Muslims & Jews Unite Against German Circumcision Ban

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 22:58 PM EDT, 13 July 2012

Circumcision Day For Muslim Boy, Istanbul, Turkey, Photo by Patrino Io

COLOGNE, Germany - On 29 June 2012 a doctor in Cologne circumcised a 4-year old Muslim boy at the behest of his parents. His family is part of a community of 120,000 Muslims who inhabit the region and practice Khitan, the Islamic rite of circumcision.

A few days later the boy was taken to the hospital because he was still bleeding which resulted in the doctor who performed the procedure being charged with causing the boy grievous bodily harm.

Male circumcision is a 3,800-year old practice that is the bedrock of Judaism and Islam, and within these two faiths it is a physical demonstration of an individual's covenant with God.

Jewish boys must be circumcised on the eighth day following their births, and many Muslims boys must also be circumcised though the age at which the procedure occurs varies according to family, country and branch of Islam.

The Cologne Regional Court’s ruling prohibiting non-medical circumcision has subsequently raised a furor among German Jews, Muslims, and some Christians. Leaders of all three faiths are outraged by the government’s interference in religious practices, and it is seen by many as the first step in the erosion of the separation between church and state.

Many believe that these challenges to religious and cultural practices are being instigated by anti-immigrant sympathizers. In April 2011 France banned the Muslim practice of full-face covering headscarves, and on 6 July 2012 the French MP urged the government to ban Muslim headscarves for female soccer players despite the fact that the International Football Association Board (IFAB) ruled that hijabs could be worn.

While many may disagree with the practice, if circumcision is outlawed, it will not eradicate the practice and most likely will increase the number of injuries suffered by young boys because the procedures would then be performed in secret by unskilled practitioners in unsanitary conditions.

The Cologne court’s ruling is reminiscent of the criminalization of abortion in the United States. Prior to 1973 many women died because it was illegal in most states for them to receive an abortion in clean and sterile environments by trained medical personnel. This didn’t change until 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that abortion is legal because it falls under the right to privacy.

According to Reuters, a spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that “Everyone in the government is absolutely clear that we want to have Jewish and Muslim religious life in Germany. If circumcision is carried out in a responsible manner it must be allowed in this country without punishment."

In an era where there is increasing hostility between Muslims and Jews, this ruling has resulted in European rabbis and Muslim clerics banding together to vociferously denounce this decision. Europe is increasingly secular and these continued assaults on religious freedoms have become the catalysts for unlikely alliances as former adversaries adopt the stance of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7btIrMVWPk]

Related articles

• Circumcision ban is the 'worst attack on Jews since Holocaust' (independent.co.uk)

• German government looking for quick fix on circumcision ban (timesofisrael.com)

• Jews, Muslims unite to condemn German circumcision ruling (dailystar.com.lb)

Video Captures Taliban Executing Woman

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban has reasserted its hold on the Afghan people and is exacting horrific punishment against those whom they have accused of moral turpitude. As in prior years when the Taliban's power was at its height, the predominant victims of their extrajudicial sentencing continue to be women.

Recently, Afghans officials have confirmed the veracity of a video circulating the internet which depicts a woman being executed by a Taliban who shot her in the back of her head then continued firing into her dead body several more times. Even more disturbing, the video captured both Taliban and villages watching and cheering.

The execution occurred on 23 June 2012 in the Shinwari district of Parwan Province which is located in central Afghanistan. The province is roughly an hour from Kabul, and the video is reminiscent of the public executions that occurred in packed stadiums during the Taliban's bloody five-year reign from 1996 – 2001.

The video below was apparently taken by one of the witnesses of the execution. It is believed that one of the Taliban captured the bloody incident with his cell phone hence the poor quality.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                There has been speculation that the woman was in a relationship with some of the Taliban. Given the utter lack of freedom Afghan women possess in every area of their lives, it is ludicrous to think that this woman could have willingly engaged in a consensual relationship with not one but two men in addition to her husband.

