by Phyllis Chesler

Jews and HIndus have both been victims of attempted extermination by Islamics. Of course, not all Muslims are terrorists. But today, most terrorists are Muslims. A speech to Hindu youth in Pune.

On January 8, 2012, I delivered a rather passionate speech in Pune, India via Skype. I was invited to do so by “Youth 4 Panun Kashmir.” The organizers were especially interested in my drawing parallels between Israel and India, Jews and Hindus both of whom have, historically, been genocidally exterminated and driven out of their holy places.

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By Harsh Pant

Pakistan is facing a serious crisis today and despite the proclivity of the nation’s elites to blame external forces, the wounds are largely self-inflicted. India is not the biggest danger Pakistan faces today. It is the extremist groups that the security establishment has nurtured over the years that have turned against the Pakistani state. The Pakistani army has yet to reconcile itself to the idea that Afghanistan should be something other than its strategic backyard, under the control of its proxies such as the Taliban, and continues to struggle with its paranoia that India is encroaching on Afghanistan to encircle its old enemy. As a result, Pakistan is unable to take corrective measures that can bring some semblance of stability to a conflict-ridden nation.

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September 11: A Decade Later

by Dov S. Zakheim*

Everyday American images of the war on terror — the legacy of 9/11: Government buildings surrounded by ugly concrete blocks. Pennsylvania Avenue, the street that the White House — once known as the “people’s house” — faces, no longer open to traffic. ID cards required everywhere. Airline passengers waiting patiently in line to take off their shoes, belts, jewelry — and to have their bags searched and perhaps their bodies as well. Fans searched as they enter football stadiums. People on the watch for suspicious characters — including those who might take photos of bridges and tunnels. People fearing to retrieve lost bags in case they are booby trapped. Increased government surveillance of individual Americans, including their telephone calls overseas.

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By Fern Sidman

On Friday morning, June 3rd, several dozen people gathered across the street from the Jacob Javits Center on Manhattan’s west side to voice their outrage and indignation over the decision of the board of trustees of the City University of New York to grant an honorary degree to playwright Tony Kushner. The site was selected as it was the venue of the commencement ceremonies for the 2011 class of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice; the same CUNY school that saw fit to bestow the honorary degree to the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright for his literary accomplishments.

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by Phyllis Chesler

Two Muslim mothers, both widows, both living in Uttar Pradesh in India, helped each other murder their grown daughters, Zahida, 19, and Husna, 26, for having committed the crime of marrying Hindu men.

They held their daughters down and slowly strangled them to death. The poor dead darlings actually believed they were entitled to marry non-Muslim men and for “love,” and that ultimately their mothers and Muslim community would accept them back. This is typical of many honor killing victims. While these two young women knew enough to contact the police for help — and the police actually got their mothers to sign an agreement that they would not “harm” their children — it was only a deceptive piece of paper. But the daughters’ longing for reconciliation and naive hopefulness was their undoing. Their mothers agreed not to hurt them and sweet-talked them into returning; once the girls were home, they became prey for the kill.

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by Harsh V. Pant*

As the Afghan war enters its final and most decisive phase, India’s strategic position in the country has turned a full circle. Having maintained a close relationship with the post-Taliban government for years, New Delhi suffered a humiliating setback last January when its warning against the folly of making a distinction “between good Taliban and bad Taliban” was summarily ignored by the Afghanistan Conference in London.[1]

At a stroke, Pakistan squeezed its nemesis from the evolving security architecture by persuading the West that the time had come to incorporate the “moderate” faction of the Taliban into Afghanistan’s future state structure and to give Islamabad a key role in mediating this process.[2] Meanwhile, despite its best attempts to keep a low profile, India and its nationals have been increasingly targeted by extremist forces in Afghanistan. The Indian embassy in Kabul was struck twice over the past two years, and guest houses frequented by Indians were attacked with nine Indian nationals killed.[3]

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by Phyllis Chesler

I have just been told that the global protests against the imminent execution of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani have been successful; her execution has, once again, been delayed.

These protests were reported by the major media everywhere. Mina Ahadi, the spokesperson of the International Committee against Stoning and Execution, and Maryam Namazie, Iran Solidarity Spokesperson as well as others gave non-stop interviews.

Yes, even the New York Times and the Washington Post covered this story online. …Continue reading…

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by Phyllis Chesler

My second study about honor killings was posted this week at Middle East Quarterly. The first study is here. The second study is a groundbreaking examination of 230 victims on five continents.

