Review of Robert Spencer's "Did Muhammad Exist?"

The following is reposted with permission:

Did Muhammad Exist?
An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins

by Robert Spencer
ISI Books, 2012. 254 pp. $27.95

Reviewed by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi

The American Spectator
May 25, 2012

http://www.meforum.org/3251/did-muhammad-exist

Go to a high-street or online bookstore, and one can find numerous biographies written about Muhammad -- the reputed founder of Islam -- by the likes of Karen Armstrong and Tariq Ramadan. These works -- generally apologetic in nature -- wholly rely on the traditional Islamic accounts of the Prophet's life, and if they ever delve into the question of the reliability of those sources, it is only in the hope of explaining away incidents in Muhammad's life that might come across as unsavory to modern readers.

Such an approach, however, simply will not do for genuine historical research. One cannot adopt a pick-and-mix method to determining what aspects of Muhammad's life actually occurred on moralistic grounds. It is in this respect that Robert Spencer's latest book differs from the writings of Armstrong and Ramadan.

The Middle East Media Sampler 5/25/2012: Did The Peace Process Ruin Israel's Reputation?

From DG:

1) Israel's image

Recently, Ambassador Michael Oren wrote a column asking What Happened to Israel's Reputation? (or to access the complete article click on the link from here.)

There was a panoramic portrayal of Jerusalem, described as "the focus of Jewish prayers for 2,000 years" and the nucleus of new Jewish neighborhoods. Life emphasized that in its pre-1967 borders, Israel was "a tiny, parched, scarcely defensible toe-hold." The edition's opening photo shows a father embracing his Israeli-born daughter on an early "settlement," a testament to Israel's birthright to the land. 

Would a mainstream magazine depict the Jewish state like this today, during the week of its 64th birthday?

Video: Latma--Jews United Against Israel and Media Deprived Terrorists

Here is the latest Latma.
Very sharp:

Arlene Kushner On Israel Dealing With 80,000 Illegal African Immigrants

From Arlene Kushner:

May 25, 2012

"Transcending the News"

There comes a time when it is important to move beyond the trap of current events and look higher.  Such a time is coming with the holiday of Shavuot, which will be celebrated on Sunday here in Israel, and also on Monday outside of Israel.

Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. 

Credit: cornell.hillel

It was a transformative and singular moment of direct revelation.  It involved all of the people of Israel, who were present and received the word of the Almighty with fear and trembling. 

~~~~~~~~~~

I rather like this Aish video about Shavuot, and so share it here:

Courtesy of Aish.com

The world is decidedly reluctant to give us, as Jews, our rightful place.  But the reality is that through the transmission of a code of values at Sinai, the Almighty set into action the process by which Am Yisrael (the people Israel) would become a light unto the nations.

~~~~~~~~~~

The struggle of how to be true to that heritage, marks, I think, one particular painful and difficult controversy in which Israel is currently embroiled: That is, the controversy over what to do with the thousands of African immigrants (currently about 80,000) who have made their way illegally into Israel.

