Jan. 8, 2009 Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Arab regimes secretly rooting for Israel? Larry Elder: Israelis and Palestinians: Who's David, Who's Goliath? Jeff Jacoby: Yes, it's anti-Semitism Jan. 7, 2009 Jonah Goldberg: Who are the real Nazis? Anne Applebaum: Pointless Peace Proposals Jan. 6, 2009 Caroline B. Glick: Iran's Gazan diversion? Dennis Prager: Dissecting Dershowitz Jan. 5, 2009 Mark Steyn: Gaza has its version of rocket scientists Mona Charen: The So-called International Community Jan. 2, 2009 Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Having a holy tongue Caroline B. Glick : Hamas' march to victory Dec. 31, 2008 Dore Gold: Is Israel Using 'Disproportionate Force'? Renee Enna:: Succulent 'stewp' is quick, easy fix Dec. 30, 2008 Jonathan Mark: Israel's Response Is Disproportionate Wesley Pruden: It's time once more to blame the Jews Dec. 29, 2008 Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Chanukah: 'Give me Judaism or give me death' Michael B. Oren: A crisis and an opportunity Dec. 26, 2008 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: When the past meets the future Caroline B. Glick: Iran and Hamas do Christmas Dec. 24, 2008 Rabbi Dovid Zauderer: Judaism's Santa problem The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman CHANUKAH FORK-FINGER FOOD FEAST Dec. 23, 2008 Caroline B. Glick: Repeating failure in Gaza Dec. 22, 2008 Rabbi Boruch Leff: Too many Jews today are missing the intended purpose of one of Judaism's most beloved holidays Barry Rubin: Liar, liar, pants on cease-fire Dec. 19, 2008 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Final Battlefield Caroline B. Glick: Betting on a dead horse Dec. 18, 2008 The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Juicy Chef's hella top, hella bottom, hallelujah in the middle Craig Crossman : More gifts for geeks --- and those who love them Dec. 17, 2008 Dion Nissenbaum: Israel kicks out outrageously biased UN official Craig Crossman : Gifts for geeks --- and those who love them Dec. 16, 2008 Jonathan Rosenblum: The Gift of Joy Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Uncle Shariah Dec. 15, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Expert witnesses who put themselves first Barry Rubin: What they say isn't what you hear Dec. 12, 2008 Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Can the Bible be a secular language? Caroline B. Glick: What a PM Netanyahu faces from Washington Dec. 11, 2008 Rabbi Leiby Burnham: Our role in the Divine's global corporation, World Inc. The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: A retro-tasting pareve pot pie made with a light hand Dec. 10, 2008 Rabbi Paysach J. Krohn: Groom admits he was caught "red handed" Kara McGuire: No money for gifts? No problem Dec. 9, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Can I make my boss treat me fairly? Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Next Steps in the Indo-Pakistani Crisis Dec. 8, 2008 Rabbi Avi Shafran: 'Chanukah Bush' flap and graciousness Mark Steyn: Jews get killed, but Muslims feel vulnerable Dec. 5, 2008 Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Truth --- The Key to Gratitude Jeff Jacoby: UN's obsession is grotesque and Orwellian Oct. 29, 2003 Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review June 27, 2005 /20 Sivan, 5765 Twisted ‘tolerance’ By Diana West Freedom dies not just at gunpoint http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | With guns pointed at his shaved and visibly battered head, Australian hostage Douglas Wood said things he didn't mean, parroting words his captors fed him. In a clip of film that has become a jihadist cliché — masked gunmen, dehumanized captive, Al Jazeera logo — Mr. Douglas called for coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq, a jihadist goal he doesn't share with the thugs who imprisoned him for nearly seven weeks. After his rescue by American and Iraqi forces this week, the 64-year-old engineer made it clear he'd been coerced on tape, that he had not been speaking freely. "Frankly, I'd like to apologize to both President Bush and Prime Minister Howard for the things I said under duress," Mr. Wood said upon arriving in Melbourne. He also sang out a jubilant chorus of "Waltzing Matilda," Australia's unofficial anthem. What a twist, then, that this same week, in that same corner of Australia, just as Mr. Wood was exulting in his renewed pursuit of life and liberty, two of his fellow Aussies, Christian pastors Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot, were finding their own such pursuits derailed — not by vicious criminals in Iraq, but by civilized state statute. Mr. Wood could breathe freely in Australia and speak his mind once again; but the pastors Nalliah and Scot have been ordered by a tribunal in the state of Victoria to make public statements against their will, their conscience and their faith: namely, to apologize for their teachings on Islam, and to promise never to so teach again. As the first to be convicted of vilifying Islam under Victoria's "1984"-style Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, these men have vowed to go to jail rather than surrender their freedom of speech. The cases of the kidnapped engineer and the "guilty" pastors are not really parallel. The Victoria state court is not a murderous gang of jihadists. But there's something similarly outrageous about the coercion brought to be bear on these men — coercion at gunpoint in Iraq, or on pain of prison time in Australia — to revoke the precious and essential Western liberty to speak freely. Such liberty is what compelled both pastors to flee their native Pakistan, where "blasphemy" against Islam can be a capital offense. And there's another connection: The Islamic doctrine of jihad that inspires the terrorists in Iraq is precisely what lies at the core of the Australian pastors' lectures and teachings, which are based directly on verses of the Quran and other Islamic texts. What is car-wreck fascinating here is Judge Michael Higgins' conclusion that simply pointing out what the Quran says now constitutes outlawed speech in Victoria. During court proceedings, when Mr. Scot began to read verses from the Muslim holy book that denigrate women, a lawyer for the Islamic Council of Victoria, the plaintiff, cut him off, explaining that reading such verses aloud is itself an act of vilification. "How," wondered Mr. Scot, "can it be vilifying to Muslims in the room when I am just reading from the Quran?" BUY THE BOOK Does this book sound intriguing? Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.). How, indeed. As Robert Spencer, author of "Islam Unveiled" (Encounter Books, 2002), has pointed out, at another point in the trial the Australian judge was affronted that Mr. Scot had said that "the Quran promotes violence, killing and looting." Mr. Spencer wrote in FrontPageMag: "In light of Quranic passages such as 9:5, 2:191, 9:29, 47:4, 5:33 and many others, this cannot seriously be a matter of dispute. Muslims have pointed to verses in the Bible that they would have us believe are equivalent in violence and offensiveness, or have claimed that the great majority of Muslims don't take such verses literally; but it takes a peculiarly strong resistance to reality not only to deny that such verses are there, but to charge one who pointed them out with religious vilification." Mr. Nalliah, who plans to visit Great Britain to campaign against a similar vilification law now under consideration in Parliament, calls Victoria's shockingly totalitarian statute "sharia law by stealth." And so it is. In outlawing criticism of Islam — which, so far, is the effect of the law — Victoria has not only codified a peculiarly strong resistance to reality, it has also adopted the practice of sharia-ruled states. This makes for a startling spectacle — a free people placing a muzzle on speech, a limit on faith and a damper on inquiry. Douglas Wood lost his freedom at gunpoint; Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot lost theirs by court-ordered political correctness. We know who rescued Mr. Wood; who will save the pastors? Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor Diana West is a columnist and editorial writer for the Washington Times. Comment by clicking here. Diana West Archives © 2005, Diana West