The lies of the Israeli right

The Jerusalem Post is a bastion of the Israeli right.

Today, it includes an article by one Benjamin Weinthal entitled “Top Dutch MP slams Turkey’s ‘belligerence’ against Israel“.

We are regaled with the wonderful story of a ‘Middle East expert’ and ‘top’ politician Wim Kotenoeven who has stood up for Israel against the wicked lies of all Muslims everywhere.  With no hint of embarrassment, Weinthal proclaims that

Middle East expert Kortenoeven accuses Turkey of “sliding into an abyss of Islamic extremism,”

Middle East expert?  As we know already, for the Euro-American Transatlantic Right – of which Israel is a firm part – it takes nothing to be a Middle East expert.  All one needs is to hate Arabs and all other Muslims everywhere, read a poorly researched book or two (if you’re Robert Spencer) or no books at all (if you’re Pamela Geller) and boom!  You’re a Middle East expert, with books coming out of your… ears, and articles lauding your efforts in the gutter post of the Israeli right.

But who is Wim Kortenoeven?  He is a member of Geert Wilders’ ‘Freedom Party’.  That’s right.  Geert Wilders, who wants to ban the Koran (in the name of freedom).  The same Geert Wilders who is a known supporter of Robert Spencer (scholar of nothing and frequent contributor to the US’s Fox News and Canada’s Sun TV among others where he spews his unearned expertise) and Pamela Geller, the prolific liar and writer of the bizarre Atlas Shrugs blog.

But of course, Mr Weinthal fails to mention Geert Wilders even once, despite the fact that Wilders is the founder and head of the Freedom Party.

Wienthal crows

According to a transcript and audio tape of Kortenoeven’s remarks, he stated: “Turkey, a member state of NATO, is also increasingly belligerent towards the Jewish State of Israel. Threats and baseless accusations are issued against Israel ever more frequently. And provocations are rampant. Israeli freighters are harassed by Turkish warships.”

Turkey is increasingly belligerent towards of the Jewish State of Israel?  Kortenoeven and his cheerleader Weinthal may like to elaborate on that.  I wonder, for example:  when was the last time that the Turkish military boarded an Israeli vessel in international waters and slaughtered nine Israeli civilians?  That’s right!  It was the ISRAELI military that boarded a TURKISH vessel in international waters and murdered NINE TURKISH CIVILIANS.  If Turkey limits its response to a little harassment of Israeli freighters, I would suggest that this is indicative of how civilised that bastion of the Islamic world is.

It is presumably Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s failure to prostrate himself to the Jewish State in the manner of Kortenoeven that has rendered him ‘belligerent’ towards poor Israel.  Never mind Israel’s point blank refusal to apologise for the massacre or to pay compensation.  Clearly any Muslim who objects to the slaughter of innocent people in the name of God’s Chosen People (or should that be race?) is an Islamist terrorist and threat to the free world.

Of Nicolai Sennels and seeming stupid

Robert Spencer – he of no qualifications in Islamic studies and no academic publications to his name –informed us some time ago that he had included, among others, an extreme right-wing self-proclaimed psychologist named Nicolai Sennels as part of the Jihad Watch team.

Spencer stated, without irony or shame, that this was part of the ‘cutting-edge scholarship’ of his blog.

Sennels is unable, it appears, to write anything true.  This is why, presumably, his services have been retained by Spencer at Jihad Watch.  It appears that all one needs to do to contribute to the blog is

• Hate Muslims
• Know nothing about Muslims or Islam
• Claim to be something that you are not – a scholar, a historian, a psychologist, anything really.

I wrote here about an example of Sennels’ cutting-edge scholarship.  Briefly, there has been a spate of arson attacks in Berlin.  There is no evidence and, indeed, no suggestion by the Berlin authorities, that these attacks have been carried out by Turks or any other sort of largely-brown Muslim.  Sennels, though, suggested that they are are.

I wrote the following email to Sennels, enquiring about his odd attitude to facts.

Dear Mr Sennels

Some time ago, at Jihad Watch, you posted this.  In it, you claim that those guilty for this spate vandalism are Turks (Muslims).  

On what basis did you make this claim?  Are you able to provide any proof?  Are you privy to any information in this matter to which theBerlinpolice are not?  If not, why did you claim that Muslims are guilty of these attacks?