Credit: Soundcloud

~~~~~~~~~~

Barry Rubin: NEWS FLASH: Muslim Brotherhood Claims Victory in Egypt Presidential Election

NEWS FLASH: Muslim Brotherhood Claims Victory in Egypt Presidential Election

by Barry Rubin

NEWS FLASH: Muslim Brotherhood Claims Victory in Egypt Presidential Election

Let me make it clear from the start that this article is based on Muslim Brotherhood statements and leaks. The information may not be accurate. We will not know for sure until Sunday when official tallies are provided.

According to the Brotherhood, the uncompleted vote counting for president looks like this.

• Mohamed Mursi (Brotherhood) 28.4 percent
• Ahmed Shafiq (Mubarak era general) 24.6
• Abdul Moeim Abul Fotouh (so-called “moderate Islamist” but supported by radical Islamist Salafists) 18.1
• (Hamdeen Sabahi (radical anti-American “left” Nasserist) 17.1%
• Amr Moussa (radical nationalist pragmatist) 11.6%.

Raymond Ibrahim: Egypt's Presidential Elections: What's at Stake

The following by Raymond Ibrahim is reposted with permission:

Egypt's Presidential Elections: What's at Stake

by Raymond Ibrahim
FrontPageMagazine.com

May 24, 2012

http://www.meforum.org/3250/egypt-presidential-elections

Egypt's long awaited and much anticipated presidential elections—the first of their kind to take place in the nation's 7,000 year history—are here. As we await the final results—and as the Western mainstream media fixate on images of purple-stained fingers—it is well to remember that there is much more at stake in Egypt's elections than the mere "right" to vote.

Arlene Kushner On The Failure Of Nuclear Talks With Iran

From Arlene Kushner:

May 24, 2012

"And Here We See It"

It: the absolute intransigence, the lack of good intentions, the ultimate malevolence of Iran.

Today in Baghdad, the Iranians rejected a proposal that had been put forward by P5 + 1.  What was being sought by the international community was a cessation of enrichment of uranium to 20% (not even all enrichment!).  In return Iran would have received benefits such as medical isotopes and spare parts that Iran needs for its for civilian airliners.

Amnesty International Defends Osama Bin Laden Too

If you thought that they was merely obsessed with Israel, rest assured that the problem with Amnesty International goes further than that, as Jonathan Tobin writes.

Apparently, Amnesty International has never met a terrorist it couldn't defend--including Osama bin Laden:

The news that Amnesty International’s annual report on the state of the world has condemned the American raid on Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan, as “unlawful” should surprise no one. The group’s obtuse effort to brand every effort of the United States to defend itself against terrorists has long since reached the level of parody. Where once it could claim some moral legitimacy as a neutral compiler and observer of human rights violations wherever they were committed, the decision of the group to treat the West’s ongoing conflict with al-Qaeda and its Islamist allies as if it were a matter of American persecution of Third World innocents has lost Amnesty its last shred of credibility.

Picture: Politics As Usual At The London Olympics: Israel is Located In Europe

The International Olympic Committee has made it clear that it will not comply with Israel's request for a moment of silence to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Munich Massacre when 11 Israeli athletes were brutally murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

The IOC claims that they have "officially paid tribute to the memory of the athletes on several occasions" and "within the Olympic family, the memory of the victims of the terrible massacre in Munich in 1972 will never fade away."

Offically?

That is a lie. Bridget Johnson notes that the same fear that prevents the IOC from commemorating the murder of Olympic athletes because they are Israeli, also reduces the International Olympic Committee to craven submission:

The following is reposted with permission:

Iran's Growing Presence in Latin America

A briefing by Ilan Berman
April 23, 2012

http://www.meforum.org/3249/iran-latin-america

Multimedia for this item Audio Recording

Ilan Berman, an expert on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, is the vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council and has consulted the CIA and the Department of Defense. He has authored several books, including Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge to the United States (2005) andWinning the Long War: Retaking the Offensive against Radical Islam (2009). On April 23, 2012, Berman addressed the Middle East Forum via conference call.

Tehran's October 2011 attempt to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington using a Mexican drug cartel has focused international attention on what had until then been a largely-overlooked political phenomenon: the Islamic Republic's intrusion into the Western Hemisphere. But how deep is this penetration, and what does it seek to achieve?

In his conference call, Ilan Berman named four strategic objectives behind Tehran's Latin American endeavor:

The Middle East Media Sampler 5/24/2012: Filmed Palestinian Conflicts With Israelis Keep Happening On Shabbos

From DG:

1) Before the cameras rolled

In the absence of regular blogger, Robert Mackey, J David Goodman wrote Video of Settler Shooting Raises Questions Over Israeli Army Response for the New York Times blog, The Lede.

Legal officials from the Israeli Defense Forces are investigating more than a dozen episodes in which its soldiers are accused of failing to intervene as Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians, Haaretz reported on Tuesday. 

The report followed the release of footage from a confrontation on Saturday in which armed settlers are said to have fired on rock-throwing Palestinians as Israeli army soldiers stood by watching. The video, posted online by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem — which provides cameras to Palestinians to monitor the behavior of Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank — drew international attention and raised questions over the mission of the Israeli soldiers.

