Muslim Who Saved Shoppers At Paris Kosher Deli Awarded Citizenship

The Muslim worker at the Jewish kosher deli who saved a bunch of shoppers from Amedy Coulibaly's terrorist rampage, is now a Frenchman. He had his citizenship ceremony on Tuesday, attended by France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, and others.

24-year-old Lassana Bathily, had applied for citizenship last year after arriving in France some 8 years or so ago from Mali.  After his heroics (hiding a bunch of shoppers in the basement fridge), his application was fast tracked.

Bathily said he was "proud and moved" to have been granted citizenship. "People say I'm a hero, but I'm not a hero. I'm Lassana," he said at the ceremony. "I'll stay the same. I would do the same again, because I was following my heart."

The 24-year-old told France's BFM TV, "We are all brothers. It's not a question of being Jews, Christians or Muslims. We were all in the same boat. We had to help each other to get out of that crisis."

Bathily explained:

"I was down in the basement for five minutes when I heard shots up there. … After the problems at Charlie Hebdo, I thought maybe the same thing was happening to us. At the same time, if not a few minutes later, I saw everyone running down. They started screaming, “They are there, they are there, they're in the shop!"

According to VOA News:

Bathily described fleeing through a small but noisy freight lift. The frightened shoppers he harbored in the refrigerator chose to remain behind, with the lights turned off to avoid detection as gunman Coulibaly loomed overhead on the store's main floor.

Outside, a police force still reeling from the deadly attack on the magazine offices and the fatal shooting of a policewoman, handcuffed Bathily for 90 minutes until people who knew him confirmed he was not the attacker. Coulibaly was also black, French-speaking and of Malian origin.

With his hands freed, Bathily then drew a map of the store for police, detailing the offices, aisles and cash registers.

He pointed them to where the group was hidden in the basement. After four years of working there and praying within its walls during his shifts, he knew the shop by heart.

What he did was definitely commendable, but he's in denial- as so many others are- regarding terrorists being Muslim.

He said:

"I do not think they are Muslims, they are bandits. They are bandits. I am a Muslim and this is not our religion, our religion is not based on this. A terrorist is not a Muslim. Anyone can be a terrorist, anyone. These are bandits,” he said.

Sorry, but they are.

Mali Islamists Using Rape As A Weapon Of War- UN Study

According to a study commissioned by UN Women, when the Islamists took over the northern part of Mali they began raping women some as young as 9, others as old as 70. The Islamists call it 'marriage' or Nikah Mut'ah- a temporary marriage which is allowed in Islam. These so-called 'marriages' are nothing more than a form of Islamically sanctioned prostitution, and in the case of the women in Mali, rape.

Interviews with Malian women revealed:

Throughout the occupied regions, girls are forced into marriage. When an Islamist marries you, you can be sure that, at night, you will be visited by at least four or five people, and that every night, you’ll receive a visit from a different man, a “new husband”. One girl told me: “it was by the smell that I knew that it was a different man coming to me every time. Every time, I was aware of a different smell than the last time.”

The Islamists perform religious marriages in order to escape the clutches of international criminal justice. They carry out a form of “marriage” so that, at night, you can be treated as a sexual slave. During the day, you are there to serve tea to the men and attend to their every need. This is why I always say that what’s happened in Mali is unprecedented.

It’s true to say that rape is being used as a weapon of war.

Imagine, in Gao, armed men bursting in on a family. The husband is there. They seize his wife, rape his wife and his daughter. I warn you, what I’m going to say is hard but they force him to rape his daughter. It’s dreadful. When you do that to a man, it takes away his humanity. Even if he wants to resist, he can’t. It’s to be expected, it’s human.

Anyone who turns a woman’s body into a trophy of war, he’s already won the battle. He doesn’t need any other weapons. He’s already won.

The rest here.

Muslim Brotherhood Blames Boston Marathon Bombing On Mali

And the blame for what happened in Boston during the marathon, as totally ludicrous as it might be, is placed on the shoulders of Americans- for a war we are not even involved in.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood blames it on Mali.

Essam Elerian, vice chairman of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), wrote in a statement posted in Arabic on his Facebook account that the “events began with the sending of French battalions to Mali in a war against organizations that are said to be part of al Qaeda.”

Elerian expressed sympathy with the families of the victims, but said the attacks “do not stop us from reading into the grave incident.”