Reuters news agency reported that the “Taliban members can be heard saying that the executioner is the woman’s husband, though Afghan officials offered conflicting accounts of what transpired in the village, Qol-i-Heer.

Colonel Masjidi said the woman’s real husband was a member of a village militia that had slain a local Taliban leader. The 20 year old woman, named Najiba was executed in revenge on trumped up charges of adultery, he said.”

Adultery is a common accusation leveled against women by extreme Islamists. It is particularly effective because it is a charge against which the woman is powerless to defend herself and confers upon her an automatic death sentence. She can expect little to no sympathy for her plight because everyone in the community, men and women alike, either tacitly or openly support her execution.

In the video, “One of the Taliban says the Koran prohibits adultery. Killing the woman is ‘God’s order and decree,’ he says. ‘If the issue was avenging deaths, we would beg for her amnesty. But in this case, God says, ‘You should finish her. It’s the order of God, and now it is her husband’s work to punish her.” (Source: Reuters)



Related articles

• 22-year-old accused of adultery executed in Afghanistan (telegraph.co.uk)

• Afghan woman accused of adultery shot dead in public (guardian.co.uk)

• Afghan woman publicly executed near Kabul (aljazeera.com)

• Taliban publicly execute woman near Kabul: Officials - IBNLive.com (ibnlive.in.com)

Africa's Christians Under Attack

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 22:05 PM EDT, 30 April 2012

NAIROBI, Kenya - In recent months, across Africa, Christian sects have been under attack from extremist. On Sunday, 29 April 2012, a church in Ngara was bombed leaving one person confirmed dead and 16 others seriously injured.

Although the US embassy warned of an imminent threat of terrorist attacks in the country, specific targets were not identified. The lone attacker is said to have entered God’s House of Miracles International Church with other worshipers, at which point he hurled a grenade toward the front pews before hastily retreating toward the exit.

Police immediately launched an investigation while many of the victims were taken to be treated at the Guru Nanak and Kenyatta National hospitals. Unlike the conflict between radical Islamists and Christians in northern Nigeria, the terrorist’s attacks in Kenya are primarily a reaction to Kenya’s incursion into Somalia in October 2011 when troops were dispatched to fight al-Shabab fighter.

Terrorist attacks like the Sunday church bombings in Kenya and Nigeria seem to be the favored method of expressing dissatisfaction with the government. Prior to the Ngara bombing, there was a grenade attack on a church service in Mtwapa, Mombasa that left one person dead and ten others seriously injured.

From East Africa to West Africa, the incidence of sectarian violence is escalating. Previously, we reported on the rising conflict between Christians and extremist Islamic factions in northern Nigeria’s Kano State. The radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram has in recent months unleashed bloody attacks on Christians and other non-Islamic sects as they seek to impose Sharia law in Nigeria.

Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, is widely believed to be Boko Haram's base of operations and has the highest number of incidents of violence against Christians, police, and the military. Thus, the Monday 30 April 2012, Kano church attack by Boko Haram, a day after the Nairobi bombing was surprising.

The Nigerian attack was carried out by gunmen on motorcycles who hurled small homemade bombs into a university lecture hall where church services were being conducted. A total of 19 people were injured or killed in Boko Haram attacks on Christians in Maiduguri and Kano on both Sunday and Monday.

According to an official presidential statement, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the murderous terrorist attack on the Bayero University Campus in Kano yesterday and the "brutal killing of innocent worshipers by vicious assailants." However, many Nigerians believe that Goodluck has not been forceful enough in his efforts to eradicate Boko Haram and restore peace in the North.

The Vatican has also condemned the incidents. “The new terrorist attacks in Kenya and Nigeria at Christian celebrations are horrible and despicable acts,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.

