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Merry Christmas from AQAP and Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri

AQAP (Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula) has released Issue 13 of its Inspire Magazine. I moved some parts of the cover around in the above picture, here's the actual cover.

It's been a long time since AQAP released an issue of Inspire. It seems they wanted to get this one out for Christmas, which will be the 5th anniversary of Captain Underpants' (Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab ) failed attempt to set off a bomb on a plane traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit.

The issue gets right to the point: America is the enemy and Al Qaida's supporters in our neck of the woods will be setting off more bombs. To help them, the issue offers encouragement and instructions on how to build a bomb in their kitchen. From the Editor of the magazine:

He continues: [More....]

[T]hat is the reason we have taken a long period to produce this issue. Here, we give the Muslim ummah a bomb recipe that America fears it might reach the hands of other Mujahideen in other fronts.

However, what America didn't expect is that this recipe is going to be in the reach of all Muslims around the world. It will circulate in the social media and Muslims will translate it into different languages. Some will be pleased and pass on the message; while others will be inspired and most importantly make the bomb.

Another illustration:

The issue's second notable feature is a rambling letter from AQ leader Sheikh Aiman Adhawâhiri, (aka Sheikh or Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri.)

On a somewhat amusing note, the magazine misspells "Chief" twice, reducing the grand leader to a mere "Chef."

But there's nothing amusing about al-Zawahiri's letter to the American people. If you were curious as to why al Qaida and its supporters hate us, "Chef" al-Zawahiri lays it out over several pages. This quote sums it all up:

We regret to inform you that you are the worst civilization in the history of the human race. You are a nation which does not observe the Law of Allâh, neither in your constitution nor in your statutes.

Shorter version: There are no innocent Americans because we elected our leaders and pay taxes which are used to fund the war on Muslims. So what our leaders do is our fault. We should have had better judgment.

He also makes 7 demands and says:

[I]f you don’t respond to our demands positively, then prepare to fight the Islamic nation,

I find his letter to be irrational, a misstatement of history and lacking in moral authority. Threatening to bomb innocent people and at the same time claiming the moral high ground is a head-scratcher, to say the least. His letter is just a revenge-screed --it's all about payback.

Since very few people are going to bother tracking down the magazine, and the media will pick and choose the most salacious of his words, I'm reprinting them in full below (minus one long paragraph of religious citations.)

I'll add two more thoughts on the letter here since it is so long I doubt anyone will make it through to the end to see them. The first is that the "core" Al Qaida, AQAP and al-Zawahiri have all become marginalized. ISIS has completely overshadowed them, in ability, money, weapons, recruitment and relevance. The AQ fighters in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen are only interested in fighting their regional battles on their home turf. They don't have the time, energy or interest to attack the U.S. here. AQ, unlike ISIS, doesn't want to take control of and rule the world, it wants to punish the U.S. and take revenge for what it perceives as the injustices done to Palestinians and other Muslims around the world.

My second thought is that this new threat is practically a concession that all AQAP and al-Zawahiri have left is the ability to recruit some lone wolves on the internet. Yes, there will be attempts, perhaps even today, and some may be successful, but not on a grand scale like 9/11. That ship has sailed, and AQ has no ability to pull off another one or anything close.

Okay, here's his letter:

Why do we fight and resist you?

The answer to the first question is simple. We fight you because you attacked us and continue to do so. You attacked us in Palestine, which has languished under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British, with your blessing and support, gifted it to the Jews, who have inflicted upon it over a half-century of oppression, aggression, criminality, murder, expulsion, demolition and destruction. If the creation and perpetuation of Israel is a crime, then you are the chief perpetrators, as I believe that American support of Israel is not a matter that needs to be demonstrated or proven. Israel is a crime and must be destroyed, and everyone whose hands are steeped in this crime must pay the price, and pay it dearly. The Palestinian blood being spilled in the Holy Land must be avenged, and be certain that the Palestinian people shall not cry nor die alone.

You attacked us in Somalia, support the Russian and Indian aggression against us in Chechnya and Kashmir, and supported the aggression of the Jews against us in Lebanon. Meanwhile, the puppet regimes that rule our countries attack us every day under your supervision, orders, and instruction. These regimes deprive our peoples of the rule of Islamic law by force and fraud, and humiliate us and put us in a huge prison of fear and compulsion. They steal our resources and provide them to you for a paltry price. And they surrendered to the Jews, presented them with most of Palestine and recognized their state on its dismembered remains.

