Australian PM Abbott Visits Australian Troops in Afghanistan

Under heavy security, PM Tony Abbott visits Afghanistan and declares war over

Ian McPhedran in Tarin Kowt 
The Daily Telegraph
October 29 ,2013

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott last night declared Australia's longest conflict over, saying our soldiers were leaving Afghanistan a better place after the war on terror.

After more than a decade of battle and the loss of 40 Australian soldiers, Mr Abbott arrived at Tarin Kowt under unprecedented security for a "recognition ceremony" to lower the flag on the war

The prime minister told a large crowd of Australian and coalition forces the war was ending, "not with victory, not with defeat, but with, we hope, an Afghanistan that is better for our presence here".

"Our armed forces and our officials have done their duty. That duty never ends, although our duty here has,'' Mr Abbott said.

The prime minister and officers from four countries laid wreaths at the base memorial wall, carrying the names of 114 fallen soldiers, including the diggers who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Governor of Oruzgan Province Amir Mohammad Akhunzada thanked Australia and other countries involved in the province from the bottom of his heart.

"I hope that friendly countries will continue their help through the central Government in order to keep Afghanistan stable and self-sufficient," Mr Amir said.

He said the enemies of Afghanistan should understand that their ideas of regaining power are "delusionary and mad.''

Following a secret dash from Sydney to the Middle East, Mr Abbott arrived at Camp Holland for his first visit as prime minister, accompanied by Opposition leader Bill Shorten, Defence Minister David Johnston and Defence Chief General David Hurley.

The camp will be formally handed over to Afghan security forces in mid-December.

The giant C-17 transport jet, with Mr Abbott in the cockpit, was shadowed into TK airfield by US Apache attack helicopters and army snipers took up overwatch positions in towers overlooking the arrival bay.

Mr Abbott had been wearing body armour and a helmet on the flight into Tarin Kowt but emerged from the cockpit of the C-17 wearing an open neck shirt and pullover.

It was a stark contrast to Kevin Rudd who strode off the plane wearing a bullet proof vest when he visited the country before the election campaign.

Inside the base a gaggle of special forces bodyguards and infantry and RAAF "guardian angels'' took up positions on every corner as Mr Abbott was taken inside the headquarters for secret briefings by the Commander of Combined Team Uruzgan, Colonel Wade Stothart, and the US commander of Regional Command South, Major General Paul LaCamera, and deputy ISAF commander British General John Lorimar.

The memorial at which the wreaths were laid last night is due to be painted over, broken up and buried, as revealed by News Corp on Sunday, prompting anger from soldiers and the families of diggers.

Families and soldiers have reacted angrily to the plans saying that they want the wall returned home to the Australian War Memorial.

Multicultural Sydney: Mother of accused Jew Basher says ""When he's at home he's not racist but when they get together they like to pick on people - it only takes drinking," she said.

The mother of the boy accused of race-hate attack in Bondi works in a Jewish nursing home

Exclusive Mark Morri & Taylor Auerbach
The Daily Telegraph
October 29,2013

THE mother of a boy accused of an anti-semitic bashing in Bondi has denied her son is racist, citing she works in a Jewish nursing home.

Jew Bashing Down Under .........Three Insurgents? arrested Harmony Day Ambassadors Gone Bad

Update :Jew Bashing Down Under, Three arrested and charged up to five still on the run.

The 17-year-old is accused of being among a group of boys who viciously bashed a Jewish family at Bondi at midnight Saturday.

They allegedly called the group "f...ing Jews" before allegedly bashing them.

Yesterday the mother of one of the two boys arrested moved to defend her son from the racist accusations.

Asked whether her son was racist, she said "no".

Then, as evidence, she said she worked at a Jewish nursing home.

"When he's at home he's not racist but when they get together they like to pick on people - it only takes drinking," she said.

The two boys, who cannot be identified as they will appear before a children's court, were already on bail for assaulting a police officer when they allegedly attacked the family at Bondi Beach.

BARRY O'FARRELL CONDEMNS THE ATTACK

They were charged with using unlawful violence against Constable Chun-Yuan Shieh and a number of others at Coogee beach on Saturday, September 7. They were also charged with affray for assaulting the officer in the execution of his duty.

The boy's mother confirmed that her son has been in trouble before and said he hung out with a "gang" that often used her home to sleep.

"He's been in a lot of trouble," she said.

"What can I do? I've already told him not to drink but you can only do so much.

"I'm really, really upset. I'm worried about him because I haven't seen him ... He's a loving boy. He's like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

"I spoke to him (Sunday) night, I said 'boy you're naughty' and he said 'yeah mum but it's not my fault'.

