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At AllFaith.com I share numerous studies into the world's religions based on my personal quest for Truth. Over the years this research has led me to embrace Judaism. That is now the main focus of the domain.
On my blogs I share many of these studies and invite your questions and comments.
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Todah veShalom,
~ John of AllFaith
Friday, November 19, 2010 | Ryan Jones
A 50-year-old man from the eastern Jerusalem village of Issawiya tried to stab a young Jewish woman at the nearby Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital in order to prove to his friends that he is a good Palestinian Arab.
Police said the man followed the young woman for some distance before pulling out a large kitchen knife and running toward her. Fortunately, the young woman reached the guard station at the hospital entrance before her would-be assailant reached her.
After being taken in for questioning, the man admitted that he wanted to kill a Jew in order to prove to his friends that he was not collaborating or sympathizing with Israel.
It is a growing phenomenon that Arabs who would otherwise have little or not problem with Israel and especially with their Jewish neighbors feel pressured to take anti-Israel positions and even engage in terrorist activity.
What happened, exactly?
Early Tuesday, North Korea fired artillery shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, which sits off the disputed maritime border between the two countries. The attack killed two South Korean marines and wounded 18 soldiers and civilians. It prompted an exchange of fire between the two sides, involving around 175 artillery shells and lasting about an hour.
The North accused South Korea of having started the exchange by firing shells inside North Korean territory during a set of South Korean military exercises that the North called "war maneuvers." The South denies that charge, saying that its soldiers were merely conducting military drills and that no shots fell in North Korean territory.
The North Korean attack was the first on a civilian area of South Korea since the Korean War.
Why did this happen now?
Tensions have been running high since March, when a South Korean naval vessel in the same area was sunk, killing 46 sailors. Seoul blamed a North Korean torpedo attack, though the North has denied involvement. Then earlier this month, the South Korean navy fired warning shots at a North Korean fishing boat after the craft strayed across the border. The North Korean boat retreated.
Some analysts have linked Tuesday's action by the North to the impoverished nation's need for food. The Obama administration has refused to remove sanctions against the North, imposed in response to its nuclear program. "They see that they can't pressure Washington, so they've taken South Korea hostage again," Choi Jin-wook, a senior researcher with the South Korean Institute for National Unification, told the New York Times. "They're in a desperate situation, and they want food immediately, not next year."
Does this have anything to do with North Korea's leadership situation?
Kim Jong Il, the North's ailing and reclusive leader, is believed to be gradually shifting power over to his son, Kim Jong Un, who in September was promoted to the rank of four-star general.
Some analysts believe the transition has made North Korea eager to demonstrate its military power. Kim Jong Il famously employed an aggressive "military first" approach to politics, and spoke of turning the North Korean army into a "pillar of the revolution." The regime may now want to show the world that the same military-first policies will prevail under his successor. "The son's power base is derived from the military, and the power of [the] military is greater than ever," Cheong Seong-Chang, a fellow at the Seoul-based Sejong Institute, told Time magazine.
How has the world reacted?
The United States, Britain and Japan have condemned the North Korean attack, with America calling on the North to "halt its belligerent action." China said it was "concerned," while Russia has urged restraint and a peaceful solution to the crisis.
What's the U.S. role in all this?
The United States wants North Korea to resume the six-party talks on the country's nuclear program. The talks, which also include Russia, China, Japan in addition to America and the two Koreas, were launched in 2003, after North Korea opted out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The talks' aim is to arrive at a peaceful diplomatic agreement to contain the North's nuclear capacity -- but the talks have been in limbo since 2008, and earlier this week, an American scientist revealed that he had been shown a sophisticated North Korean nuclear enrichment facility, throwing the resumption of the talks into further doubt.
Today's incident adds another obstacle, experts say.
The revelation of the uranium facility and Tuesday's attack on South Korea may both be expressions of the North's concern that the Obama administration and its allies are unlikely to offer concessions such as the easing of sanctions. "I think they realize they can't expect anything from Washington or Seoul for several months, so I think they made the provocation," Choi Jin-wook, senior researcher at the Korea Institute of National Unification, told CNN.
