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Erdoğan Bares His Fangs

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the prime minister of Turkey.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Mon, 5 Jan 2009  |  Permalink  |  Comments (25)

Have Israelis Finally Learned the Strategic Value of Territory?

The land for peace concept is in jeopardy, write Aron Heller and Matti Friedman for the Associated Press:

Israeli hard-liners have warned for many years that any territory Israel vacates will be used to attack it. Now they can point to the Hamas missile that slammed into a bus stop in this port city Monday, killing a 39-year-old woman. It was fired from the Gaza Strip, which Israel gave up in 2005 and is now ruled by Hamas militants who reject the existence of the Jewish state. … Israelis who never thought they would be living under rocket fire prepared bomb shelters. Newspapers and TV stations displayed color-coded maps informing Israelis that they had 15, 30 or 45 seconds to reach cover after a warning siren goes off. In Ashdod malls, directions to the nearest shelters were posted.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Wed, 31 Dec 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (34)

A Dutch Fissure in the Leftist-Islamist Alliance

So far as I can tell, the origins of the unholy Leftist-Islamist alliance in the West go back thirty years, to the trip by the French philosopher Michel Foucault to Iran, where he enthused about the revolution taking place before his eyes. As Janet Afary and Kevin B. Anderson explain:

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Tue, 30 Dec 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (13)

Israel's War on Hamas: A Dozen Thoughts

1) Arab-Israeli warfare is not the conventional battle to control territory of old. Since 1982, the primary goal in this theater is to persuade the world of the righteousness of one's cause. (I.e., who has the more affecting casualties?)

2) Palestinians have proven themselves more competent at the p.r. battle than the Israeli government, winning public support everywhere — with the lone but decisive exceptions of Israel and the United States.

3) Secondarily, Hamas's defiance should be seen in light of Iranian ambitions to wear down the Israeli body politic.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Tue, 30 Dec 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (55)

Australian Cultural Conservative Relies on Muslims

The Sydney Morning Herald carries an interesting story today, "Topless ban to protect Muslims and Asians: Nile." The "Nile" is Fred Nile, an ordained Methodist minister and a member of the New South Wales parliament for the Christian Democratic Party, who argues that, to protect the sensibilities of Sydney's Muslim and Asian communities, topless bathing by women should be banned from NSW beaches.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Tue, 30 Dec 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (4)

Violent Jihadis v. Lawful Jihadis

The Middle East Media and Research Institute has published an interesting theological attack by a violent Islamist on a lawful Islamist. Titled "Syrian Jihadist Scholar Abu Basir Al-Tartusi: Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi is an Apostate," it sums up the argument of ‘Abd Al-Mun'im Mustafa Halima, known as Abu Basir Al-Tartusi, declaring Yousef Al-Qaradhawi an apostate.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Wed, 24 Dec 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (5)

Non-Muslim Politicians Immersed in the Koran

This weblog entry keeps track, in reverse chronological order, of non-Muslim politicians in the West who likewise closely associate themselves with the Koran – a complement to my earlier weblog entry, "Hijabs on Western Political Women." (December 22, 2008)

Tony Blair, a Catholic, a former British prime minister, and now the Quartet's envoy to the Middle East, said today: "I regularly read the Koran, practically every day." (Back in 2000, he merely asserted, "I carry a copy of this book with me whenever I can, to give me inspiration and courage.")

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Mon, 22 Dec 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (13)

Bibliography – My Writings on U.S. Policy toward Radical Islam

Focusing on presidential statements, I have repeatedly returned to the topic of how the U.S. government understands who the enemy is in the "war on terror," and usually I have been critical. Here are the main discussions, starting with the earliest.  

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Sun, 21 Dec 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (3)

Rashid Khalidi: Arab-American Professors in Good Shape

The Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, Rashid Khalidi, went on the Al-‘Arabiya television channel this evening and talked a great deal about Barack Obama (of whom he does not expect great things). He also answered a question from the anchor about his own career:

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Sat, 20 Dec 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)

Is the Middle East "Freer, More Hopeful, and More Promising"?

In a Middle East valedictory speech today, summing up the nearly eight years of his two administrations, George W. Bush declared that "the Middle East in 2008 is a freer, more hopeful, and more promising place than it was in 2001."

I disagree. Count some of the important ways things are now worse:

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Fri, 5 Dec 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (53)

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