Bondi is Part Australia’s and Part Israel’s Fault

 

First, in case you have not yet heard, in Bondi, Australia the city blocked the building of a Synagogue in a residential area near the people it would serve because it might be a tempting target to attract Islamic terrorism. The Jewish community brought this before an Australian court which upheld the city’s prohibition finding the threat sufficient reason to prevent the building of a Synagogue in an area near the people it would serve, or in simple terminology, no Synagogue in a residential area, even a mostly Jewish residential area. Perhaps the next thing will be that Jews need to live in a separate residential area as they too might pose a threat for terrorist attacks. When this story broke around a week or so ago, we waited to write about the situation simply because we desired to give Australia an opportunity to correct this offense to Jews of Bondi, of Australia and of the world. Apparently, the Jews who desired to build their house of worship are not going to be receiving any support for their quest from their presumed friends in the Christian community organizations. Apparently, nobody desires a synagogue in their neighborhood as it is a threat to destroy the kismet of the neighborhood because anything Jewish is a terror magnet so much so that perhaps all Jewish stores, houses of worship and organizations should have bullseyes painted on them for easy identification. What will be next, demands to close the kosher deli or kosher restaurant or kosher grocery store? What about a small grocery store with an aisle of all kosher food, should that be outlawed as it taints the rest of the grocery store? Maybe the next thing will be to push all the Jews into a special neighborhood, not a ghetto, nope, we won’t call it a ghetto, it is just an exclusive Jewish neighborhood, as we cannot have the Jews living with normal people because their houses might be terrorist targets. Where has been the Israeli outrage, the calling of the Australian Ambassador to explain? Such is the least of a reaction from the Jewish State, from Israel, but so far silence?

 

Preventing the building of a synagogue because Jewish houses of worship are more likely to be targeted by Islamic extremist terrorists but churches are fine, as they have not risen to the top of the target list, as there are still Jews in Australia. Tell you what, ask the Christians in Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Iran what happens once the Christians do not back the Jews and allow the Jews to be chased from the country. You know exactly what they will tell you, the churches and Christians will become the targets of choice and the government will not protect them any more than they have the Jews. Wait a minute. Why wait for the terrorists to come seeking just the right synagogue to use as their next target. We checked and there are a fairly significant number of these terror targets better known as synagogues or houses for worship already strewn throughout the greater Bondi area (see map below). Why would it not be smarter to have them all closed and build one great synagogue and place all the Jews to live in the neighborhood surrounding this new great synagogue. Why there could even be a high wall with fencing around the top of it and the Jews only permitted out for short periods each day and they should probably have to wear something special such that any Islamic extremist terrorist would know whom to target, maybe a bulls-eye with a Star of David in the center which would look like the picture right below the map. If it cuts down on terrorist strikes in Bondi, of which there have been none yet we understand their fears as a planned terror attack was recently prevented from striking a plane presumably at the Sydney International Airport with four of the plotters arrest just a week or so back on July 29, 2017. Perhaps this is what has spooked the good people of Bondi, Australia.

 

Synagogues in Greater Bondi Area Where Danger
of Terrorist Attacks are Potentially Imminent

 

Jewish Identity Armband

 

Still, you have sufficient numbers of synagogues to keep even a hyperactive terrorist busy planning for so long that they are bound to get caught before they figure out how to strike them all in one really busy afternoon. The option you have taken by refusing to permit another synagogue be built because it might some day become the target of a terror attack when you have many synagogues strewn across your area already that if this is really that serious of a concern to you, the entire community would have to be tranquilized just to walk down the street. There are easily over a half-dozen synagogues in the immediate area of Bondi that adding another would not increase your vulnerability in the slightest. There are also an equal number of churches in the same relative area which would pose the same threat once any synagogues would be removed (see map below). Would the same zoning officers also refuse to permit a church be built in a similar neighborhood, as it too would represent an inordinate possibility for becoming a target of an Islamic extremist terrorist attack? If that became or ever would become the case, then please explain how such an area like Bondi, Australia would be any different than say Saudi Arabia where it is illegal to construct or repair any religious building other than Mosques and other Islamic buildings. Has Bondi decided to invoke Sharia replacing the civil laws of the country of Australia in their little section of Down Under?