How scared should we be?
South Korea has placed its military on "crisis status," and Prime Minister Lee Myung-bak has reportedly ordered strikes on North Korea's missile base if the North makes any "indication of further provocation." It appears unlikely, though not impossible, that further military action will result.
South Korea does not have an active nuclear weapons program. North Korea is believed already to have eight to 12 nuclear bombs. But nuclear issues aside, any military conflict between the countries could badly destabilize the region, especially if the North Korean government were to collapse -- an outcome that some South Koreans fear could lead to a Chinese takeover.
(Photo: Yonhap via AP)
Ground Zero Imam Threatens All Americans
Who Oppose Ground Zero Mosque
IMAM FEISAL RAUF ACCUSES FORRAS AND HIS LEGAL COUNSEL
OF "BLIND BIGOTRY" FOR EXERCISING THEIR RIGHTS
TO SUE AGAINST GROUND ZERO MOSQUE
ALERT: The Ground Zero Mosque Imam - Feisal Rauf - has issued an effectual "fatwah" on the brave 9/11 First Responder, fireman Vincent Forras who is opposing Rauf! And the fatwah goes for anyone else who dares get in the way of the Ground Zero Victory Mosque.
As you know, Declaration Alliance is working with Vincent Forras who has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit to stop the Ground Zero Mosque. The controversial Imam Feisal Rauf has responded with intimidation and insults.
In a recent press conference announcing Rauf's intention to bully Forras into backing down, (by way of a personal lawsuit designed to bankrupt this brave first responder and kill the class action suit we are pursuing), the controversial Imam Feisal Rauf took intimidation one step further -- accusing Forras of bigotry, a mortal insult against Islam.
In accusing injured American Hero Vinnie Forras of bigotry, Rauf is throwing down the gauntlet, challenging Islamist true believers to punish not only Forras but anyone who stands in the way of the Ground Zero Mosque and the Islamization of America. Let us not forget how Feisal Rauf and his colleagues feel about "insulting Islam" -- as Rauf said on CNN, if the GZM is not built, there will be more terrorist violence as a direct consequence!
Declaration Alliance Will Not Be Intimidated!
Select Here To Help Us Win The Fight!
Imam Feisal Rauf has publicly stated his belief that the 9/11 attacks were "justified," and he now apparently believes brave heroes like Vincent Forras have no right to use the American legal system for redress of grievances and suffering of all those who risked their lives in the attacks' aftermath.
None of this is surprising coming from a man who recently published a book in Malaysia titled "A call to prayer from the WTC debris - Islamic Da'wah in the heart of American post 9/11". According to the Qur'an, (Sura 30:25), Da'wah is the call to the dead to rise on the Day of Judgment... those who do not adhere to Sharia law are damned for their sins.
Finally, let me stress again Feisal Rauf's recent ominous interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien where he stated that more terrorist violence will result if building of the mosque is prevented.
Declaration Alliance Needs You In the Legal Fight
To Stop The "Ground Zero Mosque"! Select Here To Donate Now!
The class action complaint against Feisal Rauf and his Ground Zero "Victory" Mosque are publicly available for review at www.DeclarationAlliance.org. Declaration Alliance is working with the plaintiffs as a civic advocacy and social welfare organization in conjunction with the public interest legal group, Freedom Watch and attorney Larry Klayman. It is vital that we rapidly pursue this legal action into the "discovery" phase and uncover the shadowy interests and international financial tentacles that are so aggressively pushing to bankroll this monument extolling Islamist supremacy on American hallowed ground.
If everyone who receives this message would sacrifice $100 toward preserving their own freedoms, we could get the word out to enough concerned Americans to make the difference and halt the march of radical Islam and Sharia law in America.
Keep Faith,
Alan Keyes
www.DeclarationAlliance.org
If you prefer to send a check, please mail to:
Declaration Alliance
National Processing Center
PO Box 131728
Houston, TX 77219-1728
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which focuses on nonpartisan civic education and advocacy regarding important national issues.