"According to my son, he stops the fights." The mother said her son, who is addicted to alcohol, only got out of juvenile detention last week.

"When he was 16 he was in there for a very long time ... for robbery at a train station."

Pacific Islanders have a long history of Violence against Australians and indeed Cop Killing, they are however a part of the Australian Labor Party's "Rich Tapestry of Cultural Diversity" " Harmony Day Ambassadors" proof that all cultures beliefs behaviours are equal aka. Labor's VOTE PEOPLE

The two boys were part of a group of eight mainly Pacific Islander youths charged with attacking the family, including a 66-year-old father and a 62-year-old mother, and friends walking home from a Sabbath dinner.

Five of them were hospitalised with broken bones, concussion and bleeding on the brain.

The two 17-year-olds were arrested and charged with affray. They were refused bail in court yesterday.

A 23-year-old was also arrested and charged but was released to appear in court in December.

Senior police said those allegedly involved in the attack had no connection to Islam.

Meanwhile, the family that was attacked has called for tolerance.

"People should be free to walk the streets in safety, without fear of being attacked because of the colour of their skin or the race to which they belong," they said.

"We are concerned about the need for the education of future generations about the importance of goodwill and tolerance."

TWO Sydney teenagers accused making racial taunts during an alleged assault on a Jewish family and two of their friends were on bail at the time for assaulting a police officer.

Just weeks before allegedly calling the group "f...ing Jews" and assaulting them, the two 17-year-olds were charged with using unlawful violence against Constable Chun-Yuan Shieh and a number of others at Coogee beach on a Saturday at 11pm.

They were also charged with affray for assaulting the police officer in the execution of his duty on September 7.

The pair were part of a group of eight mainly Pacific Islander youths who have been charged with attacking the family and friends walking home from a Sabbath Dinner just after midnight on Saturday morning at Bondi. A 23-year-old was arrested and charged on the night before being released to appear in court on December 3.

The remaining five are still being hunted by police who are now scouring CCTV footage in the area near Blair and Glenayr Streets where the attack took place.

A 27-year-old man, his father, 66, and mother, 62 along with two other males aged 48 and 39, all ended up being hospitalised after the attack suffering from concussion, fractured bones, bleeding on the brain and serious abrasions

The mother of one of the accused said her son was not a racist and she works at a Jewish nursing home.

She said her son struggles with alcohol addiction and only got out of juvenile detention last week.

"He's been in a lot of trouble," she said yesterday.

"When he's at home he's not racist but when they get together they like to pick on people, it only takes drinking."

Her son is part of a "gang" that often uses her residence as a place to sleep.

"What can I do? I've already told him not to drink but you can only do so much.

"I'm really, really upset. I'm worried about him because I haven't seen him ... He's a loving boy. He's like Dr Jekkyl an Mr Hyde.

"I spoke to him (Sunday) night, I said 'boy you're naughty' and he said 'yeah mum but it's not my fault'.

"According to my son, he stops the fights."

The mother said the gang had been drinking at a party on Bondi Beach on the night of the alleged bashing and described his friendship with the co-accused as "very, very, very, very close."

"He's just got out of (juvenile detention) last week.

"When he was 16 he was in there for a very long time ... for robbery at a train station."

The two teenagers were yesterday refused bail when they appeared in Bidura children's court and ordered to reappear next month.

Senior police emphasised that those allegedly involved in the attack had nothing to do with any Islamic movements

The family also released a statement calling for tolerance.

"We thank God that we are alive,'' the family said.

"Our overriding concern is that such an attack should not happen again - to anyone. Our objective at this time is not vengeance, but justice and concern. We want justice to be done in regard to the perpetrators. And we are concerned about the need for the education of future generations about the importance of goodwill and tolerance, and the need for society to embrace those concepts. We would like to see proactive measures in that regard.

"People should be free to walk the streets in safety, without fear of being attacked because of the colour of their skin or the race to which they belong.

"We wish to thank the police for their fast response on the night of the incident, as well as St Vincent's Hospital emergency staff, the ambulance service, the shopkeepers who offered assistance, the locals who tried to help, the hotel bouncers who eventually came to our aid. We also thank the Premier, Opposition Leader, ministers, shadow ministers, MPs and leaders of the many faith groups and organisations across the wider community which have expressed support and concern. We also thank friends and members of the community. The support is deeply appreciated and reminds us that what occurred is not what Australia is about.

The Jewish community is still in shock over the attack." 