 

Churches in Greater Bondi Area Where Danger
of Terrorist Attacks are Potentially Imminent

 

This is starting to become the way of things not only in Australia but in Europe and soon to come to Canada and areas of the United States we fear. This hysteria once it gets going will see no stopping point and soon religion other than Islam will become banned from the public square. Then where will we be? As long as people believe in freedom of religion, then they have to act accordingly. Banning the construction of a place of worship because it might offend people of other faiths is not what the Western Civilization was founded upon. This battle was fought once and it was called the Reformation. We did away with Inquisitions and the burning of witches and heretics and permitted free choice. That had been the strength of Judeo-Christian culture. What we fear here the most is that this was not done honestly because of a fear of terrorism but because people have decided that it is too dangerous to allow Jews the same freedoms which everybody else will be granted. Trust us when we tell you that what starts with the Jews never ends there and it will spread to either the Christians or the Muslims being told they too cannot build their holy buildings or practice their religion freely. Is this truly the direction society desires to go? If that be the case, then we are glad we live one place where that will never become the situation generally and hopefully the one small instance here will fall as will the one small instance in Bondi, Australia. If one religion is banned, soon many religions are banned until either only one faith is permitted or no faith is permitted, and there really is no difference as where there is no faith permitted, the state becomes the end-all and consumer of all power and the leaders become despots expecting all to revere them and that itself is a strange and horrid religion where men are worshiped as gods. They become Caesar, Pharos or Führer. Does anybody really want such a world again? Then why start down that road again?

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Horrific Assault on Charlie Hebdo in Paris Pointless Loss

 

A dozen innocent workers slaughtered in the satirical, off color, caricatural and mocking news magazine Charlie Hebdo in Islamic supremacist military styled assault where the Islamic militant assailants were said to have claimed in their cowardly assault yelling, “The Prophet has been avenged.” These craven, contemptible, gutless defenders of the permanently offended adherents of Islam armed with Kalashnikovs and reportedly a rocket launcher assailed the office braving the potential threat from cartoonists and editorialists armed with markers and pens to avenge their revered divinely inspired prophet from the sharp wits of sarcasm and potential mockery. Far be it from us to mock Allah or Muhammad, but gutless weasels using hot lead to answer cold ink on paper deserves mockery and the firmest and most severe enforcement of the laws of man as that itself would be the unkindest cut of all. Bringing these depraved, vile, inhuman poltroons before French law and broadcasting their trial revealing the complete contemptuous temerity of these defenders of the faith displayed during their flash assault on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo where they print the caustic and farcical magazine where the crime of permitting their irreverent humor to traipse through their sacred realm was simply beyond their limited tolerance.

 

Obviously my attempts at sarcasm and mockery simply prove that I would never likely be hired to write for Charlie Hebdo even if I chose to apply for a position. What the writers and cartoonists do is a form mixing humor, writing, cartooning mixed with sarcasm adding a touch of mockery and a heavy sprinkling of ridicule and a heavy dose of lampoonery all intended to tickle the funny bone of a select portion of the public and is intended to amuse and allow for the dispensing a bromide against hard news by softening the daily realities with humor and irreverence. My sympathies and regrets go out to those from the magazine and their loved ones, friends and readers for their losses and distresses they suffered yesterday. With a dozen slaughtered needlessly with two being police and the rest being writers, cartoonists and employees of the Charlie Hebdo magazine plus another ten injured, four or five seriously, and rumored of one individual taken hostage, we can only hope and pray that there was no hostage or that at least they are released unharmed. This price in human carnage is simply horrendous though it would be made worse should any freedom of thought be made to die as a result. Freedom of thought is the engine which has driven much of human progress and allowing the forces of fundamentalist zealotry to arrested development. I hope that the irreverent sense of mockery which I have been led to believe is at the root of the humor and entertainment included within the magazine Charlie Hebdo will continue into the future and perhaps they should hire a couple of additional employees whose writing skills may be stunted but their ability to detect threats and deal with them efficiently and with deadly force if required might make for a less nervous workplace going forward. I know such may seem at first to be contrary to the nature of the publishing of a satirical spoofing and humorous magazine, but a safe place is a happy place.

