Sunday, June 28, 2015

UK: Belfast Pastor Faces Prison for "Grossly Offending" Islam

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UK: Belfast Pastor Faces Prison for "Grossly Offending" Islam

by Soeren Kern  •  June 28, 2015 at 5:00 am
  • James McConnell's prosecution is one of a growing number of examples in which British authorities — who routinely ignore incendiary speech by Muslim extremists — are using hate speech laws to silence Christians.
  • "My church funds medical care for 1,200 Muslim children in Kenya and Ethiopia. I've no hatred in my heart for Muslims... I believe in freedom of speech. I'm going to keep on preaching the gospel. I have nothing against Muslims, I have never hated Muslims, I have never hated anyone. But I am against what Muslims believe. They have the right to say what they believe in and I have a right to say what I believe." — James McConnell, Pastor.
  • "Since the Islamic State took over, it [Mosul] has become the most peaceful city in the world." — Raied Al-Wazzan, Executive Director, Belfast Islamic Center. Al-Wazzan is now trying to leverage the controversy over McConnell's remarks to shame local politicians into providing him with free public land to build a mega-mosque.
Pastor James McConnell of Belfast: "I have no regrets about what I said. I do not hate Muslims, but I denounce Islam as a doctrine and I make no apologies for that. I will be pleading 'not guilty' when I stand in the dock in August."
An evangelical Christian pastor in Northern Ireland is being prosecuted for making "grossly offensive" remarks about Islam.
James McConnell, 78, is facing up to six months in prison for delivering a sermon in which he described Islam as "heathen" and "satanic." The message was streamed live on the Internet, and a Muslim group called the police to complain.
According to Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service (PPS), McConnell violated the 2003 Communications Act by "sending, or causing to be sent, by means of a public electronic communications network, a message or other matter that was grossly offensive."
Observers say that McConnell's prosecution is one of a growing number of examples in which British authorities — who routinely ignore incendiary speech by Muslim extremists — are using hate speech laws to silence Christians.

Turkey and Israel: Starting Over?

by Burak Bekdil  •  June 28, 2015 at 4:00 am
  • Sinirlioglu, a career diplomat, happens to be one of President Erdogan's most senior confidantes -- a smart diplomat with no Islamist sentiments.
  • If the terribly destroyed fences between Ankara and Jerusalem are to be mended, this is a good time to start the work.
The Israeli press last week reported that Israel's Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold (R) held a secret meeting in Rome with Turkey's top career diplomat, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu (L).
For Turkey's Islamist government, breaking up with Israel, a credible regional ally until 2009, was a calculated move. Then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's famous Davos tirade against Israel's then President Shimon Peres was the beginning of Turkey's willing road accident with the Jewish state: a systematic campaign based on anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic rhetoric and action that would capture votes at home and help Turkey powerfully emerge with its neo-Ottoman ambitions on the Arab Street. It did, leaving no appetite in Ankara for détente -- at least, until June 7, 2015.
When the Turks went to the ballot box on June 7, they did not know that the way they voted would not only deprive the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), of its parliamentary majority for the first time since 2002, but that it could also forcefully remind the government that it might be about time to revise its nearly bankrupt foreign policy, including relations with Israel.

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