“We must be close to victims and communities that suffer just as they are peacefully celebrating a faith that wants love and peace for all,” he said. “We must encourage the whole population.... not to give in to the temptation to fall into the vicious circle of homicidal hatred,” he added. (Source: Independent Catholic News)

Related articles

• Boko Haram kills four in Nigeria church attack: police (dailystar.com.lb)

• 5 killed in suicide blast in northeast Nigeria (sfgate.com)

• Red Cross: 16 killed in Nigeria university attack (cbsnews.com)

• Nigeria University Christian Service Attack Kills 15 (voanews.com)

• Nigerian university church service attacked, 6 dead (ctv.ca)

• Nigerian extremists open fire on Christians, killing as many as 20 (latimesblogs.latimes.com)

Honor killings are murder not an Islamic teaching

Honor Killing Victim

Rosh Hashana 5772 | L'Shana Tova

This year Rosh Hashana commenced on the evening of 28 September 2011 which is actually the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar in the year 5772. Rosh Hashana (Hebrew: ראש השנה‎, literally means "head of the year," and is commonly referred to as the "JewishNew Year.

Rosh Hashanah is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"), or Asseret Yemei Teshuva (Ten Days of Repentance) which are days specifically set aside to focus on repentance that conclude with the holiday of Yom Kippur.Source: Wikipedia

As Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe begin, Jews around the world will celebrate a joyous New Year before entering a penitential state of fasting and reflection. שנה טובה ומבורכת , שנת בטחון וללא פיגועים !!! to all my Jewish friends, family and readers.

Zimbabwean Jews Confirmed via DNA

Lemba Jews (Israelites) SA Malawi ZImbabwe Mozambique Israel, Photo by Phantom

ZIMBABWE - Tudor Parfitt's remarkable journey to introduce the Lemba tribe to the world began with a lecture in South Africa on the Jews of Ethiopia. After meeting with the tribe, observing their lives and listening to their oral history, he returned to England where he determined that "this would be a wonderful research project."

Thus began an intense relationship with the Lemba during which he lived with them, gained their acceptance and respect, and was finally able to secure their agreement to DNA testing.

Parfitt's scientific research generated a great amount of interest in this group of sub-Saharan Africans who claimed they are Jewish. Josh Bernstein, noted explorer, archeologist and Jew, decided to retrace the amazing journey that may have resulted in the Lemba settling in Zimbabwe.  During Josh's peregrinations he decided to try to decipher the reality between myth and fact regarding the Biblical Lost Tribes of Israel.

Josh encountered many groups around the world who claimed either direct or peripheral descent from the Biblical Jews.  However, it was the Lemba Tribe aka Lembaa, who live in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa,  who proved to be the most intriguing encounter in this quest.

Like the Bene Israel and Cochin Jews of India, the Lemba people did not fit neatly into most peoples' perceptions of "what Jews look like." Aspreviously discussed in this blog, the Jewish diaspora is as varied as the peoples of the earth.  However, in addition to anti-Semitism, racism plays a large part of the discomfort people have with the concept of Jews of Color. The identification of the Lemba as Jews would have probably passed largely unnoticed except for their sub-Saharan ancestry.

Today news sources around the world are loudly proclaiming and tacitly conferring upon the Lemba recognition of their heritage as direct descendants of Abraham because of the efficacy of DNA testing.  It is particularly poignant for me because this news was widely publicized in Israel via The Jerusalem Post, which I hope will begin to ameliorate some of the difficulties faced by Jews of Color in Israel.  Ethiopians in particular and others in general.

For me and other 'People of the Book,'  it is always satisfying when science lends credence to our beliefs.  It was prophesied to Abraham by G-d nearly three millennium ago in Bereshit 22:17 ~ "That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, as the sand which is upon the sea-shore."

• Zimbabwe's Black Jews (FailedMessiah.com)

• Lemba Tribe in Southern Africa Has Jewish Roots Genetic Tests Reveal (World Jewish Congress)