Australia's ablaze with climate ARSE Clowns

Australia's ablaze with climate clowns

Tim Blair
The Daily Telegraph
October 28, 2013 

AUSTRALIA is a deeply puzzling land, especially to foreign media types. Even basic geography is sometimes a cause of bewilderment. For example, in 2011 Britain's Daily Mail tried to depict the extent of that year's Queensland floods with a helpful map of eastern Australia. This isn't a particularly difficult cartographic assignment, but the Mail managed to get it wrong, inventing the brand new state of Capricornia to Queensland's north.

The current NSW fires have prompted similar blunders. Last week the US television network NBC ran a graphic intended to show the range of the fires. They turned out to be far more extensive than anyone in Australia was aware.

NBC may have sourced their information from a Geoscience Australia monitoring site that lists hazard reduction burns and other non-threatening fires along with the massive conflagrations throughout NSW. The result was a graphic showing almost the entire northwest of Australia covered with flames. Darwin hasn't seen the likes of this since the Japanese bombing in World War II. Poor Capricornia copped it again as well. So did arid desert areas, which apparently now feature rare combustible dirt.

Elementary geographic and factual errors are one thing. It gets worse when ignorant outsiders lecture us about our own country. Former US vice-president turned global warming millionaire Al Gore barged in on local affairs last week, courtesy of the ABC.

"The Australian Prime Minister has said in the last couple of hours that bushfires are a function of life in Australia and nothing to do with climate change," presenter Annabel Crabb asked. "What do you make of those remarks?"

"Well, it's not my place to get involved in your politics," Gore replied, before doing exactly that.

"It reminds me of politicians here in the US who got a lot of support from the tobacco companies and who argued to the public that there was absolutely no connection between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer," Gore said. "And for 40 years the tobacco companies were able to persuade pliant politicians within their grip to tell the public what they wanted them to tell them."

Gore should know. He was one of those pliant politicians, accepting campaign contributions from tobacco companies even after his older sister died of lung cancer. If you could burn hypocrisy, Al Gore would be the planet's single largest energy source.

Time magazine's Brooklyn-based Bryan Walsh also took aim at Abbott in a subtle piece headlined "Climate Change Affects Australia's Epic Wildfires - No Matter What Prime Minister Says."

Oddly, Australian leftists lap this stuff up. Show them a non-interfering British royal and they scream about independence and a republic. The same types usually wail about US cultural domination of Australian. Show them a couple of climate clowns from Brooklyn and Nashville, on the other hand, and they can't wait to put a link up on Twitter.

Anyway, the grand authority of Walsh's Time piece was slightly undermined by a few subsequent corrections. "An earlier version of this article misstated that New South Wales is in south-western Australia. It is in south-eastern Australia," read one of them.

This was followed by another: "An earlier version of this article misstated the name of a former Prime Minister of Australia. She is Julia Gillard, not Gilliard."

So Walsh doesn't know anything about Australian politics or even where the fires were, but he sure knows what caused them. He's able to work that out from New York. For a more accurate view, let's turn to former CSIRO bushfire researcher David Packham, who described the supposed link between fires and climate change as "absolute nonsense".

"If there is any global warming, the global warming is so slow and so small that the bushfire event is totally overrun by the fuel state," Packham continued. But what would he know? He's only an Australian who happens to have studied bush fires for more than 50 years. Warmies prefer their climate advice to be global.

Australia's Green (ALP) Loon Leader Christine Milne

One Million Australian Native Animals sacrificed on the Green Loons alter of Environmentalism & Junk Science.

Links added to thi sarticle by ANV

The Bolt Report October 27 2013, Warmist SCAM ARTISTS ALP / Green Loons,Al Gore Their ABC

Greens leader Christine Milne tells ABC seven global warming porkies.  ABC corrects none

Racist Bigot and Misandrist Green Loon Christine Milne blames it all on" older white men"

Multicultural Sydney: Bondi Jew Bashing Latest

Community on alert as Jewish family bashed at Bondi after walking home from Sabbath dinner

Clementine Cuneo and LeighVan Den Broeke
The Daily Telegraph
October 28,2013

Jew Bashing Down Under .........Three Insurgents? arrested Harmony Day Ambassadors Gone Bad

Update :Jew Bashing Down Under, Three arrested and charged up to five still on the run.

WITH his eye bloodied and his hand bandaged, Jewish man Shlomo Behar was yesterday at a loss to comprehend how anyone could allegedly bash him and his parents because of their religion.

