchange that will free Gilad Shalit more than five years after he was kidnapped by Hamas, check out this CNN article. As with probably all issues in Israel, there is a debate over the wisdom of the agreement:

While the deal to free Shalit was backed by a commanding Cabinet majority of 26-3 and enjoys wide support from the Israeli public, there is growing debate about the price Israel is willing to pay in order to free a single soldier.

Families of victims of terror, as well as some members of the Israeli government, have expressed fierce opposition to the deal. One minister who voted against the agreement called it “a great victory for terrorism,” and there are fears that the release of convicted murderers will lead to further attacks on Israeli civilians—a fear that, critics say, is borne out by statistics.

According to Israeli association of terror victims Almagor, 180 Israelis have lost their lives to terrorists freed in previous deals since 2000.

If accurate, that is a frightening stat. It’s saving one life now but losing more later. Leaving Shalit is no option, but couldn’t the Israeli government have made a better deal?

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