No doubt, the incident "drew international attention," but among whom?

Half the Story: Analysis of Amnesty's 2012 World Report

PRESS RELEASE May 24, 2012 Contact: Jason Edelstein NGO Monitor +972-52-861-2129 mail@ngo-monitor.org

Half the Story: Analysis of Amnesty's 2012 World Report JERUSALEM - In response to Amnesty International's 2012 World Report, NGO Monitor today released the following statement: As in many previous reports, Amnesty continues to level unsupported allegations of violations of international law against Israel, including "collective punishment." In contrast, the organization expressed uncertainty regarding the legal significance of the murder of more than 8,000 Syrians by Bashar al-Assad, claiming that these deaths "may have constituted crimes against humanity". Israel is mentioned 137 times in the report as opposed to 74 mentions for the Syrian regime.

Arlene Kushner On Iran: We're Being Had

From Arlene Kushner:

May 23, 2012: 

Stalemate

No legislation regarding "unauthorized" communities in Judea and Samaria came to the floor of the Knesset today.

Prime Minister Netanyahu requested that the sponsors of these bills give him two weeks to work out the situation in Ulpana without legislation.   One can never be sure what he'll pull out of his sleeve, but I advise my readers not to expect a miracle solution from him.

Credit: Huffington Post

"Islamophobia" Proves Islamists Can Play The Victim As Well As Prey On Them

In Is It Still Possible To Question Islam? Robert Spencer notes the source for the term Islamophobia:

Journalist Claire Berlinski notes [ How the Term 'Islamophobia' Got Shoved Down Your Throat] that “the neologism ‘Islamophobia’ did not simply emerge ex nihilo”:

YU's Shavuout-To-Go 5772

PDF's of previous years are available online as well:

Shavuout-To-Go 5772 (Packet)
Individual Articles download:

• An Important Message to Our Rabbinic Colleagues, Students, and Community
• Rabbi Elchanan Adler - "Derech Eretz Kadma LaTorah: A Multi-faceted Perspective"
• Rabbi Joshua Flug - "Matan Torah as a Form of Conversion"
• Dr. Michelle Levine - "Moshe Rabbenu at Ma'amad Har Sinai: Ascending and Descending the Mountain"
• Rabbi Shmuel Maybruch - "The Best Part of Waking Up: Birchas HaTorah on Shavuos Morning"
• Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner - "The Shabbat Influence"
• Rabbi Dr. Richard Weiss - "Overcoming Medical Obstacles to Jewish Conversion"
• Dr. Shira Weiss - "Were Obligatory Beliefs Revealed on Sinai?"
• Rabbi Mordechai Willig - "Voluntary and Involuntary Acceptance of the Torah"
• Shavuot Activities for Families from YUTeach, a project of Yeshiva University's Institute for University- School Partnership

Shavuout-To-Go 5771 (Packet)
Individual Articles download:

Identity Of The OTHER Mossad Spy In Iran Revealed

By now you've read about the alleged Mossad spy from Israel who was apparently executed by Iran. You may also have read that the passport used to prove the identity of the spy was forged by Iran--the country with the world's most underpaid graphic artists:

It just so happens that doing a basic online search reveals that the alleged Mossad spy did not act alone--he had an accomplice, one who is highly placed in the upper levels of the Iranian government:

The Middle East Media Sampler 5/23/2012: Tom Friedman Has Nothing New To Say To Israel

From DG:

Column without purpose

Thomas Friedman's latest, Power with purpose, exhorts Prime Minister Netanyahu to engage in "constructive unilateralism" as proposed in a recent op-ed Peace without Partners by Ami Ayalon, Orni Petruschka and Gilead Sher. The problem is that, as with the earlier op-ed, the onus for peacemaking falls strictly on Israel.

Here's the impetus for Friedman's suggestion:

I’m keeping an open mind, but the temptation for Bibi to do nothing will be enormous. The Palestinians are divided between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and both populations are tired.

Barry Rubin: Egypt: If There’s No Danger of Radicalism and Islamism Why Can’t You Provide Evidence?

Egypt: If There’s No Danger of Radicalism and Islamism Why Can’t You Provide Evidence?

by Barry Rubin

Consider one fact that demolishes the apparatus of nonsense about moderate Islamists and the credibility of those claiming there is nothing to worry about. These are the same people who have been declaring for more than a year that the Muslim Brotherhood is moderate. Yet now the Brotherhood's presidential campaign has shown it to be extraordinarily radical, openly demanding a caliphate and Egypt being a Sharia state.

Suddenly the subject is changed. Nobody acknowledges that they were wrong about the Brotherhood. They focus now on a different candidate who we are told is the true moderate Islamist, as if their previous favorite "moderate Islamist" movement has now thrown off its camouflage.

Will Difference Between Obama 2012 and Obama 2008 Make Jewish Vote Irrelevant?

A sitting president of the United States, seeking reelection, can’t lay out a plan that will gain a single vote in the House or Senate for the financial future of America. It speaks volumes.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AK), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee

Yedidya Atlas describes how we have seen that Obama has to resort to Smoke and Mirrors on the Campaign Trail

In his April 18th column for RealClearPolitics, Senior Elections Analyst Sean Trende notes that the upcoming presidential elections between the incumbent, Democratic President Barack Obama, and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, will be, as usual, “a referendum on the party in power.” That is, President Obama will be running, whether he wants to or not (and he clearly doesn’t), on his performance record.