All information about the Hamas Charter contained in this post comes from this website:
http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm
Psalm 83:1-19
1
A Song, a Psalm of Asaph.
2
O G-d, keep not Thou silence; hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O G-d.
3
For, lo, Thine enemies are in an uproar;and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head.
4
They hold crafty converse against Thy people, and take counsel against Thy treasured ones.
5
They have said: 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.'
6
For they have consulted together with one consent; against Thee do they make a
covenant;
7
The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites;
8
Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
9
Assyria also is joined with them; they have been an arm to the children of Lot. Selah
10
Do Thou unto them as unto Midian; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook Kishon;
11
Who were destroyed at En-dor; they became as dung for the earth.
12
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and like Zebahand Zalmunna all their princes;
13
Who said: 'Let us take to ourselves in possession the habitations of G-d.'
14
O my G-d, make them like the whirling dust; as stubble before the wind.
15
As the fire that burneth the forest, and as the flame that setteth the mountains ablaze;
16
So pursue them with Thy tempest, and affright them with Thy storm.
17
Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek Thy name, O HaShem.
18
Let them be ashamed and affrighted for ever; yea, let them be abashed and perish;
19
That they may know that it is Thou alone whose name is HaShem, the Most High over all the earth.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
A Fire Not Pleasing to A-llah.....................
Iraninans Volunteer to Fight Israel
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Surrounded by yellow Hezbollah flags, more than 60 Iranian volunteers set off Wednesday to join what they called a holy war against Israeli forces in Lebanon.
The group -- ranging from teenagers to grandfathers -- plans to join about 200 other volunteers on the way to the Turkish border, which they hope to cross Thursday. They plan to reach Lebanon via Syria on the weekend.
Organizers said the volunteers are carrying no weapons, and it was not clear whether Turkey would allow them to pass.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, would not say Wednesday if Turkey would allow them to cross. Iranians, however, can enter Turkey without a visa and stay for three months.
Iran says it will not send regular forces to aid Hezbollah, but apparently it will not attempt to stop volunteer guerrillas. Iran and Syria are Hezbollah's main sponsors.
"We are just the first wave of Islamic warriors from Iran," said Amir Jalilinejad, chairman of the Student Justice Movement, a nongovernment group that helped recruit the fighters. "More will come from here and other Muslim nations around the world. Hezbollah needs our help."
Military service is mandatory in Iran, and nearly every man has at least some basic training. Some hard-liners have more extensive drills as members of the Basiji corps, a paramilitary network linked to the powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Other volunteers, such as 72-year-old Hasan Honavi, have combat experience from the 1980-88 war with Iraq.
"God made this decision for me," said Honavi, a grandfather and one of the oldest volunteers. "I still have fight left in me for a holy war."
The group, chanting and marching in military-style formation, assembled Wednesday in a part of Tehran's main cemetery that is reserved for war dead and other "martyrs."
They prayed on Persian carpets and linked hands, with their shoes and bags piled alongside. Few had any battle-type gear and some arrived in dress shoes or plastic sandals.
Some bowed before a memorial to Hezbollah-linked suicide bombers who carried out the 1983 blast at Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. servicemen. An almost simultaneous bombing killed 56 French peacekeepers.
Speakers praised Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and laid scorn on Muslim leaders -- including their own government -- for not sending battlefield assistance to Hezbollah since the battles erupted two weeks ago.
Even if the volunteers fail to reach Lebanon, their mobilization is an example of how Iranians are rallying to Hezbollah through organizations outside official circles.
Iran insists it is not directly involved in the conflict on the military side, but it remains the group's key pipeline for money. Iran has dismissed Israel's claims that Hezbollah has been supplied with upgraded Iranian missiles that have reached Haifa and other points across northern Israel.
"We cannot stand by and watch out Hezbollah brothers fight alone," said Komeil Baradaran, a 21-year-old Basiji member. "If we are to die in Lebanon, then we will go to heaven. It is our duty as Muslims to fight."
Iraninans Volunteer to Fight Israel
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Surrounded by yellow Hezbollah flags, more than 60 Iranian volunteers set off Wednesday to join what they called a holy war against Israeli forces in Lebanon.