 

Where I have not read Charlie Hebdo magazine, as I speak only a dozen words of French, I have in my life read probably similar print and to this day read the political cartoons as soon as they are updated each day. Where I enjoy humor, I can understand people being offended and upset over the sarcasm or mockery which others find simply amusing and who live for the irreverence of such scorns in print. Where not everybody will not find such publications as acceptable forms of humor, they all know that they have the right to not partake of or read that which they find offensive but that those who make their livelihood from such venues also have the right to market the product of their skills without necessarily fearing threats of violence from those who choose to be offended. Will those who now speak poorly of these defenders of Muhammad now need to guard their doors knowing that by speaking the truth they may face the avengers who demand a price in blood for their own inability to accept any culture which differs from theirs. These same intolerant crazies insist that all honor, respect and tread with the utmost care around their beliefs and sensitivities and claim they be exempted from the laws of the societies within which they reside because they believe that their religious laws take precedence over the laws of the lands where they have chosen to relocate. They demand that all adopt their laws and religion rather than simply moving back to some land where their religion already rules. There are presumably approaching fifty plus nations where the laws of Islam presumably rule but for reasons which escape those most sane, these reverent Muslims decided that it is their primary reason in life to live amongst those they find to be offensive infidels with the strange idea that their mission is to force their religion on these infidels while rejecting the infidel laws while living in their lands. Perhaps there is a new definition for insanity other than trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Wait, perhaps that does apply here as Islam has tried to conquer Europe twice before with the same result, defeat.

 

This time Islam is attempting a new tactic, the slow infiltration by immigration, and their hopes are for a different result this time around. A good friend of mine asked me over a decade ago what would be the end result of the Islamic immigration into Europe, would it result in the Islamization of Europe and the death of Christianity in Europe. My answer did not sit well with him and he simply shook his head and stated solemnly that he hoped I was wrong for a change. I had told him that Europe was not going to have needed Islam to result with the death of Christianity, that Europe would have reached that point on their own without any outside help. The rest of the story was that the Europeans would eventually do what the Europeans have always done, killed those they found to be threatening their way of life. I told him that he knew the history of Europe as well if not better than I did and that their history was drenched in blood, their own when they struck out against each other and any invaders when they banded together expelling any outside threat be that threat from the Mongols, Russians, Cossacks or Islam. That is the one thing that Europeans have always excelled at and this time will be no different. The next day I gave him one small bit of news that dispelled some of the dire conversation of the previous day telling him that the one bright spot was that the Europeans would, to a measurable extent, find their way back to the comforts of their Christian roots as the violence that would prove necessary to retake their continent from the growing threat when they decide that too much is simply too much. He will on occasion remind me of that conversation and ask tentatively if the same will happen in the United States and then quickly retracts the question with a muted whisper claiming not to really want to know. I’m glad he retracts the question as that one I have no answer to provide him on that one. I hope Europe can find a peaceful escape from their invasion as well. I pray this will be the final invasion attempt by Islam and they finally become a reformed religion divorced from violent Jihad.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Let’s Talk Turkey

A number of years ago we discussed the coming  Turkey problem for NATO and suggested that NATO needed to review Turkey’s continued membership. Of course the leaders of NATO prefer to see Turkey as the prime and proud example of democratic form of government of an Islamic nation. Through this filter it became impossible to see clearly and not the direction Turkey was heading under the continued stewardship of Prime Minister Erdogan towards Sharia rule and closer ties with Islamist interests such as Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood. Of course the support Turkey showed to the Muslim Brotherhood in the recent difficulties in Egypt after the military removed Egyptian President Morsi from power and banned the Muslim Brotherhood was received in Washington as Turkey fully supporting the position adopted by United States President Obama. This view of President Obama is just another indication of the blindness to Islamic dangers posed to the freedoms enjoyed throughout Western nations but many, if not most, of the political class appear to be completely blind to the threats emanating from Islamic extremists.