You have also posted a video on Jihad Watch of a young man behaving in a rude, abusive and intimidating manner on a train inDenmark.  What indications are there in the video that suggest that the man is a Muslim?  Did you, at the time of posting, have any information that indicated that the man was a Muslim?  If not, why did you make the claim?

I wrote about your post regarding the car vandalism in Berlin here.  If you feel that I have been in any way unfair, please let me know.

True to the cutting-edge scholarship that characterises Jihad Watch, its fearless leader Bob Spencer and his underlings, I received the following from Nicolai Sennels, Man of Letters:

Hi Omar

The words “Turk” and “Muslim” are not in that article. You seem stupid.

Nicolai

My point exactly.  The words ‘Turk’ and ‘Muslim’ appear nowhere in article that he provides as evidence that Turks (which is to say Muslims) are responsible for the attacks.

I would suggest, therefore, that it is not I who seems stupid.

I wrote the following in response to Mr Sennels, but I am yet to hear back.  Like Spencer and Geller before him, there is no effort to answer for his bold claims.

Mr Sennels

Perhaps my email was not clear:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/08/multiculturism-in-berlin-germans-want-private-police-and-weapons-to-protect-themselves-and-property.html

In the post – which you can find via this link – you say that:

Berlin is the third largest Turkish city after Istanbul and Ankara, and a prime example of failed multiculturism. Citizens are starting to discuss vigilantism and whether or not they should establish armed patrols. Christians “have long called for a special auxiliary police made up of volunteers who would have uniforms, batons and handcuffs.”

But the article you provide does not mention Turks or Muslims.  That is true.  But you are obviously trying to make the link, are you not? 

Many thanks

Omar M Shtewi

UPDATE:

In response to the above email, I received the following from Nicolai Sennels.  I would suggest that it goes some way to explain why he is a highly appropriate candidate to contribute to Jihad Watch.

It looks like you are that missing link.
Nicolai

Robert Spencer: Expert.

Anyone familiar with Robert Spencer will know that there is nothing he will not claim to be an expert on.  This is, I suppose, a symptom of the general decline of the United States.  Opinion in America is frequently presented as fact and polemic as scholarship.

And so, Robert Spencer – non-expert on all things – provides his analysis of the recent collapse of Turkish-Israeli relations.  See examples here and here.

You will recall that the Israeli army slaughtered nine Turkish civilians attempting to deliver aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.  The Israeli government could not accept that killing civilians – even those of their allies – is wrong and therefore refused to apologise for the massacre.  The result has been an unsurprising collapse in relations between the two countries.

However, since Turkey is an Islamic country, Robert Spencer explains the issues between the two states in the most infantile way possible.  He states, for example, that Turkish Prime Minister Ergodan “wants jihad”.

Translation: you must accept that the State of Israel can do as it pleases, murdering your civilians and behaving as if it owns the entire Middle East.  If you refuse to do this, you are jihadist.

Even more bizarre, Ergodan’s denunciations of Israel are in fact, attempts to

Push for jihad against Israel as he works to destroy Kemalist secularism and reestablish Sharia at home.

It is important to remember that Spencer takes himself seriously.  More frightening is that he is a regular guest on Fox News – the most watched news channel in the USA.

You’ll find an interesting piece on the Transatlantic Right here on Aljazeera English’s ‘The Listening Post’.  Take a few moments to watch.

Pamela Geller: A Predictable Liar

Geller. The reasoned analyst.

I wrote here about Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s decision to authorise Turkish military vessels to escort future aid ships to Gaza in light of the Mavi Marmara massacre.

I joked that we should expect Spencer or Geller’s take on this to be something like

CRAZED MUSLIM JIHADIST DECLARES WAR AGAINST THE HELPLESS JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL WITH A VIEW TO CONQUERING THE UNIVERSE AND OCCUPYING THE THRONE OF GOD.

After I hit ‘publish’ I logged out and went to Geller’s blog…  Where I found this:

TURKEY PREPARES FOR WAR WITH ISRAEL

The content of the post is even better.  Geller interprets the issue, which you can read about here at Haaretz, thus:

The newly islamicized [sic] Turkey escalates its hostile aggressions towards the tiny Jewish state. Today Turkey said it would increase hostilities against Israel by sending warships to escort the next round of jihad flotillas to Gaza.