The group -- ranging from teenagers to grandfathers -- plans to join about 200 other volunteers on the way to the Turkish border, which they hope to cross Thursday. They plan to reach Lebanon via Syria on the weekend.
Organizers said the volunteers are carrying no weapons, and it was not clear whether Turkey would allow them to pass.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, would not say Wednesday if Turkey would allow them to cross. Iranians, however, can enter Turkey without a visa and stay for three months.
Iran says it will not send regular forces to aid Hezbollah, but apparently it will not attempt to stop volunteer guerrillas. Iran and Syria are Hezbollah's main sponsors.
"We are just the first wave of Islamic warriors from Iran," said Amir Jalilinejad, chairman of the Student Justice Movement, a nongovernment group that helped recruit the fighters. "More will come from here and other Muslim nations around the world. Hezbollah needs our help."
Military service is mandatory in Iran, and nearly every man has at least some basic training. Some hard-liners have more extensive drills as members of the Basiji corps, a paramilitary network linked to the powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Other volunteers, such as 72-year-old Hasan Honavi, have combat experience from the 1980-88 war with Iraq.
"God made this decision for me," said Honavi, a grandfather and one of the oldest volunteers. "I still have fight left in me for a holy war."
The group, chanting and marching in military-style formation, assembled Wednesday in a part of Tehran's main cemetery that is reserved for war dead and other "martyrs."
They prayed on Persian carpets and linked hands, with their shoes and bags piled alongside. Few had any battle-type gear and some arrived in dress shoes or plastic sandals.
Some bowed before a memorial to Hezbollah-linked suicide bombers who carried out the 1983 blast at Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. servicemen. An almost simultaneous bombing killed 56 French peacekeepers.
Speakers praised Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and laid scorn on Muslim leaders -- including their own government -- for not sending battlefield assistance to Hezbollah since the battles erupted two weeks ago.
Even if the volunteers fail to reach Lebanon, their mobilization is an example of how Iranians are rallying to Hezbollah through organizations outside official circles.
Iran insists it is not directly involved in the conflict on the military side, but it remains the group's key pipeline for money. Iran has dismissed Israel's claims that Hezbollah has been supplied with upgraded Iranian missiles that have reached Haifa and other points across northern Israel.
"We cannot stand by and watch out Hezbollah brothers fight alone," said Komeil Baradaran, a 21-year-old Basiji member. "If we are to die in Lebanon, then we will go to heaven. It is our duty as Muslims to fight."
Anybody can convert to Judaism if he/she wants, and if a person wants to do it then he should. The Torah tells us to love the convert and the Talmud, Jewish Law, tells us not to remind a person needlessly of his/her life before the conversion. Questions like, "You mean you used to try to convert Jews to Christianity," or "You once had three girlfriends at one time?!" should be out of the question. This is similar to how ba'alei t'shuva, Jews who've become obserant/religious, should be treated.
Myself personally, I think it's cool when a person becomes a Jew. Given that our religion does not actively seek converts, when a person makes the decision to become a Jew on his/her own, it's quite an amazing thing. When an "unexpected" person, or a person from a group of people that haven't been known to traditionally choose Judaism as their faith, such as black Americans, Mexican Americans, Christians, or Muslims, it is all the more shocking, and to me, a bit of a spiritual buzz.
And I think it's cool for a more important reason; when a person from "a different walk of life," a person relatively removed from Judaism decides to become a Jew it's a statement that Judaism is a religion compatible with universal notions of morality and truth. Usually the person converting chooses Judaism BECAUSE he/she sees Judaism as the source from which these things emanate.
Further, and closely related, converts to Judaism allow the Jewish people contact with the rest of the world in a very intimate way, through the Torah and its values and precepts. Seeing that a convert will not cut out family and friend from his/her life, converts to Judaism allow "the Torah opinion" to be disseminated to the world's nooks and crannies. Judaism is a people, but a people does not mean one "race," although we started out from our Father Avraham, a Hebrew. In the end, Judaism is a people with a religion; any type of person can become a Jew, and converts expand a Jew's horizon of how observance of Torah fits into every nut and bolt of the world.