The removal of these regimes is an Islamic obligation and a basic step towards the liberation of the Muslim nation, implementation of the Islamic Law, and recovery of Palestine. Thus, our battle with these regimes is inseparable from our battle with you. You steal our petrol and other resources at the lowest of costs to you, by the force of your navies and threat of your armies, in what constitutes the greatest robbery in the history of mankind

You occupy our countries with your military forces and build your bases, desecrating our land and encircling our holy places to protect the security of the Jews and to ensure the continuation of the perpetual plunder of our wealth.

You perpetrated an embargo against the Muslims of 'Irāq, where children were felled daily. It is amazing that one and half million 'Irāqi children died due to the embargo without you batting an eyelid, but when 3000 of your people were killed, the entire world stood up and never sat back down.

These tragedies and catastrophes are but some examples of your aggression towards us. In as much as it is recognized by both law and logic that the victim has the right to retaliate against his attackers, thus you should expect of us nothing less than more Jihâd, resistance, and retribution. Is it logical that America attacks us for more than 50 years and we let it live in security and peace?!

You might argue that none of the above justifies attacking civilians for crimes they did not commit or participate in. But such an argument flies in the face of your constant refrain that your land is the Land of Liberty and you are freedom’s standard-bearers in this world. Thus, the American people choose their government with their own free will on the basis of their agreement with its policies.

Accordingly, the American people have chosen and agreed to America’s backing of Israel’s occupation and rape of Palestine. Conversely, the American people could, if they wished, reject the policies of their government. The American people pay the taxes that pay for the planes which bomb us in Afghānistān, the tanks that demolish our houses over our heads in Palestine, the armies which occupy us on the Arabian Peninsula, and the navies that surround our children in 'Irāq, taxes that go to Israel so that it can continue to attack us and confiscate more of our land.

Thus, it is the American people who are funding the aggression, since they monitor and direct, through their elected representatives, how their tax dollars are spent. And it is American men and women who serve in the American armed forces that are attacking us. For these reasons, it is not possible that the American people are innocent of all the crimes which the Americans and Jews have committed against us.

Allâh has made Qisās (retribution) an observed law. So it is our right to attack whoever attacks us, and destroy the towns and villages of those who destroy ours, and destroy the economy of those who plunder our wealth, and kill the civilians of the country that kills our civilians. To this day, American journalists and politicians refuse to answer your question: 'Why did they attack us on September 11?!'

To what do we call you and what do we want of you?

The first thing to which we invite you is Islam, the religion of Unitarian faith and disowning of all forms of polytheism and taking of partners for Allâh in His worship and obedience, the religion of total love for Allâh and total submission. His law and abandonment of all opinions, philosophies, and theories which contradict the message which He revealed to His prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم the religion of all the prophets, among whom we make no distinctions.

To this last of all revealed religions we call you, the religion of sincerity, good character, righteousness, pureness, compassion, and piety. The religion of doing good to people, establishing justice among them, giving them their rights, defending the oppressed and persecuted, and enjoining good and forbidding evil with the hand, tongue, and heart. The religion of Jihâd for the Cause of Allâh until His Word becomes the supreme. The religion of unity in obedience to Allâh and equality between all people without regard to color, race, or tongue. The religion whose book, the Qur’an, remains preserved and unchanged, even after all other heavenly books and messages have been altered and replaced. The Qur’an, that eternal miracle in which Allâh challenges His Creation to produce anything like it or even like ten of its verses.

The second thing that we ask of you is that you refrain from the oppression, falsehood, immorality, and criminality that exist among you. We call you to morals, values, chastity and purity, and ask you to abandon immoralities like adultery, fornication, perversions, alcohol, gambling, usury, and the selling of sex. We call you to this so that you might be liberated from that into which you have fallen, and that you might be freed of the deception that your politicians have fed to you in order to hide from you the sorry state that you have reached: that you are a “great nation”.

We regret to inform you that you are the worst civilization in the history of the human race. You are a nation which does not observe the Law of Allâh, neither in your constitution nor in your statutes.

The third thing we ask of you is that you stop and honestly reflect on yourselves – which I doubt you will do – to discover that you are a nation without values, principles, or morals, and that these things, as you understand them, are what you expect of others and not what you yourselves
must abide by.

The fourth thing that we ask of you is that you end your support of Israel, India, Russia, and the Philippine in their wars against the Muslims.