So.  In the world of Geller, Turkey said it would increase hostilities against Israel.  It did no such thing.  It said it would send an escort with ships that take aid to the besieged Gaza Strip in future.  By no stretch of the imagination does this amount to announcement that it will increase hostilities.  While one could argue that Geller is simply stretching the meaning of Erdogan’s words – and the English language – to breaking point, I am inclined to believe that, based on the general standard maintained at her blog, that she is simply lying.

She goes on

Turkey is continuing its jihad against Israel. The jihad flotilla was a set-up; the ambush, the bloodshed: “We had no Choice”… [we]  did not expect to be landing in “a battlefield” and facing a group of “murderous mercenaries.”

The jihad flotilla warship launched from Turkey should have  resulted in sanctions against the Turkish government. Instead, the jihadist prime minister is promising to launch another with warship escorts.

Israel murdered nine Turkish civilians.  Turkey should be sanctioned.  This woman is, to remind you, a regular guest on Fox News.  Her bizarre views are beamed into millions of American homes.

From this, Geller then moves to her amazing claim that the ‘Muslim world was aligned with Hitler’ among other absurd and amazing tales.

Count how many times she uses the word ‘Jihad’ in this post.   I can’t be arsed.

Robert Spencer. Scholar. Debater.

I sent Robert Spencer the following email with regard to the post I wrote below about Nicolai Sennels.

Dear Mr Spencer

On your blog today is a post by Nicolai Sennels.  It includes an article dealing with a spate of arson attacks in Berlin.  Nowhere does the article suggest that the attacks are by Muslims or Turks.

Mr Sennels, though, suggests that they are, with no proof whatsoever.

Do you think that this is acceptable?

– – Omar Shtewi BA, MSc

I don’t expect to hear from Spencer any time soon since he is too cowardly to answer my emails.  You can see that here and here.

Nicolai Sennels. Liar.

Nicolai Sennels is a Jihad Watch contributor.  He works under the supervision of the self-proclaimed scholar of Islam Robert Spencer.

Sennels is apparently a psychologist.  That is to say: he studied psychology and now works in a school as a student councelor.  He is not an academic.  If he were, he wouldn’t be writing for Jihad Watch.

His efforts at scholarship include work on ‘Muslim inbreeding‘ among other things.

Today, like Pamela Geller, he provides an article from an outside news source and gives us his commentary.

The article deals with a spate of arson in Berlin.  It seems some people are going around setting fire to expensive cars.  It has happened many times and local residents are considering forming vigilante groups.

This is Sennels’ introduction to the article:

Berlin is the third largest Turkish city after Istanbul and Ankara, and a prime example of failed multiculturism. Citizens are starting to discuss vigilantism and whether or not they should establish armed patrols. Christians “have long called for a special auxiliary police made up of volunteers who would have uniforms, batons and handcuffs.”

I don’t know if Berlin is the third largest Turkish city in the world after Istanbul and Ankara.  Neither does Sennels.  He provides this link as proof.  It’s a blog.  The lady who writes it provides no proof of the statement.

In any case, it doesn’t matter.  Because despite Sennels’ clumsy effort to blame this on Turks – which means [inbred] Muslims – the article does not mention Turks or Muslims even once.

I give you Nicolai Sennels.  Liar.  Shyster.

Here’s the whole thing, from The Local.

As night-time car arsons in Berlin continue unabated, some citizens are calling for neighbourhood groups to prowl the streets looking for culprits, an idea that appears to be gaining ground.

The idea for citizen patrols has gained support during the week-long spate of arson in the German capital, which have left dozens of cars, mostly expensive models, burned out.

More than 300 vehicles have now been set alight since the beginning of the year, including five overnight Sunday. …

Many people told the newspaper they were ready to join citizens’ groups to combat the attacks, because the government isn’t doing enough.

Some have suggested that neighbours begin carrying weapons and go on the hunt for perpetrators. Others have suggested a less vigilante-style response with simple unarmed neighbourhood patrols.

One 72-year-old who lives with his wife in the Berlin’s Westend district told Die Welt that residents have been debating what to do over the last few days. His idea is for a citizens’ patrol to go out for about an hour per night per night. It would alert police if it sees anything suspicious.

“Some residents here want to arm themselves,” he said. “What we need here is a kind of militia.”

Some people appear to be looking to London as a model, where many community groups lost confidence in police and formed successful vigilante groups to combat recent riots.

In Berlin, Burkhard Dregger, a politician with the centre-right Christian Democratic Union has long called for a special auxiliary police made up of volunteers that would have uniforms, batons and handcuffs. …”