However, there is also a potential "downside," one that I didn't give much credence to. The same with a ba'al t'shuva, a convert brings something new to the table of Judaism, a set of concepts and sentiments which he/she incorporates into the Jewish world view, while Judaism brings something new to him/her, or answers old questions. A convert is a human being with his/her own set of presuppositions and there is a possibility that he/she tries to steer Jewish values in a direction that will conform to his/her personal set of values, as true to the Torah as those values might be. The Torah contains all that is righteous in the world, but that doesn't mean that a person, a convert or a ba'al t'shuva, in the direction that he/she deems concordant with the values of the Torah. This would be a bit self-absorbed. Yes, it is perfectly valid to bring new insights to people born Jews, and this is incredibly important, but it needs to be done in a give and take manner, it can't be done in the manner likened to walking into a building and claiming a corner as yours, or by pushing people out of your way.
Myself personally, I think it's cool when a person becomes a Jew. Given that our religion does not actively seek converts, when a person makes the decision to become a Jew on his/her own, it's quite an amazing thing. When an "unexpected" person, or a person from a group of people that haven't been known to traditionally choose Judaism as their faith, such as black Americans, Mexican Americans, Christians, or Muslims, it is all the more shocking, and to me, a bit of a spiritual buzz.
And I think it's cool for a more important reason; when a person from "a different walk of life," a person relatively removed from Judaism decides to become a Jew it's a statement that Judaism is a religion compatible with universal notions of morality and truth. Usually the person converting chooses Judaism BECAUSE he/she sees Judaism as the source from which these things emanate.
Further, and closely related, converts to Judaism allow the Jewish people contact with the rest of the world in a very intimate way, through the Torah and its values and precepts. Seeing that a convert will not cut out family and friend from his/her life, converts to Judaism allow "the Torah opinion" to be disseminated to the world's nooks and crannies. Judaism is a people, but a people does not mean one "race," although we started out from our Father Avraham, a Hebrew. In the end, Judaism is a people with a religion; any type of person can become a Jew, and converts expand a Jew's horizon of how observance of Torah fits into every nut and bolt of the world.
However, there is also a potential "downside," one that I didn't give much credence to. The same with a ba'al t'shuva, a convert brings something new to the table of Judaism, a set of concepts and sentiments which he/she incorporates into the Jewish world view, while Judaism brings something new to him/her, or answers old questions. A convert is a human being with his/her own set of presuppositions and there is a possibility that he/she tries to steer Jewish values in a direction that will conform to his/her personal set of values, as true to the Torah as those values might be. The Torah contains all that is righteous in the world, but that doesn't mean that a person, a convert or a ba'al t'shuva, in the direction that he/she deems concordant with the values of the Torah. This would be a bit self-absorbed. Yes, it is perfectly valid to bring new insights to people born Jews, and this is incredibly important, but it needs to be done in a give and take manner, it can't be done in the manner likened to walking into a building and claiming a corner as yours, or by pushing people out of your way.
Arabs Should Take Care of their Own Problems.............................
I was watching the news a few hours ago with my dad when the reporter summarized a statement made by Mahmoud Abbas, or Abu Mazen, the Palestinian Prime Minister. According to her, he said that Hezba-llah should do everything in its power to remove Israeli troops from Lebanon. The Shi'ite Iraqi President, Jawad al-Maliki, expressed the same sentiment on a separated occasion.
Here's my beef, and I hope it's Halal; it seems to me that both the Palestinians and the Iraqi's have a list of problems occuring within their own peoples. Palestinian society is rife with the power struggle between Hamas and Fatach, basically uncontrollable by Abbas. They have severe economic problems, Gaza is said to be one of the poorest regions in the world and have almost no infrastructure, which means no jobs, etc... The education system is almost completely infiltrated with propagandaagainst the State of Israel, which has been the case approximately since the Six Day War in 1967 (38 years), and this is a movement that will only be able to be remedied by another movement moving in the other direction. Israel is always on the defensive and offensive due to the stock of young suicide bombers that Gaza and the West Bank towns produce per capita. Not to forget, the occasional Muslim Palestinian takeover of Christian Palestinian sites. If they had less war, they could have more production.
The Iraqi's have their own set of problems; Sunni-Shi'ite struggles, anti-American troop insurgencies, and the establishment of a constitution, government, and military force that will be able to reign control in on the country. Not to mention, as with the Palestinians, a crossroads of terrorist activity from other Arab countries funding and operating within.