The fifth thing that we ask of you is that you pack your bags and leave our countries. We wish you well and hope for your guidance, so don’t force us to ship you home in boxes.

The sixth thing that we ask of you is that you end your support of the corrupt and corruptive rulers of our countries and end your interference in our national policies and the curricula of our educational institutions. Either leave us alone, or expect us in New York and Washington.

The seventh thing that we ask of you is that you interact with us on the basis of mutual benefit instead of the current policy of compulsion, plunder, occupation, and support of the Jews, which shall only bring upon you more disasters. And if you don’t respond to our demands positively, then prepare to fight the Islamic nation, the nation of Unitarian faith that relies on Allâh Alone and fears nothing save Him; the nation that is addressed by its book: [passages omitted]

The nation of Islam, destroyer and defeater - by the Grace of Allâh - of many an empire the like of yours; a nation which despises your aggression, looks forward to the end of your evil, and is ready to fight you. And you, of all people, know the extent of the loathing of your arrogance that exists throughout the Islamic nation.

Should the Americans not heed our advice and invitation to guidance and righteousness, then they shall suffer the curse of Bush, who has called them to a crusade in which they will be defeated by the Mujahideen, Allâh willing, just as their crusader forefathers were sent home defeated and disgraced by our Mujahid forefathers. Should the Americans not take heed, they shall meet the fate of the Soviets, who fled Afghānistān to face military defeat, political disintegration, ideological collapse, and economic bankruptcy.

This has been our letter to Americans in reply to their letter. Perhaps they now understand why we resist and against which civilization of ignorance we shall be victorious, Allâh willing.

I have no idea what letter he is talking about that we wrote him, but I do have one final thought, which is that al-Zawahiri missed a big opportunity in his letter. If he wanted his letter to resonate with Americans, he should have added the one area where AQ has had an impact: reducing our freedoms. We are watched and surveilled today like never before, and but for AQ, and now ISIS, our phone calls, our internet activity, our physical movements and our travel would never be monitored to the extent they are now. There would be have been no renditions, torture or Guantanamo to shame us. AQ may or may not have made us less safe, but it certainly made us less free.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a peaceful New Year to you too, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri.

< Christmas Eve Open Thread | Christmas Day Open Thread >
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  • Display: Sort:
    US strikes have killed 1100 ISIS fighters.. (5.00 / 2) (#1)
    by desertswine on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 12:02:04 AM EST
    1,100 down and 50k + more to go? (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 12:05:04 AM EST
    With hundreds joining ISIS every day, all of whom consider it an honor to be killed, I don't think that figure indicates we're "winning."

    Nor will it be any consolation to the family of the Jordanian pilot it captured today.

    Parent

    Oh my, no... (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by desertswine on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 12:32:40 AM EST
    this is not "winnable."  And I certainly wouldn't want to be in that poor pilot's shoes.

    Parent
    I thought you were possibly (5.00 / 2) (#21)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 03:25:22 PM EST
    referring to a conflict between ISIL and those who believe Genesis is revealed truth and climate science hokum.

    Is the US his Only Target? (none / 0) (#4)
    by RickyJim on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 09:08:16 AM EST
    The fourth thing that we ask of you is that you end your support of Israel, India, Russia, and the Philippine in their wars against the Muslims.
     Has he written any similar letters to those countries?  Why did he leave China out of his list?  Would it be a good idea for the US to leave a reply, under Obama's signature, on an official website?

    What is (none / 0) (#5)
    by lentinel on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 10:03:39 AM EST
    particularly chilling is the assertion that we, the people, are responsible for the acts of our government.

    That goes for Vietnam.
    That goes for the invasion of Iraq.

    That goes for a lot of things.

    What they don't quite get is that we really have no choice in the matter because both political parties are espousing the same policies with respect to the same countries.

    We had Bush.
    Now we have Obama.
    From their point of view, a distinction without a difference.

    My thoughts went to the way we viewed the culpability of the German people for the acts of the Third Reich. In our "saturation" bombing, Dresden comes to mind, we made no distinction between those civilians who identified proudly with Hitler, and those who may have actively tried to oppose him, or those who simply may have felt helpless and were trying to make the best of it. All were considered to be fair targets.

    This quote from WW2 Russia:

    "Young fighters! You know what frightful suffering and what pain the Germans have caused your people, your family, your girlfriends. Avenge them without mercy. For the life of every Soviet take the lives of ten Germans. [...] Remember that any day in which you have killed no Germans is a lost day."

