Lady Al Qaeda trial starts, veiled plaintiff insists on a Jew-free jury and says Israel’s behind 9/11
Aafia Siddiqui is another open rebuke to the notion that terrorists are motivated by their histories of oppression and bleak prospects for the future — and she’s, if nothing else, charmingly forthright.
Siddiqui, 37, is an American-trained neuroscientist currently on trial in New York City for attempted murder. New York papers have taken to calling her “Lady Al Qaeda.”
In July, 2008, prosecutors say, Afghan police caught her with two pounds of sodium cyanide, a list of targets in New York, and a set of instructions on how to build chemical and biological weapons. When American investigators tried to question her, she grabbed a soldier’s M-4 rifle and opened fire. Thank God, she missed.
Before she was wrestled to the ground, she allegedly screamed “Allahu Akbar” and said she was going to kill Americans.
On the first day of jury selection, she demanded that Jews be excluded from the panel, the New York Daily News reported:
“If they have a Zionist or Israeli background…they are all mad at me,” said Aafia Siddiqui, a U.S.-trained neuroscientist charged with attempted murder.
“I have a feeling everyone here is them – subject to genetic testing….They should be excluded if you want to be fair,” she told Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Berman
Prospective jurors weren’t present for that outburst, but they were in the courtroom to hear her say, “I’m boycotting the trial…there are too many injustices.”
At another point, Siddiqui repeatedly refused to talk to her own lawyers, saying she didn’t trust them.
“I don’t trust you either,” she told Berman.
On the second day, she was tossed out of the courtroom after bursting out with: “Israel was behind 9/11. That’s not anti-Semitic!”
Berman–the judge–ruled that the jury can hear about the list of New York City targets, but said that the chemicals and the “how-to” terror manuals were not admissable as evidence. Prosecutors also are forbidden tot bring up Siddiqui’s alleged ties to Al Qaeda because the might create a bias.
Right. Like a bias toward the truth.
Comments (0) »Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 12:23 PM | Stand For Israel
We like his tune!
Pianist Evgeny Kissin
It’s no secret that many believe that the news division of the BBC, the UK’s prestigious broadcasting network, is wildly biased against Israel — sometimes to the point that it lacks credibility.
Unfortunately, the arts and media industries tend to follow the elite conventional wisdom (which, ever nuanced, goes something like: “Israel bad”) and rarely provides any sort of balance. So we were delighted to hear that Evgeny Kissin, 38, a child prodigy in his native Russia now widely regarded as one of the greatest living pianists, has accused the BBC of “slander and bias” against Israel, broadcasting material he describes as “painfully reminiscent of the old Soviet anti-Zionist propaganda.”
Kissin, who became a British citizen in 2002, said he intends from now on to speak out against media bias against Israel, which he sees as both fueling and being fueled by anti-Semitism.
H/t: The Jewish Chronicle’s ever-interesting Miriam Shaviv.
Comments (0) »Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 3:01 PM | Stand For Israel
No space is free from politics–or harassment–thanks to anti-Israel groups’ tactics
There was some seriously unsportsman-like behavior at the Auckland Tennis Center in New Zealand yesterday, but it didn’t come from any of the players. Taking a page from the “pro-Palestinian activists” who tried to turn attending an exhibit of the Dead Sea scrolls into a political referendum, activists are now harassing Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe’er:
A small group of people carried placards and chanted against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians outside the Auckland Tennis Centre in New Zealand before Pe’er took to court four and defeated Slovenia’s Polona Hercog 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the ASB Classic.
Shahar Pe'er is just the latest Israeli to face harassment.
Pe’er, who’s never been one to take political stands, handled it like a pro:
“It’s a shame that somebody thinks it’s my fault that there are problems in the world,” she told reporters. “For me, the most important thing was that even though I was hearing those things, which were not nice, I still won.”
This bit of outrageousness has unfortunately become common. As SFI’s sagacious friend Evelyn Gordon wrote last month, “Such intimidation has become common at sporting events, just as it has at college campuses, public lectures and many other venues.”
Just a few examples:
* Last January, an Israeli basketball team fled the court in panic during a EuroCup match in Ankara, Turkey, after thousands of Turkish fans waving Palestinian flags shouted “death to the Jews,” threw shoes and water battles, and ultimately stormed the court. (Adding insult to injury, EuroCup’s governing body then slapped Israel with a technical loss because the frightened players refused to take the court again.)
* Last March in Malmo, Sweden,organizers barred spectators entirely from Israel’s Davis Cup tennis match against Sweden, owing to fear of pro-Palestinian protesters who had recently pelted a pro-Israel demonstration with bottles, eggs, and fireworks.
* In December, the Scottish Trade Unions Congress — one of many European unions that have voted to boycott Israel — urged basketball fans to wave Palestinian flags during a Glasgow match…
Read More » Comments (0) »Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 2:01 PM | Stand For Israel
Fumble! Iranian official sacked for friendliness to Jews
And you thought you made faux pas with your Christmas card list when you left off Aunt Tillie… well, the Iranian soccer league official we told you about last week has officially been… (wait for it) sacked. (Okay, it’s a football pun, not soccer, but we’re just delighted to be able to make any sports pun.)
Last week, we told you how Iranian soccer official Mohammad Mansour Azimzadeh Ardebili accidentally included Israel’s national soccer association on an e-mail list that sent new year’s greetings to the other associations in the international soccer federation. (Ardebili was supposed to send it to all of the teams except Israel.)
For the ignominy of this terrible crime, he’s resigned. (We’re guessing this is a face-saving term, less for him than for the Iranian regime, which probably tossed him into the same jail where they’re herding the protestors they keep oppressing.)
As if that wasn’t funny enough, now the Iranians can’t even own up to clicking the wrong button. According to the Iranian Fars news agency, ”an employee of FIFA [the international soccer federation] named Amir Navon, an Israeli of Iranian origin, forwarded the Iranian greeting to the IFA [the Israeli association].”
The only problem is that Amir Navon heads the legal department of the Israeli association, a fact that was widely reported when the snafu first was noted.
I wonder if this means they’re not sending the Israelis any chocolates for Valentine’s Day.
Comments (2) »Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 10:14 AM | Stand For Israel
What’s good for the goose? Israelis looking to use quirky European laws to arrest Hamas officials
Only a week or so ago, Great Britain promised to change its “universal jursidiction” law, which pro-Palestinian groups have been using to harass Israeli officials in England and elsewhere. Now, a group of 15 Israelis who hold Belgian citizenship are looking to exploit Belgium’s law to get arrest warrants sworn out against Hamas leaders for their rocket attacks on civilians in southern Israel, AFP reports.
The Israelis were wounded, owned homes that were damaged by rockets and, in one case, had a relative killed by in a rocket attack.
“We want to shatter the myth that draws a parallel between Israel and terror organization such as Hamas,” said Uri Yablonka, the head of pro-Israeli lobby The European Initiative, which represents the group.
It’ll be interesting to see if European judges respond with the same enthusiasm they’ve shown for pursuing Israelis.
Orthodox Jewish websites reported that the group consists of ultra-Orthodox residents of Ashdod, a city on Israel’s coast only a few miles from the border with Gaza. The city is mentioned in the Hebrew bible multiple times.
Comments (1) »Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 11:33 AM | Stand For Israel
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