So far, I’ve been interviewed in the Hindustan Times (!) and the Edmonton Sun about honor killings. And, I was just interviewed by the most excellent Lauren Green on FOX’s “The Strategy Room” about “faith and terrorism.” I was encouraged to position honor killings as a form of domestic, Islamist terrorism. In reality, the same radically Islamist mindset responsible for 9/11 or the Mumbai massacre tends to keep their women in burqas, niquab, or hijab, segregated and subordinate. Such fundamentalists tend to follow radical Islamist mullahs who preach militant jihad and who do not preach against honor related violence, including honor killings. … Continue reading…

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An interview with Dr. Marvin Belsky of HRCARI (Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam)

By Fern Sidman

As the exponential growth of radical Islam continues to present an ever increasing danger to the future of Western civilization, there are those concerned individuals hailing from diverse backgrounds, nationalities and religions who are outraged by this pernicious threat and are determined to do something about it. The Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam is one such organization. Founded in May of 2009, the HRCARI has held numerous political demonstrations, rallies and seminars aimed at bringing about a collective awareness of the perils of Islamic extremism. I sat down with Dr. Marvin Belsky, one of the founders of HRCARI to hear more about the goals and objectives of this most important group.

FS: Can you tell us about the genesis of HRCARI?

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by Phyllis Chesler

By now, we have all heard about Nujood Ali, the incredibly heroic ten year girl in Yemen who fled her abusive husband and demanded a divorce. This act was the first of its kind in a country where girls as young as eight are given away in marriage.

We want her as an ally. We want her counterparts in the Muslim world as allies. We want Mukhtaran Bibi on our side. She is the young Pakistani woman who was gang-raped by her alleged social superiors in order to cover up their other crimes. She escaped. She was not silenced by shame. She did not kill herself. Unlike Phoolan Devi, India’s Bandit Queen (a girl after my own heart), Bibi did not join a gang of outlaws and then exact personal revenge. Despite numerous death threats, Mukhtaran Bibi legally pursued the criminals — and won. Continue reading…

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By Fern Sidman

Despite the pouring rain, over 300 concerned citizens representing a diverse group of political, religious, ethnic and racial groups convened in New York City’s Times Square on Sunday, May 3rd, to attend a rally sponsored by the Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam. The HRCARI is a grassroots global action movement that is dedicated to educating and mobilizing people of all backgrounds and persuasions to the inherent dangers of the burgeoning radical Islamic movement and to supporting freedom, democracy and tolerance.

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by Daniel Pipes*

A study undertaken on behalf of Israel’s foreign ministry by an international market research company found that India is the most pro-Israel country in the world, beating out the United States by two percentage points.

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By Fern Sidman

As the mercury precipitously dropped, demonstrators from the Coalition For Peace organization braved the biting cold and sub freezing temperatures in the nation’s capitol on January 20th in order to send a clear message to President Barack Hussein Obama on his inauguration day. With calls to “protect the free world from radical Islam”, the 30 demonstrators staged a peaceful protest in Lafayette Park, directly across the street from the White House. The Coalition For Peace is a nascent movement comprised of Hindu, Jewish and Christian organizations who are sounding a clarion call to the western world of the imminent dangers that jihadists represent.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Citing the fact that over the last 10 years, “Israel was hit with more than 10,000 rockets [by Palestinian terrorists],” and that, “India faced brutal terrorism in the form of 60,000 terror incidents that killed about 18,000 people, mostly due to radical Islam,” a group billing itself as the “Coalition for Peace” has organized an “Awareness Campaign Against Terrorism” during President Obama’s inaugural parade on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, in Washington, D.C.

The “US, Israel and India should work together to defeat the axis of radical Islam,” says a Coalition press release because, “Radical Islam has assumed an alarmingly dangerous worldwide proportion, [and] it is absolutely essential that [the] U.S.A, the only [s]uper [p]ower of the world, under the Presiden[cy] of Barack Obama take firm action [against] those who support terrorism in the name of the extreme ideologies.”

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By Phyllis Chesler

The Hindu-Jewish-Christian-Buddhist Coalition against Islamic Terrorism is having a telephone conference call this evening to finalize details of their Obama Parade Rally. I urge everyone to attend or to assist in other ways e.g. write articles, take videos and photos, publicize it via the internet and in all your local media. … (Continue reading…)

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