“Who interfered in democratic transformations, despite the difficult transition from despotism, corruption, poverty, hatred and intolerance to freedom, justice, tolerance, development, human dignity and social justice?” he asked. “Who created Islamophobia through research and media? Who funded this violence?”

Earlier, Elerian’s FJP party published a statement in English condemning the “heinous attacks in Boston,” which killed three people and wounded more than 170 others.

The party said it “offers heartfelt sympathies and solemn condolences to the American people and the families of the victims.”

“Islamic Sharia [law] strongly condemns the attacks on civilians and the terrorizing of innocent people.”

Naturally, they say one thing in English to placate the Westerners, and another in Arabic- which is usually how they truly feel.

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri Protests French Embassy In Cairo Over Mali

Here's MEMRI's latest video of Egyptians, including Muhammad al-Zawahiri, demonstrating in front of the French Embassy in Cairo threatening that "it will come to a bitter end"  if the French don't withdraw from Mali- calling it aggression against Muslims. Of course, in their supreme ignorance, they see it that way, not that- in actuality- it's the Islamic extremists who are the aggressors against the people of Mali. They were doing just fine with their moderate version of Islam until the Islamists took control over the north.

Then again, one has to consider the source- Muhammad's big bro is Al-Qaeda's Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

At one point protesters chant "Khaybar, Khayber, Oh Jews, Muhammad's army is here."  Anyone care to explain what Jews have to do with the presence of French troops in Mali?

Shariah For Mali- British Islamists Protest French Embassy- video

MEMRI now has a video (see link below) of Islamist hate preacher Anjem Choudary and a bunch of other bearded bums demonstrating in front of the French Embassy in London protesting France's presence in Mali.

Several take the microphone, including Choudary, calling for a caliphate for Mali, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and, well, Shariah for the whole darn world. There are the usual threats claiming that Western governments will have no choice but to accept the inevitability of Shariah, otherwise "they will find us on your own doorsteps, outside your own embassies." And promising us Western infidels that they have their eyes set on Paris, Brussels, London and they won't stop until the whole world is governed by Islam.

Yeah? Over my dead body.

Someone talks about how they do not accept democracy, and that Mohammed is their leader: "he is the messenger, he gave us glad tidings: that we will conquer, and we will lead, and will spread justice whether you like it or whether you don't like it."

Pretty strange form of "justice" when it's forced down someone's throat.

One French speaker describes the French involvement in France as an "act of terrorism" (even though it's the extremists who have been terrorizing the moderate Muslim Mali people),  and calls for the removal of all non-Muslims from Muslim lands.  How about removing these Muslim yahoos from non-Muslim lands and exporting them to countries where they will feel far more at home.

Watch the video here.

Global Jihad- Coming Soon To A Country Near You

After all that is going on in Mali, and the terrible tragedy that just transpired in Algeria, there are now worries that what started off as localized jihad in  Western Sahara  is now headed global.

Until 2012, Algerian Al-Qaeda affiliates in AQIM -- Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -- were struggling to break from their Algerian roots. Now they are actively engaged in support of Islamic militant factions in Mali, including Ansar Dine and the Movement for Unity (MUJWA) and Jihad in West Africa.

Dominique Thomas, a specialist on Jihadist movements, told France Info radio that the hostage-taking raid in Algeria is part of a pattern by the region's militants to push for internationalize their jihad.

"Today, the jihadists, particularly AQMI, MUJWA, and groups that are linked to them -- with the exception, maybe, of Ansar Dine -- don't only have a local agenda; they have an international agenda," Thomas said. "And the objective is to try to internationalize the crisis, create a kind of international front for jihad in this region. This is done through a brazen operation that inevitably affects neighboring countries."

Michel Douti, a political governance expert at the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, said the membership of militant factions in the region also reflected the push for Islamic law that transcends national borders.

"The difference between AQIM and MUJWA is the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi, because it's the same coin, with two sides," Douti said. "Who can find the difference between AQIM and MUJWA when they all agree that it is Islamic law and Shari'a that must be imposed? Is it a question of skin? Because one can see now that the elements of MUJWA are made of up of majority from West African countries, especially Nigeria, Benin, and Togo."

More here.