Mr Behar, 27, parents Elias, 66, and Lea, 62, and two other men - Shlomo Ben-Haim, 48, and Zeev Aronstam, 39 - were walking home from a Jewish Sabbath dinner in Bondi when they were set upon in an alleged anti-Semitic attack on Saturday.

Tim Blair: Take the pro-chocolate approach to fighting anti-Semitism

The alleged incident has "shocked and distressed" the local Jewish community, with senior leaders saying some people were now fearful of repeat attacks.

Recovering at his parents' Bondi home yesterday, Mr Behar struggled to speak clearly, with his lip swollen and lacerated. "It's all been very unpleasant ... very unexpected," he said.

His father, the most seriously injured of all five victims, arrived home yesterday after a day in hospital with bleeding on the brain. He had a black eye and severe bruising to his face yesterday.

The Behar family and their two friends were walking home from dinner along Blair St about 12.30am when a group of up to eight males allegedly began yelling derogatory comments before assaulting them, police said.

Jewish community representatives condemn Sydney brawl

Four of the victims were wearing skullcaps at the time, which Jewish community leaders believe may have made them targets.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president Yair Miller described it as "the worst incident of anti-Semitic violence in Sydney for many years", adding it had left a feeling of "great distress" among the Jewish community.

"Australia is an overwhelmingly tolerant and peaceful country - however there are some people who are motivated by hatred and racism, which has no place in our society," Mr Miller said.

Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW president Stepan Kerkyasharian said the board would 
investigate.



"I think we should look at taking action," he said.

While also calling for calm, Mr Kerkyasharian said anyone found guilty of racial vilification should be dealt with appropriately.

"We are a fairly mature society where we have a very clear understanding that we are people of different racial backgrounds," Mr Kerkyasharian said. "We have to live together in a manner where we accept diversity and respect diversity."

Two 17-year-old males were refused bail in Parramatta Children's Court yesterday, charged with affray, while a 23-year-old man will face Waverley Court on December 3.

Police are still looking for at least five other males believed to have been involved in the alleged attack who ran from the scene.

Update :Jew Bashing Down Under, Three arrested and charged up to five still on the run.

-----------------

Horrific Bottle Attack on American Student in Sharia controlled UK Hamlet

Jew Bashing Down Under .........Three Insurgents? arrested Harmony Day Ambassadors Gone Bad

Trio questioned over 'anit-Semitic' attack and assault on five people in Bondi

Ian Walker
The Daily Telegraph
October 26,2013

UPDATE 3 Charged with affray and other charges

Three charged after assault - Bondi

Saturday, 26 October 2013 02:48:03 PM

Three people have been charged following an assault near Bondi Beach overnight.

About 12.30am today, (Saturday October 2013), a group of four men, aged 66, 48, 39 and 27, and a 62-year-old woman were walking along Blair Street when they passed a group of eight males.

Police have been told the males made derogatory comments towards the group and assaulted them.

The melee continued along Glenayr Avenue until the arrival of officers from the Eastern Suburbs Local Area Command.

The alleged offenders attempted to flee however officers arrested three males a short distance away. All three were taken to Waverley Police Station.

Two 17-year-old males were charged with affray and breach of bail. They were refused bail and will appear at children’s court tomorrow (Sunday 27 October 2013).

A 23-year-old man was charged with affray. He was granted bail and will appear at Waverley Local Court on Tuesday 3 December 2013.

All five adults were injured suffering concussion, a fractured cheekbone, a possible broken nose, lacerations and bruising.

They were treated at the scene by Ambulance Paramedics and conveyed to St Vincents Hospital.

Investigations into the incident continue and officers have urged anyone with information about the incident to come forward.

A GROUP of five people were violently attacked on the street in Sydney's east early this morning in what witnesses have called a racially motivated attack.

Police said the group of four men, aged 66, 48, 39 and 27 and a 62-year-old woman were walking along Blair Street when they passed a group of eight males about 12.30am.



Police said they were told told the males made derogatory comments towards the group and assaulted them with the melee continuing along Glenayr Avenue until the arrival of officers from the Eastern Suburbs Local Area Command.
The males attempted to flee but officers arrested two 16-year-old males and a 23-year-old man and are questioning them over the alleged anit-Semitic attack.

All five adults were injured suffering concussion, a fractured cheekbone, a possible broken nose, lacerations and bruising.

They were treated at the scene by Ambulance Paramedics and conveyed to St Vincents Hospital.

Adam, 18, who didn't wish to give his surname, said the fight was unprovoked and the teens were yelling anti-Semitic slurs at the group.


"An old bloke who's 68 has been bashed. The guys set upon them for no reason," he said.

