The Middle East and Us: Part 2 – Northern Syria and Iraq

This is the second of a series of four posts I will be doing entitle  THE MIDDLE EAST AND US. The following two posts will be uploaded over the coming three weeks.

Part 1 is found at this link https://drstuartrobinson.com/2014/09/10/the-middle-and-us-part-1/

or by searching my home page.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND US—PART 2

The situation in Northern Syria and Iraq shares similarities with the Gaza Israel conflict.

Northern Syria and Iraq 

In northern Syria and Iraq there are at least 18 different jihadi groups who seemingly spend as much time fighting one another as they do fighting the Shi’ite surrogate regimes of Assad in Syria and until recently Malaki in Iraq. Unleashed from the restraints imposed by dictators in those and other Middle Eastern countries, they rampage across the land causing death and havoc wherever they go. They torture, rape, kill adult non-Sunni males, by beheading, crucifying and shooting. Reports say they rape and sell women, girls and boys into slavery while saving some to gratify their own sexual desires.

To those who object to what’s happening, prominent writer and cleric, Hussein bin Mahmoud is reported as saying that “…beheading is an effective way to terrorize the enemies of Islam. Under Islamic law, American journalist, James Foley was a Harbi, that is, a non-Muslim whose life was not protected by an agreement of protection. Islam allows and encourages such acts since it is a religion of war and fighting.”[i]

UK Muslim leader Anjem Choudary justified the beheading of American journalist, James Foley, by reportedly saying that beheading was permissible under Shariah (Islamic) law. “Muslims who abide by Shariah and follow the jurisprudence do not make a distinction between civilian and army. This fellow was not just a civilian of America. He was a journalist.”[ii]

Even to question from within the community, what is happening may be dangerous. HAMAS in Gaza, like the movements in northern Iraq and Syria, is also known for its practice of extrajudicial execution. Recently about 20 people were summarily executed and their bodies were dragged through the streets. Two of those executed were women. They had been asking questions about Palestinians who had been killed.[iii]

When it comes to people like Yazidis who are regarded as infidels and Shi’ites whom Sunnis consider to be apostate, they automatically qualify to be killed.

The Quran refers to Jews and Christians as “People of the Book”. They are at least first invited to become Muslims. If they refuse they may be exiled, taxed into impoverishment or killed.

Muslims whom the West would have regarded as moderates, who have lived in harmony next to their Christian neighbors for centuries in these countries, have reportedly suddenly turned on their Christian and other non-Muslim neighbors telling them to leave because these lands are exclusively Muslim countries.[iv] Assyrian Christians equate what is happening with the genocide of 100 years ago in which it is claimed that the Ottoman government was responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million Armenian and Christian groups, which included Assyrians and Greeks.[v]

It has been estimated that 1.2 million people have been forced to flee. As in previous invasions, churches are destroyed or turned into mosques. For the first time in 2000 years, Christianity has been obliterated from these lands.

But concerning these atrocities there are few processions in the streets of Western cities. When the movements like Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al Shebaab in Kenya and Somalia, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt the governments of Sudan or Iran, carry out their atrocities, there is little overseas public response.

Mehmet Gormez, the head of Turkey’s religious affairs directorate, has claimed that around the world each day an average of 1000 Muslims are killed, of which almost 90% are killed by other Muslims. If his estimate is accurate, this means that every four days the number of Muslims killed by other Muslims is more than those who have died in the last 10 years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[vi] Yet the Muslim community remains muted and silent in Western countries. It’s only when Israel is involved that reaction is ramped up.

Archbishop Athanasius Toma Dewod of the Syrian Orthodox Church (UK) says, “They are killing our people in the name of Allah, telling people that anyone who kills a Christian will go straight to Paradise”.[vii]

If you are interested in reading more my books on this subject and more are available for purchase at https://drstuartrobinson.com/books/

[i] —Jihadi Cleric Justifies IS Beheadings: Islam Is a Religion Of Beheading. MEMRI Special Despatch/5826/August 25 2014.

[ii] Ryan Mauro, www.clarionproject.org/print/analysis/uks-anjem-choudary-justifies-beheading-of-james-foley (viewed August 30 2014).

[iii] Khaled Abu Toameh, http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4646/hamas-war-crimes. August 25 2014.

[iv] MEMRI Daily, Special Dispatch No.5820, August 13 2014.

[v] Rachel Baxendale, Churches demand safe haven for Christians. The Australian, August 25 2014, 2.

[vi] Sam Westrop, http://www.clarionproject.org/print/analysis/uk-islamists-join-neo-nazis-marxists-anti-semitism (viewed August 28 2014).

[vii] Elizabeth Kendall, Religious Liberty Prayer Bulleting, 273. August 13 2014.