"Mali-Ko"- Mali Singers Unite To Sing For Peace With Powerful Song- video

Muslim extremists in northern Mali have already destroyed ancient historical sites in Timbuktu, and the scourge of radical Islam now threatens to destroy the rich musical heritage of Mali by banning all music. With the battle heating up between the extremists and French and Mali government forces, a group of over 40 Mali singers and musicians came together to sing for peace. Arranged by Fatoumata Diawara, the session included some of the most loved musicians in Mali, including the amazing Oumou Sangare.

Called "Voices United for Mali" the other singers include:

Amadou and Mariam, Oumou Sangare, Bassekou Kouyate, Vieux Farka Toure, Djelimady Tounkara, Toumani Diabate, Khaira Arby, Kasse Mady Diabate, Baba Salah, Afel Bocoum, Tiken Jah, Amkoullel and Habib Koite.

The powerfully beautiful track sung in both French and Bambara is called 'Mali-ko' (Peace / La Paix), and the subtitles are in French. This site has the English lyrics, but here are just a few:

NEVER HAVE I SEEN SUCH CATASTROPHE, SUCH DESOLATION. THEY WANT TO IMPOSE SHARIA LAW ON US. TELL THE NORTH THAT OUR MALI IS ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE!!

WHO WOULD HAVE IMAGINED OUR COUNTRY THIS WAY? JUST AS WE MALIANS WERE REACHING STABILITY, OTHERS TRY TO DESTABILIZE US. IN THE NORTH, PEOPLE ARE STARVING, WOMEN ARE GOODS TO BE TRADED, THEY ARE BEATEN AND RAPED!

WE DON'T WANT WAR !!!!! NOT IN OUR MALI!!!! WAR DESTROYS EVERYTHING IN ITS PATH.

Diawara said:

“Malians are very worried today. We are busy losing our own country. We are very very concerned about not being able to sing in our own country because not only are women being raped, beaten and mistreated in the north, but now they want to prevent us from making music, knowing that music is the soul of Mali."

Unfortunately, war is the only way to rid the land of extremists who want to establish Sharia across the African continent, and with that take away their ability to sing.

My heart breaks for the people of Mali. I hope the good guys prevail.



Source: Al Arabiya

Islamists In Mali Using Child Soldiers and Human Shields

The shameful use of child soldiers and civilians as human shields by Islamist extremists is taking place in Mali as they battle to take over the whole country. This, of course, makes it extremely difficult for French and Mali government soldiers to do their job: getting ridding of the cancer that is Islamism.

A Mali military source told AFP:

"These people (the Islamists) have two strategies: using the population as a shield and child soldiers as fighters," the military leader said on condition of anonymity.

He said this was the case in the small town of Diabaly, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the Malian capital, where Islamists clashed with French and Malian troops on Wednesday in the first ground offensive since France's operation was launched on January 10.

In Diabaly, the Islamists "are using the population as a shield, which is complicating matters for us. And they have only child soldiers," he said, as the battle raged to drive out the extremists.

The town was seized by insurgents led by Algerian Abou Zeid, one of the leaders of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Human Rights Watch has condemned the use of children as soldiers.

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch urged rebel groups to immediately release child soldiers within their ranks. The rights group said it had interviewed several witnesses reporting children as young as 12 taking part in the fighting.

"These Islamist groups have no business recruiting children into their ranks, much less putting them on the front line," said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.

"These groups seem to be willfully putting scores of children directly in harm's way."

As if the Islamists care what happens to those children and innocent civilians, let alone what a Western human rights group thinks of what they're doing.

Islamists Protest In London Against French Mali Intervention

The French have entered the battle against Islamic imperialism in Mali. It took the capture of Konna in central Mali for French President Francois Hollande to finally get involved.

"French forces brought their support this afternoon to Malian army units to fight against terrorist elements," French President Francois Hollande said in a statement. "This operation will last as long as is necessary."

On Friday France began air strikes against the rebels. Backed by international forces, the Malian army was able to stop the advance by the Al-Qaeda-linked militants and recapture the key town of Konna, which had been seized by insurgent forces earlier, said the country’s defense officials.

But it wasn't until the Islamist extremists- who have control of northern Mali- started marching southward  that Mali's president Dioncounda Traore finally decided  to declare a state of emergency, and ask for France's help. Nigeria, Senegal and the U.N. are also pitching in.

The UN Security Council has also called for a 'swift deployment' of foreign troops to Mali. It has approved plans to send some 3,000 African troops to recapture the country's north.