A security guard from the Beach Road Hotel intervened in the attack and said a taxi driver helped catch one of the youths.

"A taxi driver drove after the kids and grabbed one of them and held him until the police came," he said.



Oshi from Rap N' Roll was working in his shop when he heard the commotion outside.
"I was working in my shop and heard all this noise and a group of kids were punching this family right out the front so I shut the doors," he said.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident and urge anyone with information to come forward or to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page.

Information provided will be treated in the strictest of confidence. Police remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Sydney's Occupied Territories: Mohammed Alameddine Muslim Con Artist at it AGAIN

 Mohammed Alameddine  Muslim Con Artist at it AGAIN

It's only Racists if you are an Australian and wanted to have an Australian's ONLY Party in Sydney's Royal Botanical Gardens

Singapore party ban on whites at Botanic Gardens event attacked as racist

Nathan Klein 
The Daily Telegraph
October 15,2013

ORGANISERS of a "Singaporean only" event could be found to have breached anti-

discrimination laws for turning away caucasians at the door.

The event, organised by the Overseas Singaporean Unit at the Royal Botanic Gardens over the weekend, was put on to celebrate Singapore Day - where people learn about the latest developments in their home country, listen to music performances and eat local food.

But the concert was yesterday embroiled in controversy after refusing to let non-Singaporeans through the doors to the free event.

SINGAPORE SIGNS ON TO ABBOTT'S ASIA PLAN

Singapore Day

On their website, the event is open exclusively for "Singaporeans and their families" only.

"Singapore Day aims to bring a slice of home to Singaporeans abroad so as to emotionally connect them back to Singapore," the website reads.

"It is also an event to galvanise the Singaporean community so that the sense of identity and belonging remain strong."

Irate people phoned 2GB talkback host Ben Fordham yesterday to complain that "white people" had been turned away in droves to the event.

The organisers did not return emails yesterday.

Anthony Sim, who attended the event and then blogged about it online, wrote that he had never seen so many Singaporeans congregating in the one place.

"It is quite heartwarming to know we are not alone. Everyone of us were on the same page," he wrote.

"There were no PRCs, India Indians, Bangla or Pinoys to annoy us."

Royal Botanic Gardens acting executive director Brett Summerell said the group responsible had hired out a large area for the day.

"My understanding was it was a private event and they paid a fee to hire out the area," he said.

"We had initial concerns over people not being let in but they had told us only people would only be turned away if it reached full capacity or they didn't pre-register online."

He said there was some "community concern" over the situation.

"Obviously it has created a bit of community concern and that is enough for me to review it and see if it's appropriate for the Botanic Gardens to be involved with them in the future," Mr Summerell said.

Can We Finally Start Talking About The Global Persecution Of Christians?

After yet another bloody weekend, it's time to speak frankly about who's killing Christians and why

Mollie Hemingway
September 25 2013

Wealthy Kenyans and Westerners bustled about Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi on Saturday. Families ate lunch in the food court. A radio station targeting Kenyan Asians was hosting a children’s event on the roof of the parking lot.

Around noon, armed gunmen stormed the mall and exploded grenades. Thousands of terrified people dropped to the floor, fled out of exits and hid in stores. The gunmen began lining people up and shooting some of the five dozen people they would slaughter and 240 people, ages 2 to 78, that they would wound.

Al-Shabaab, which is claiming credit for the attack, is reported to have singled out non-Muslims. “A witness to the attacks at Nairobi’s upscale mall says that gunmen told Muslims to stand up and leave and that non-Muslims would be targeted,” according to the Associated Press.

To weed out the infidels, according to news reports, the terrorists asked people for the name of Muhammad’s mother or to recite a verse from the Quran.

The Washington Post reported that one British mother and her young children survived when captors who shot her allowed her to leave on the condition she immediately convert to Islam. The siege of the mall, which included the taking of hostages, lasted four days. Three floors of the mall collapsed and bodies were buried in the rubble.

And that wasn’t even the worst terrorist attack of the weekend.

The next day, two suicide bombs went off as Christians were leaving Sunday services at All Saints Anglican Church, Pakistan.

“There were blasts and there was hell for all of us,” Nazir John, who was at the church with at least 400 other worshipers, told the Associated Press. “When I got my senses back, I found nothing but smoke, dust, blood and screaming people. I saw severed body parts and blood all around.”

 Sydney Radio 2GB's Michael McLaren speaks with Mollie Hemingway

Some 85 Christians were slaughtered and 120 injured, the bloodiest attack on Christians in Pakistan in history. The hospital ran out of beds for the injured and there weren’t enough caskets for the dead.