Yet, in spite of all this, Mahmoud Abbas and Maliki have the time and energy, and immaturity, to even have an opinion on what's going on in Lebanon. Excuse me, but Hassan Nasra-llah, the leader of Hezba-llah, is doing a fine enough job without the emotional support of Abbas and Maliki. If Abbas and Maliki truly want to be leaders to their people they should be too busy with the issues of their own people to have an opinion on what's happening in Lebanon. They should say, "Let Lebanon do what it needs to against Israel and America. We have our own problems here and we are trying our best to take care of them. Lebanon is not of our concern, our well-being is." The problem is that many Arab societies and their governments suffer the delusional illusion that their well-being is dependent on the ability and success of Arab states to fight Israel - it is an ideological association that serves only the Pan-nationalist hatred of the Arab states towards Israel but serves no direct tangible purpose for the actual subjects of those Arab countries, the citizens. Not surprisingly, their maintained focus and effort in fighting a perpetual war on the proverbial front with Israel keeps them wallowing in the muck of their problems and never proceeding. The sad truth about Arab leaders is that part of the prerquisites of a good Arab (and Iranian) leader is his hatred for Israel and how much prideful bluffing and propaganda spreading he is able to do. Nasra-llah's poker face was solid but transparent when he said that Israel did not inflict many casualties on Hezba-llah.
I was watching the news a few hours ago with my dad when the reporter summarized a statement made by Mahmoud Abbas, or Abu Mazen, the Palestinian Prime Minister. According to her, he said that Hezba-llah should do everything in its power to remove Israeli troops from Lebanon. The Shi'ite Iraqi President, Jawad al-Maliki, expressed the same sentiment on a separated occasion.
Here's my beef, and I hope it's Halal; it seems to me that both the Palestinians and the Iraqi's have a list of problems occuring within their own peoples. Palestinian society is rife with the power struggle between Hamas and Fatach, basically uncontrollable by Abbas. They have severe economic problems, Gaza is said to be one of the poorest regions in the world and have almost no infrastructure, which means no jobs, etc... The education system is almost completely infiltrated with propagandaagainst the State of Israel, which has been the case approximately since the Six Day War in 1967 (38 years), and this is a movement that will only be able to be remedied by another movement moving in the other direction. Israel is always on the defensive and offensive due to the stock of young suicide bombers that Gaza and the West Bank towns produce per capita. Not to forget, the occasional Muslim Palestinian takeover of Christian Palestinian sites. If they had less war, they could have more production.
The Iraqi's have their own set of problems; Sunni-Shi'ite struggles, anti-American troop insurgencies, and the establishment of a constitution, government, and military force that will be able to reign control in on the country. Not to mention, as with the Palestinians, a crossroads of terrorist activity from other Arab countries funding and operating within.
Yet, in spite of all this, Mahmoud Abbas and Maliki have the time and energy, and immaturity, to even have an opinion on what's going on in Lebanon. Excuse me, but Hassan Nasra-llah, the leader of Hezba-llah, is doing a fine enough job without the emotional support of Abbas and Maliki. If Abbas and Maliki truly want to be leaders to their people they should be too busy with the issues of their own people to have an opinion on what's happening in Lebanon. They should say, "Let Lebanon do what it needs to against Israel and America. We have our own problems here and we are trying our best to take care of them. Lebanon is not of our concern, our well-being is." The problem is that many Arab societies and their governments suffer the delusional illusion that their well-being is dependent on the ability and success of Arab states to fight Israel - it is an ideological association that serves only the Pan-nationalist hatred of the Arab states towards Israel but serves no direct tangible purpose for the actual subjects of those Arab countries, the citizens. Not surprisingly, their maintained focus and effort in fighting a perpetual war on the proverbial front with Israel keeps them wallowing in the muck of their problems and never proceeding. The sad truth about Arab leaders is that part of the prerquisites of a good Arab (and Iranian) leader is his hatred for Israel and how much prideful bluffing and propaganda spreading he is able to do. Nasra-llah's poker face was solid but transparent when he said that Israel did not inflict many casualties on Hezba-llah.
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