Meanwhile, in London, 60 or so Islamists (including their children) planted themselves in front of the French Embassy to protest France's intervention.  The ingrates, who are all probably on the dole, stood there with the usual anti-Western, pro-Shariah banners.

The demonstrators held placards reading "French army, you will pay, the Muslims are on their way", "United Nations, go to hell" and "Sharia is the only solution for Mali".

French President Francois Hollande sent troops on Friday to help Malian forces hold back an advance by Islamist rebels, and on Saturday Paris announced that a French military pilot had been killed.

"Francois Hollande, you are a Satan," one of the protesters, Abu Shaafehi, said in French through a loudspeaker. "Sharia for France!"

The protest was divided into two groups, separated by several meters, of men in traditional dress and women in veils.

A group of British police stood guard outside the embassy but the protest dispersed peacefully.

I don't know why the Brits don't just ship them all home. They'd be far happier there.

Mali Islamic Extremists Creeping South- Capture Central City

Islamic extremists in Mali are slowly creeping south in their quest to Islamize the whole country. Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith), al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) fought and won control of the north last April, wreaking havoc in the region. They've already destroyed some ancient historical sites in the northern city of Timbuktu, and are determined to destroy all the tombs of Muslim saints there. They've banned Western secular music, and forced women to wear the veil. Now they have their sight set on the south.

According to Ansar Dine, they invaded the government town of Konna, in central Mali, and are headed south. .

"We are currently in Konna for the jihad. We almost entirely control the town. Afterward we are going to continue" heading south, Abdou Dardar, who was reached by telephone from the capital Bamako, said.

Dardar, whose remarks were translated by an interpreter from Niger, said he was speaking in the name of all the Islamists.

People are justifiably worried.

"I no longer see the Malian army. I don't know what's happening. But I know that the Islamists have left Bore to come to Konna," said a worried resident. Bore, north of Konna, is a community controlled by Islamists who, according to a regional security source, engaged in fighting Thursday afternoon with the army in the area around Konna. "The army is trying to resist, based on our information," the source said.

This does not bode well for the rest of Mali. It also demonstrates just how resolute Islamists are in establishing their Caliphate, and like a cancer it will spread.

Mali Islamist Militants Ban Secular Western Music

Muslim extremists are slowly taking over Africa. Northern Mali, home of the famed city of Timbuktu, struggled with an Islamic insurgency, and sadly lost. It is now run by Islamists and they're starting to establish Shariah law there. Women have already been forced to wear head scarves, and now the only music that will be allowed on the air waves must be religious in nature. Singing Quranic verses is okay, everything else is banned. That means no Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber allowed because Western non-Muslim lyrics are Satanic.

The spokesperson for the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), Oussama Ould Abdel Kader, said that:

“We, the mujahideen of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal from now on refuse the broadcasting of all western music on radios on Islamic land."

“We have already spoken to people who own the radio stations. We no longer want Satan’s music. Instead there must be verses of the Koran. Western music is Satanic music.”

because

“sharia demands it.”

Although MUJAO only rules Gao, Kader was speaking on behalf of all the lovely al-Qaeda-linked jihadists including Ansar Dine that have overrun that region like rats since the March 22, 2012 military coup. Thanks to that coup, the Mali northerners' lives have changed, for the worse.

Besides banning smoking and drinking,and forcing women to wear hijab,

In recent weeks the Islamists have stepped up the application of sharia, stoning an unmarried couple to death and cutting off the hand of a thief.

They also systematically destroyed ancient treasures in Timbuktu, which happened to be Islamic.

Mali is headed the route of Somalia, at least the al-Shabaab run areas.

Very sad.

Islamists Destroy Ancient Timbuktu Treasures

Nothing is sacred with extremist Muslims, including their own religious heritage. Back in April hardline Ansar Dine took over the northern region of Mali promising to turn the country into an Islamic state. UNESCO was extremely worried at the time about what might happen to Timbuktu and its ancient architectural wonders, so it placed the world heritage site on an endangered list. Those worries, apparently, were totally founded. Little did they know that by doing so, they would prompt the Islamists to destroy what UNESCO was trying to protect.

They started off with the tombs of various Muslim saints, and have threatened to destroy all the other religious shrines in the ancient city.

“They have raped Timbuktu today. It is a crime,” said a source close to a local imam in the town known as the “City of 333 Saints”.