The situation for Christians in Egypt has also gone from bad to worse. August saw the worst anti-Christian violence in seven centuries. Sam Tadros, a Coptic Christian and author of Motherland Lost, says that there has been nothing like this year’s Muslim Brotherhood anti-Christian pogrom since 1321, when a similar wave of church burnings and persecution caused the decline of the Christian community in Egypt from nearly half of Egypt’s population to its current ten percent.

The violence of just three days in mid-August was staggering. Thirty-eight churches were destroyed, 23 vandalized; 58 homes were burned and looted and 85 shops, 16 pharmacies and 3 hotels were demolished. It was so bad that the Coptic Pope was in hiding, many Sunday services were canceled, and Christians stayed indoors, fearing for their lives. Six Christians were killed in the violence. Seven were kidnapped.

Maalula, Syria, is an ancient Christian town that has been so sheltered for 2,000 years that it’s one of only three villages where people still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Until September 7, when Islamist rebels attacked as part of the civil war ripping through the country.

An eyewitness to the murder of three Christians in Maalula—Mikhael Taalab, his cousin Antoun Taalab, and his grandson Sarkis el Zakhm—reported that the Islamists warned everyone present to convert to Islam. Sarkis answered clearly, Vatican news agency Fides reported: “I am a Christian and if you want to kill me because I am a Christian, do it.”

Sister Carmel, one of the Christians in Damascus who assist Maalula’s many displaced Christians, told Fides, “What Sarkis did is true martyrdom, a death in odium fidei.”

In recent weeks, we have Muslims killing Christians in Kenya, Egypt, Pakistan and Syria. Again.

It’s time to ask an important question that many of us have successfully avoided for far too long:

Can we finally start talking about the global persecution of Christians and other non-Muslims?

Finally? Please?

A case study in reaction
As Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert and Nina Shea write in Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians, “Christians are the single most widely persecuted religious group in the world today. This is confirmed in studies by sources as diverse as the Vatican, Open Doors, the Pew Research Center, Commentary, Newsweek and the Economist. According to one estimate, by the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, 75 percent of acts of religious intolerance are directed against Christians.”

How well does the media tell that story? And how did they cover this weekend’s events? As Anglicans and other Christians worldwide grieved the brutal attack in Pakistan, the media… did not. The worst attack on Pakistani Christians in history didn’t make the front page of the New York Times. The Washington Post buried the story on page A7 of Monday’s paper. On the front page of the BBC web site, a small headline “Pakistan church blast kills dozens” was below stories on Angela Merkel and the Emmys. By the next day, the story was nowhere to be found.

British blogger Archbishop Cranmer noted,  “Without media coverage we in the West cannot smell the fear of those Christians who are persecuted by Muslims all over the world.”

Even when the media do cover violence against Christians, the religion angle tends to be buried or given short shrift. Part of this is because politicians, who are the primary sources for many of these news stories, don’t have a strong incentive to confront the reality of Muslim violence against non-Muslims (or, to be honest, many other complicated problems). Imran Khan, whose party leads the government in Peshawar, suggested that the church bombing attack wasn’t about religion but, rather, an effort to scuttle peace talks. He also blamed U.S. drone strikes for provoking militants. That’s all all well and good, but violence against Christians goes back even before 2001, when Predator drones armed with Hellfire missiles began to be used in Pakistan to assassinate terrorist leaders and their companions. By about 1300 years.

The Christian Science Monitor asked the promising question, “Why did militants attack Pakistani Christians?” and discovered that, well, it was really just a case of militants of unspecified religion looking for a “controversial” target and “more spectacular, attention-grabbing attacks.” Why the church? Certainly not because of any particular animosity towards Christians—it was just that the Christians were “vulnerable.”

Trying to explain the attack in Kenya, Think Progress published an interesting piece headlined  “What The Deadly Attack On A Kenya Mall Was Really About.”  It talks about the weakness of al Shabaab and the terror group’s efforts to provoke conflict in Kenya. The words Muslim and Islam do not appear in the article. Another article is headlined  “Five Things The Kenya Mall Attack Tells Us About Global Terrorism.”  Spoiler alert: The Kenya mall attack doesn’t tell us anything about religious violence.

And what about Egypt? Well, as the persecution of Christians has heated up, the press tends to portray the violence against Christians as “sectarian skirmishes” or “clashes” between religious groups. This is about as accurate as describing the Armenian genocide as “clashes” between Turks and Armenians.