    In America, plans were floated for the mass sterilization of the German people. Every man and woman were to be sterilized so that the German people as a whole would cease to exit. No less a personage that FDR has this quote attributed to him:

    "We have got to be tough with Germany and I mean the German people, not just the Nazis. You either have to castrate the German people or you have got to treat them in such a manner so they can't just go on reproducing people who want to continue the way they have in the past."

    I do, I must admit, fear for our lives.

    I also, I must admit, think that many of their grievances are justified in terms of the imposition of our power over the lives of their countries and their citizens. I can't imagine what it would be like for us to see foreign soldiers on our soil, with their own airfields and barracks, and taking off and bombing at will. Yikes!

    I just wish we could sit down and talk with these people.
    Let them air their grievances and see if there is a way to resolve them.

    At the moment, we are seeing only a caricature of them.
    And they of us.

    Hokum (none / 0) (#7)
    by Politalkix on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 10:54:03 AM EST
    Lentinel wrote
    "I just wish we could sit down and talk with these people.
     Let them air their grievances and see if there is a way to resolve them."

    I have a feeling that if Dick Cheney was a ruthless dictator of a foreign country and did all the things he did as VP of the United States, the lentinels of the world would be attacking the American President for not sitting down and talking to him and not listening to his "grievances". The image that Deadeye Dick has amongst commenters here would then just be a "caricature" created from propaganda and not an accurate one of him, to these people. They would certainly not be clamoring to send him to the Hague on war crimes charges but would write paragraph after paragraph that it was unclear that all accusations were not trumped up charges.

     

    Parent

    I wish I could figure out how to give you a 5 (none / 0) (#8)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 11:41:01 AM EST
    Your words are correct and strike to the heart of the "America always wrong" complaint that many, but not all than goodness, spouted by those on the Left.

    Parent
    Geesh, Jim, just give him a 5 (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 12:06:12 PM EST
    Consider it a Holiday gift.

    Parent
    America always wrong (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 12:20:12 PM EST
    Like MKL, Jr. on racism, William Lloyd Garrison on slavery, Susan B. Anthony on woman's rights.w

    Parent
    If all (none / 0) (#30)
    by lentinel on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 07:38:25 PM EST
    you read is "America is wrong" in the comment I wrote above, it is shockingly sad.

    What I wrote, in simpler terms, is that the notion that all citizens are responsible for the acts of their government and are subject to bloody reprisal is not something new from ISIS or Muslims.

    It is an emotion we ourselves have expressed. It is an emotion and an exhortation that is far from uncommon - no matter how unjust or how unreasonable. It goes back at least to the "glory" days of Rome.

    A relatively recent expression of this emotion would be the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bomb did not discriminate between good and bad Japanese. It killed everybody.
    I do not fault America for using it. I am simply saying that that is the kind of thing that happens when people get fed up, desperate and really and truly angry. And whether you like it or not, whether you think it is justified or not, that is what many in the region of the ME feeling.

    I think we ignore that reality at our peril.

    Parent

    Like all dictators (none / 0) (#12)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 12:16:30 PM EST
    Cheney never cops to making a mistake, but always blames others instead.

    Parent
    A caricature? I think they've made their (none / 0) (#10)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 11:53:42 AM EST
    objectives pretty clear.

    But rather than more talk-talk, here with further explanation, is William Banzai..

    Parent

    That image (none / 0) (#31)
    by lentinel on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 07:48:49 PM EST
    is a caricature. An example of what I'm talking about.
    A cartoon. A simplification.

    It is similar to their view of us, and the ravages we have brought upon them in their countries.

    I suggest you actually read what Jeralyn has posted. It may shake you, or awaken you to what is motivating ISIS and the like to express the examples of barbaric behavior symbolized by the cartoon to which you linked.

    I am trying to think of a way to avoid the kind of actions that ISIS is trying to get lone wolfs to do.

    Just saying, "You stink", to them isn't going to resolve anything, and in fact leaves us very frighteningly vulnerable.

    Parent

    That magazine cover is chilling. (none / 0) (#6)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 10:47:42 AM EST
    Just. Plain. Chilling.

    For those of you who (none / 0) (#9)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 11:52:17 AM EST
    rejected bin Ladin's declaration of war:

    REPORTER: Mr. Bin Ladin, will the end of the United States' presence in Saudi Arabia, their withdrawal, will that end your call for jihad against the United States and against the US ?