“This is tragic news for us all,” Alissandra Cummins, chair of UNESCO’s executive committee, said in a statement to AFP in Russia, where the body is meeting this week, describing the attacks as “wanton damage”.

“I appeal to all those engaged in the conflict in Timbuktu to exercise their responsibility.”

According to Sanda Ould Boumama, spokesman for Ansar Dine,

“Ansar Dine will today destroy every mausoleum in the city. All of them, without exception.”

Why? Because the supremely ignorant thugs are pissed off that UNESCO put Timbuktu on the endangered list.

“God is unique. All of this is haram (or forbidden in Islam). We are all Muslims. UNESCO is what?” he said, declaring that Ansar Dine -- which wants to impose sharia law in the region -- was acting “in the name of God.”

What? One would think they'd be elated that a Western organization would be interested in saving the 'seat of Islamic learning', but no.

Sadly, they aren't the first to destroy a world heritage treasure in Timbuktu, al-Qaeda had already destroyed the tomb of Sidi Mahmoud in May. Ansar Dine just finished off the mausoleum.

“As I am speaking to you, Islamists from Ansar Dine have destroyed the mausoleum of saint Sidi Mahmoud,” one witness told AFP.

“They are now in the process of destroying the mausoleum (of Sidi Moctar),” added a local journalist. “They have said they will destroy everything.”

Home to three mosques, 16 cemeteries and mausolea and 100,000 manuscripts, a piece of ancient history could be wiped out in no time. Islamists have destroyed other ancient monuments, like the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan, but one would think they would want to preserve their own religious treasures.
Countries that might try to intervene have been warned not to get involved.

Veils For Women in Timbuktu- Islamists Take Over More Than Half of Mali

A struggle between secular democracies and Islamism is on the rise in the Middle East, parts of Asia and Africa. The latest country to succumb to the battle is Mali. The West African nation (of Timbuktu fame), was recently subjected to a military coup, after 21 years or so of a constitutional democracy. Considered relatively stable (until now), Mali has a population that's 90% Muslim. And though a secular state with a constitution that allows for freedom of religion, that's rapidly changing.

Troubles began in early 2012 in the north with a separatist group, comprised of the Tuareg (Berber nomad) peoples, who want to liberate the Azawad region of northern Mali (where Timbuktu is located) from the Mali government. The Islamists, Ansar Dine, want Mali to become an Islamic state. The coup was in response to President Amadou Toumani Touré's  failure to handle the insurgency,  but that in itself has made the situation in the African nation ten times worse.  In fact, the coup has allowed Tuareg rebels and Islamists in the north to take over half of the country, and the Islamists are working rapidly to establish their religious agenda, including forcing women in Timbuktu to wear veils.

Islamists seized control of the ancient trading hub Timbuktu over the weekend alongside Tuareg rebels and have since chased out their allies and declared to residents and religious leaders that they were imposing sharia law.

This sparked alarm abroad ahead of an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting on Mali, with Paris expressing concern over the Islamist threat in a country considered a democratic success until the coup.

The Tuareg rebels want an independent state while Ansar Dine which has seized Timbuktu wants to impose Islamic law and has linked up with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told AFP the two were “closely tied” and Ansar Dine’s “goals are not clear, but it may be to install an Islamic regime across the whole of Mali.”

Three of the four leaders of al-Qaeda’s north Africa branch, Abou Zeid, Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Yahya Abou Al-Hammam, were in Timbuktu on Tuesday, security and religious sources in the city said.

Residents reported women in the normally secular city that hosted a major music festival in January were on Tuesday wearing headscarves.

In spite of sanctions and calls for the junta to relinquish power immediately, no-one's budging, yet.  The coup leaders claim they don't want to stay in power forever, and are calling for a "national convention" set for April 5, to discuss the transition back to civilian rule. But the longer they wait to settle things, the worse the situation will get.  The rise of Islamism in Mali wasn't the result of a thirst for democracy that turned sour, like the Arab Spring; the country already had a democratic, secular society, and President  Toure' wasn't a Mubarak.   In this case, the military facilitated the takeover by Islamists through their coup d'etat, and any further delay will allow the Islamists to claim more territory.

UNESCO (the U.N.'s cultural agency) is worried about what might happen to Timbuktu's "outstanding architectural wonders”,  and though that is worrisome, what I fear the most is the loss of freedom, for women in particular, in an Islamic state.