“Islam is peace.”
Right after the worst terrorist attack on American soil on September 11, 2001, American leaders from George W. Bush on down rushed to portray Islam as peaceful. While it’s simplistic to characterize any religion or other belief system as being strictly about “violence” or “peace,” the Bush Administration had a compelling political interest in marginalizing Islamist terrorists and assuring Muslims throughout the world that American reprisals weren’t going to be indiscriminately applied to all practitioners of the religion.

Sure, the terrorists clearly and explicitly claimed they were fighting for Islam. But if Americans responded in agreement, the duty of Muslims to fight for their religion could have quickly led to a global conflagration.

On September 17, 2001, President George W. Bush stopped by the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., and said,  “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war.”

Twelve years ago in the heat of the moment, this may have made sense, however ill-advised it is for politicians to be taken seriously as theologians (even those who claim Jesus as their favorite political philosopher)  But politicians are still doing it. After two Islamist terrorists beheaded a British soldier in the street in front of an elementary school, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg quoted from the Quran and assured everyone that Islam had been “perverted” by soldier Lee Rigby’s murderers, who claimed they were beheading the soldier in the name of Islam.

“Terrorism has no religion because there is no religious conviction that can justify the kind of arbitrary, savage random violence that we saw on the streets of Woolwich,” said Clegg.

That’s very similar to what Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in his statement this weekend: “The terrorists have no religion and targeting innocent people is against the teachings of Islam and all religions.”

Well it’s all settled then! If we could just somehow convey to the Islamist terrorists that they, in fact, have no relationship whatsoever to Islam, we could all just get back to the business of watching Emmys.

One problem with this approach, and I’m not even talking about the 1300 years of history that speaks to the use of violence in pursuit of the spread of Islam, is that the politicians claiming Islam is nothing more than a peaceful religion usually aren’t exegetical experts.

For example, Clegg cited chapter 5, verse 32 of the Quran as “If anyone kills a human being it shall be as though he killed all mankind whereas if anyone saves a life it shall be as though he saved the whole of mankind.”

This is a favorite verse of politicians. (It’s also been used by Bush’s successor, President Barack Obama.) The only problem with using this verse is that people always fail to quote the entire verse, which in this case changes the meaning a bit. And even worse, the verse is excerpted completely out of context. With the caveat that any time you put 12 Muslims, Mormons or Methodists in a room, you might get 12 different explanations for what a verse means, let’s just say that even a reading of the following verse suggests that we’re not exactly in the peaceful section of the Quran:

Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.

One could understand that some Muslims might interpret this in a manner differently than Deputy Prime Minister Clegg. To constantly harp on the fact that most Muslims are not violent obscures the reality that, well, a good number are.

Is 47 million al Qaeda sympathizers a low number, really?
It’s like those Pew polls that come out every two years showing that most Muslims do not, in fact, support al Qaeda. Last year’s  release began:

A year after the death of its leader, al Qaeda is widely unpopular among Muslim publics. A new poll by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, conducted March 19 to April 13, 2012, finds majorities – and mostly large majorities – expressing negative views of the terrorist group in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey and Lebanon.

The media went along with the press release. The /Los Angeles Times/ headline was “Muslims in Middle East, Asia think poorly of Al Qaeda, poll finds.” U.S. News & World Report  went with “After bin Laden’s Death, al Qaeda’s Popularity Wanes.” CNN’s   Many Muslims in Mideast, Pakistan have poor view of al Qaeda,” which included this paragraph:

In Pakistan, where U.S. Navy SEALs killed the al Qaeda leader during a raid on a compound a year ago, 55% of the Muslims surveyed had a negative opinion of the terrorist group, according to the poll. Only 13% had a favorable view.
It’s wonderful and important news that the percentage of Muslims in five countries who don’t like al Qaeda is as low as it is. But I think we forgot to notice that it’s still alarmingly high!

Yes, “only” 21 percent of Egyptian Muslims, 15 percent of Jordanian Muslims, 13 percent of Pakistani Muslims, 6 percent of Turkish Muslims and 2 percent of Lebanese Muslims express favorable views toward one particular terrorist group.

But when you think about how those percentages represent 47,284,049 Muslims in only five of the 50 countries in which a majority of the population is Muslim, it becomes a bit more alarming. The poll doesn’t mention support for al Qaeda-linked terrorists in, for example, Indonesia, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

Saturday people, Sunday people
We’re talking about Christian persecution by Muslims because of a particularly macabre issue: Jews have already largely been driven out of many Muslim countries.