    BIN LADIN:  ....So, the driving-away jihad against the US does not stop with its withdrawal from the Arabian peninsula, but rather it must desist from aggressive intervention against Muslims in the whole world.

    Link

    I offer this as proof of what he meant.

    We fight you because you attacked us and continue to do so. You attacked us in Palestine, which has languished under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British, with your blessing and support, gifted it to the Jews,

    This is a religious war. It was a war to eliminate the Jews and all who oppose their imposition of their version of Islam on the world.

    We must win it. We have no choice.

    A religious war.. (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 02:50:48 PM EST
    has to involve at least two religious combatants, your Holiness.

    The nations opposing Isis aren't donning tunics decorated with red crosses or marching behind the Ark of the Covenant.

    And the blood-thirsty fanaticism embraced by ISIL isn't a new officially recognized religion.

    Parent

    The attacks by ISIS (none / 0) (#19)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 03:02:44 PM EST
    and the other radical islamist groups are clearly based on their religion.

    If you don't believe me ask the folks who had their heads chopped off while the murderer was screaming "God is great."

    Parent

    Those opposing ISIL (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 06:01:06 PM EST
    aren't doing it because they're following the dictates of their religion; they're doing it because ISIL is destabilizing the region and committing acts of barbarism.

    Parent
    It isn't the religion of (none / 0) (#38)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 27, 2014 at 09:36:57 AM EST
    those being attacked.

    It is the badly warped religious beliefs of ISIS.

    Thus it is a religious war.

    Parent

    It kinda does... (none / 0) (#34)
    by unitron on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 08:21:54 PM EST
    ...involve two different religious views--their particular version and vision of Islam, and on the other side anyone and everyone (include other, differently thinking Muslims)who doesn't share it, for the sin of which they feel obligated to end our lives.

    Wars don't require both sides to want to be in them, just one who wants it bad enough to start something.

    Parent

    I wonder what it is (none / 0) (#23)
    by NYShooter on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 03:35:03 PM EST
    that has these Muslim entities so fixated, so crazed over that tiny dot of sand known today as Israel. I don't claim to be a scholar regarding the history of the Middle East. But, I have tried to educate myself about the issues both sides espouse.

    First of all, virtually the entire planet has had its borders reconfigured countless times. A map of today would be unrecognizable 50 years ago. A hundred years ago? Forget about it, and, in the area, today called Palestine, its history is counted in thousands of years. So, when we talk about who, rightfully, owns the land comprising today's Israel you have ask the question, what period in history are we talking about? Its "ownership" has changed hands countless times through the years.

    If we're talking about 1948, when, after the War, Britain, and its allies, tried to do the right thing and divide up the land in a way they thought was equitable, it's true that Israel was formed, and some Muslim nomads who didn't want to assimilate, were expelled. But. The idea that the "Palestinians" were the rightful, historical owners is just false, factually, not true.

    There never was a "Palestine" country. Nomads drifted in and out of that area for centuries. Certainly, the Muslim countries surrounding the dot (today's Israel) didn't want anything to do with the wandering tribes who, today, we refer to as Palestinians. With all their thousands of square miles of land, none of them offered a square inch to the "Palestinians" as a homeland. And, some of the surrounding countries even agreed with the post-war divisions.

    The Allies' justification for their realignment in the M.E. was plausible. The whole world was restructured after WW2. They tried to draw borders in a way that to them seemed equitable. The Jewish people had suffered centuries of unrelenting oppression, culminating in the horror of horrors, The Holocaust. Giving them a tiny homeland seemed like the right thing to do. Certainly, the fact that the M.E. Muslims were enthusiastic collaborators, allies, and supporters of the Nazis may have played a role in the decision.

    My point in all this is that the spin today regarding the birth of Israel is a distortion of the facts. They didn't expel the rightful owners of that land, there never was a country called Palestine. And, arguing who is the rightful owner is a no-win proposition. The Israelis occupied the land for hundreds of years, and, at other times, other nomads lived there. My belief is that the current powers in the M.E. don't give a fig about the "Palestinians." They never did, and, in fact, considered them a nuisance, a nuisance that none of the large Muslim countries wanted anything to do with........until 1948.

    It has everything to do with rampant, virile, anti-Semitism, and, nothing to do with land, borders, or, "rightful" homeland.


    Please Try to Educate Yourself Some More (none / 0) (#25)
    by RickyJim on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 05:26:46 PM EST
    I don't claim to be a scholar regarding the history of the Middle East. But, I have tried to educate myself about the issues both sides espouse.
    it's true that Israel was formed, and some Muslim nomads who didn't want to assimilate, were expelled.

