By Ibrahim Vawda - Senior Researcher,MRN

On the 17th March 2010, Hussein Solomon, a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Pretoria, will be hosting a seminar titled: “Global Jihad: The South African Front”. In view of his anti-Muslim stance and the fact that his alarmist theories bordering on Islamophobia have been previously discredited, the following open letter has been sent to the relevant authorities at the University of Pretoria.

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10th March 2010

OPEN LETTER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

On 17th  March 2010, Professor Hussein Solomon, a lecturer in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, will be presenting a seminar entitled ‘Global Jihad: The South African Front’ as part of the Faculty of Humanities Seminar Series. While Media Review Network (MRN) respects and encourages responsible academic freedom and healthy dialogue, we are extremely concerned that Prof. Solomon is using the University of Pretoria as a platform to propagate his anti-Muslim views.

Professor Solomon has played a key role in fuelling alarm and suspicion against Muslims in South Africa. On 13 March 2008, MRN brought to the University’s attention the content of a defamatory address that Prof. Solomon made at a conference in Israel in September 2007. During this presentation Solomon claimed:

South African Muslim organizations, mosques and the Muslim media were psychologically preparing local Muslims for terrorism; Military training is occurring at various South African Muslim high schools; Muslims were a potential threat to the 2010 World Cup; South African madressahs (religious schools) were a breeding ground for terrorism.

By Gilad Atzmon

(source:  rense.com)

In a remarkable exposé of the Mossad operation in Dubai, The Times happens to refer to Meir Dagan's (the Mossad chief) 'philosophy'. "The tone of Dagan's directorship is set by a photograph on the wall of his modest office in the Tel Aviv headquarters. It shows an old Jew standing on the edge of a trench. An SS officer is aiming his rifle at the old man's head. 'This old Jew was my grandfather' Dagan tells visitors".

According to The Times, the picture reflects Dagan's belief: "We should be strong, use our brain, and defend ourselves so that the Holocaust will never be repeated,"
Dagan's interpretation of the photographic symbolism as a license to kill is rather banal yet common amongst Jews and Zionists in particular.

The State of Israel Feeds Anti-Semitism

Zionism a 'Terrible Enemy' of Jewish People

By Yakov M Rabkin

(source: Cape Times,March 10, 2010 Edition 1)

All Jews are Zionists. All Zionists are Jews. All Jews support Israel. These cliches are not only wrong; they are dangerous.

What is Zionism?

Zionism is a product of European history. Among the many tendencies within Zionism, the one that has triumphed formulated four objectives:

 to transform the transnational and extraterritorial Jewish identity centred on the Torah into a national identity, like ones then common in Europe;

•   to develop a new national language based on biblical and rabbinical Hebrew;

•   to transfer the Jews from their countries of origin to Palestine; and

•   to establish political and economic control over the land, if need be by force.
  

While other European nationalists, such as Poles or Lithuanians, needed only to wrest control of their countries from imperial powers to become "masters in their own houses," Zionists faced a far greater challenge in trying to achieve their objectives.

Both Zionists and their opponents agree that Zionism and the state of Israel constitute a break with Jewish history, a break that began with the emancipation and the secularisation of European Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries.

By Uri Avnery

(source: Counterpunch)

From time to time I ask myself: what would happen if the world's governments decided to abolish all their spy agencies simultaneously? True, it would be a great blow to the authors and movie producers who make their living from secret service stories. Their products would lose their appeal.

It would be a disaster for the huge army of fans which gobbles up spy adventures, the enthusiastic consumers of books and movies about superhuman heroes like James Bond and super-devious geniuses like John La Carre's Smiley.

But what would be the real damage if Washington stopped spying on Moscow and Moscow stopped spying on Washington, and both on Beijing? The result would be a draw. Immense sums of money would be saved, since a large part of the efforts of every spy agency is devoted to obstructing the intrigues of the competition. How many diseases could be overcome? How many hungry people fed, how many illiterates taught to read and write?

(source: VOCfm Online)

The Media Review Network (MRN) has expressed grave concerns about the security at OR Tambo airport, following claims that the Johannesburg airport was used as an escape route for Mossad assassins who on January 20 were responsible for the murder of Hamas member, Mahmoud Mabhouh in the UAE. Speaking to VOC on Monday morning, chairman of MRN, Iqbal Jassat, said its biggest concern was the way in which South African authorities have been deceived and security at a central entry point to the country was being manipulated by the Israeli secret service, Shin Bet, operating under the guise of El Al security personnel.

Security manipulation

"We are gravely concerned about this issue which emanates from the fact that El Al has been deceiving South African authorities in as much as they have been able to manipulate security at OR Tambo. A few months ago it was uncovered that El Al's security operatives are directly connected to Shin Bet. In fact, they are Shin Bet and they abuse the facility provided by the host country to airlines. They have deceived our authorities to the point that these operatives have been given diplomatic passports and immunity and may carry licenses fire arms," Jassat told VOC's Breakfast Beat.