Lela Gilbert, a journalist who writes about Jewish and Christian persecution,tells of encountering jihadi graffiti in Jerusalem that read “First comes Saturday, then comes Sunday.” She didn’t get the meaning at first. A friend explained that it referred to Jews worshiping on Saturday and Christians on Sunday and, more subtly, about the order that non-Muslims would be targeted.

Gilbert notes that in 1948 there were about 135,000 Jews in Iraq. Now there are fewer than a dozen. In 2003, Iraq had a fairly strong Christian population. Since 2003, more than half of the 800,000 Christians have fled church bombings, rapes, torture, kidnapping, beheading and house eviction.

Or take Egypt. In 1947 there were about 100,000 Jews there. Today there are less than 50, Gilbert says. And Egypt’s Copts — numbering about 8 million — are experiencing the worst anti-Christian pogrom in 700 years. The 30,000 Jews in 1948 Syria are down to less than a dozen. It’s the Christians’ turn.

Preparation before the conversation
Before we can have an actual conversation about the persecution of Christians and others at the hands of Muslims, we have to lay some groundwork. Here are some quick thoughts for journalists, politicians and the Christian Church.

Journalists: Many journalists act as if they can’t report that acts of violence appear to have some kind of Muslim faith behind them because it might inflame anti-Muslim feelings. This reportorial approach is paired with an odd desire to hype any act of “violence” by Christians. This is why the American media will highlight a tiny Florida church burning some Quran while not mentioning that, say, the entire Kingdom of Saudia Arabia confiscates all Bibles at customs and destroys them.

When and where violence occurs involving Muslims and Christians, as it did in Pakistan, Kenya, Syria and Egypt, it is framed as a political conflict, with no examination of the religious details. Not only is this grievously unfair to the Christians who continue to be slaughtered while the rest of the world is busy watching Dancing With The Stars, it’s also a disservice to Islam, whose followers are not monolithic in their persecution of non-Muslims. Many Muslims themselves are persecuted in the name of Muslim violence. To take the most recent example, at least 96 people in Iraq were killed this past weekend when a string of bombs detonated in short order, targeting Shiite funeral-goers. Muslims who defend Christians are a bold lot. Salman Taseer, the Punjab governor, was a vocal opponent of anti-blasphemy laws that target Christians and other religious minorities. For this, he was assassinated in 2011 by his security guard.

It’s not journalists’ job to protect the public from these facts. And if it were, it would be impossible. While the media may think they’ve done a good job of obscuring part of this reality, most people have figured out that a lot of Muslims do support violence as a part of the way of Islam. And they’ve figured out as well that a lot of Muslims don’t. Both groups can appeal to long traditions within Islam for their defense.

It is the job of journalists to convey information about local and world events in all their complexity and nuance. While most media outlets privilege politics over other cultural factors, journalists really need to be cognizant about how ignorance of the role of religion harms news gathering. They should make sure their sources aren’t just politicians. They should make sure their understanding of religion is respectful of the importance it plays in most people’s lives.

Politicians: Politicians need to stop giving speeches that claim to know the heart of Muslims or the true meaning of Islam. It’s offensive and it’s not helping. And if politicians are going to give scolding speeches about religious beliefs, here’s a thought: Less of condemnation of “those who slander the prophet of Islam” and more condemnation of “those who slaughter Pakistani Christians coming out of worship.” Without even getting into whether there is a foreign policy role to play in the persecution of Christians, the American bully pulpit and diplomacy corps could stand to speak more clearly about religious violence. The current model of apologizing for American freedoms is indefensible.

The Christian Church: Whether journalists stop downplaying the facts of the persecution of Christians, Christians need to stay informed. Even if American politicians respond to Islamist violence by apologizing for the freedom of speech and of religion, the church must remain vigilant. And many are. The media didn’t quite pick up on the significance of the event, but Pope Benedict XVI announced the canonization of the Martyrs of Otranto in the same consistory in which he announced his intention to resign the papacy. In May, Pope Francis canonized the 800 Christians, who were beheaded for their faith after Turkish Muslims invaded their city in 1480. In his words, “They had refused to renounce their faith and died confessing the risen Christ.” Most church bodies have prayer guides to help members pray for the persecuted church. And many religious human rights groups work hard to get word out about persecution worldwide. Christians and others interested in stopping religious persecution should ask media outlets to cover news such as the forced conversions, blasphemy persecutions and bombings of Christians.

However much we may wish Muslim violence against Christians would resolve itself or go away, being in denial serves no purpose. To combat the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities, we must first acknowledge its existence. And we need to be clear about exactly who is perpetrating violence against Christians and what is motivating them.

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