Now Turkey has taken a step which will be problematic and difficult to ignore or explain away. A Norwegian ship, the MV Princess, conducting a search for oil and gas on behalf of Greek Cyprus, an internationally recognized state, was forced to leave the area by a Turkish warship. On Saturday evening Turkey claimed the MV Princess entered a Turkish naval zone, where it was warned by the Turkish warship TCG Giresun which forced them out of the area, as reported the Turkish news source Today’s Zaman. Cyprus announced Monday its intentions to complain to the UN over the incident. “This provocative behavior by Ankara in no way affects plans to exploit the hydrocarbons of our country,” declared a Cypriot government spokesman. This is just the latest of a running string of Turkish claims of natural resources regardless of the location being in the Greek south side of the Island. This incident should sound alarm bells throughout the capitals of the NATO nations almost as loudly as should the thus far ignored courting by Turkey of close relations and alliance with Iran which had been interrupted when the Muslim Brotherhood initially won the elections in Egypt which spurred Turkish hopes of forming a Sunni alliance between Egypt and Turkey. With the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terror organization by the new Egyptian military backed government, Turkey returned to their previous wooing of closer relations with Iran. This seeking close relations with Iran has continued despite the controversies over corruption and graft that have threatened to even force Erdogan from office and has claimed a number of Ministers forcing some to resign.

Turkey has had difficulties beyond Cyprus and Greece, nations with whom Turkey has had a long history of discord, clashing claims and animosities. Added to the list of nations being targeted for animosity and threats is Israel. The discord began after the Turkish government supported the IHH, a reputed human rights organization which has terrorist ties, and their flotilla to Gaza headed by the Mavi Marmara which resulted in a confrontation between terrorists who assaulted IDF forces which had boarded the Mavi Marmara to enforce an internationally recognized and legal blockade of Gaza designed to prevent arms and other terror supplies from reaching Gaza by sea. The resultant confrontation resulted in a number of injured Israeli Navy sailors and nine Turkish terrorist fatally shot. Two of the injured IDF sailors were sufficiently seriously injured that they were cashiered from service and placed on disability. This confrontation was used by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to drive a wedge between Turkey and Israel which has yet to be mitigated.

Perhaps this latest incident will gather sufficient attention, especially once it is addressed by the United Nations that the leadership of NATO will review the Turkish membership and the viability of such membership continuing or perhaps finally coming to terms with the changes that have been evident for many years and finally cut NATO’s ties with Turkey and its Islamist leadership. There should be little expectations that President Obama will take any steps to initiate a review of Turkey as it has been intimated that Turkey Prime Minister Erdogan is considered to be one of President Obama’s closest friends from among the community of world leaders. Perhaps this will be an opportunity for Canada to step up and take the deserved role as leader of the free world; somebody needs to take the helm which has been abdicated by Washington and President Obama. We will wait and see but doubts are serious and high that NATO will not even take the time to have a discussion, let alone take needful actions. This has been the normal operation of the Western world recently to disregard taking any principled stands or acting on principles. It is easier to just accept any behavior than it would be to take a stand and make waves as the chances of finding support is close to nil. Perhaps expecting principled actions is far too much to demand from today’s elected ruling elite which is likely because the majority of the citizenry is sleeping through life avoiding informing themselves and seeking the truths about the world around them. Hopefully they will awaken and inspect their surroundings before it becomes too late. Winston Churchill faced a similar world that dismissed him as an old man and warmonger and ridiculed him until the time came and the chances for victory slight and called him to be the savior of the world. He has stated this tendency of the people when he spoke saying, “Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves.” Where do you think we stand today?

Beyond the Cusp