    The second one is an extreme distortion of the condition of the Arab population in 1948 and that is not your only inaccuracy.  For a good start, I suggest this account of the situation in 1905, by a Jewish settler from Russia. It will give you an idea how the situation in the Levant and the history of the world might have developed differently, had his fellow Zionists paid attention to him.

    Parent
    Also, his assertion about nomads (none / 0) (#28)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 05:51:37 PM EST
    Is tommyrot.

    Link

    The researchers analyzed the Y chromosome, which is usually passed unchanged from father to son, of more than 1,000 men worldwide. Throughout human history, alterations have occurred in the sequence of chemical bases that make up the DNA in this so-called male chromosome, leaving variations that can be pinpointed with modern genetic techniques. Related populations carry the same specific variations. In this way, scientists can track descendants of large populations and determine their common ancestors.

    Specific regions of the Y chromosome were analyzed in 1,371 men from 29 worldwide populations, including Jews and non-Jews from the Middle East, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe.

    The study, published in the May 9 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Jewish men shared a common set of genetic signatures with non-Jews from the Middle East, including Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese, and these signatures diverged significantly from non-Jewish men outside of this region. Consequently, Jews and Arabs share a common ancestor and are more closely related to one another than to non-Jews from other areas of the world.

    The study also revealed that despite the complex history of Jewish migration in the Diaspora (the time since 556 B.C. when Jews migrated out of Palestine), Jewish communities have generally not intermixed with non-Jewish populations. If they had, then Jewish men from different regions of the world would not share the same genetic signatures in their Y chromosome.

    "Because ancient Jewish law states that Jewish religious affiliation is assigned maternally, our study afforded the opportunity to assess the contribution of non-Jewish men to present-day Jewish genetic diversity," says Michael Hammer, Ph.D., from the University of Arizona, Tucson, who is the lead author of the new study. "It was surprising to see how significant the Middle Eastern genetic signal was in Jewish men from different communities in the Diaspora," he



    Parent
    Your cut & paste "contribution" (none / 0) (#33)
    by NYShooter on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 08:14:29 PM EST
    is pretty much common knowledge.

    Your unnecessary greeting, "tommyrot," well, that's just you.

    Parent

    Then, you admit (none / 0) (#36)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 08:50:28 PM EST
    That the genetic studies demonstrate stable populations in that part of the world in recent times, and not "nomads"' which would imply much more genetic diversity.

    Parent
    Thanks, (none / 0) (#32)
    by NYShooter on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 08:06:11 PM EST
    I will read your linked article.

    But, just so that I'm clear; I'm not looking for a debate, I'm looking for a dialogue.

    I'm sure you're aware of how angry, and, partisan the arguments have been regarding Israel. The only things missing have been facts, truth, and, reality. The history of the Middle East has been studied, and debated, by scholars for thousands of years. If the answers were simple we wouldn't still be debating them today.

    If you're open to an honest discussion, That'd be great.

    Parent

    NYShooter (none / 0) (#37)
    by Politalkix on Fri Dec 26, 2014 at 08:23:54 AM EST
    I am quite interested in hearing from you about your opinions regarding the way forward. There is no point in debating how we got here because it will not lead anywhere. We will be hearing the same arguments that all parties have been making since 1948.
    Israel will have an election in mid-March. What do you think will be the best outcome for the middle-east, the United States and the world?

    Parent
    Well (none / 0) (#27)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 05:50:39 PM EST
    one is certainly the Dome of the Rock

    According to some Islamic scholars, the rock is the spot[22] from which the Islamic prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel. Further, Muhammad

    Inconvenient that he chose to do it on the exact site of the Second Jewish Temple which I think had been replaced by a temple to Jupiter.

    Not having a "dog in the fight" as they say I was always sort of amused that the Muslims did exactly what the Christians had made popular.  Placing their holy whatever right on top of the previous holy whatever.  It works for locations and holidays.
    Btw-Happy Saturnalia!!!!

    Parent

    Thread cleaned of (none / 0) (#24)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 04:40:07 PM EST
    commenter spats. Take your insults to each other to email or start your own blog. This space is for readers' views on the topic I wrote about.

    "It seems they wanted... (none / 0) (#35)
    by unitron on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 08:40:40 PM EST
    ...to get this one out for Christmas..."

    How nice of them to be thinking of us this holiday season.

    ;-)