Think about it, Western countries “welcome” Muslim refugees and migrants, offer them a good life, feed and care for them until the time they can go join the Jihad as healthy Islamic warriors.
Here is the story from ABC NewsAustralia (hat tip: Leonie):
Emphasis is mine
Saying good-bye to fellow Jihadist
New video has emerged of the man claimed to be Australia’s first suicide bomber.
The video appears to be published by the Al Qaeda-linked group, Jabhat al Nusrah, which has previously said the Australian blew himself up in an attack on an army checkpoint in north-eastern Syria in September.
It is the most revealing insight yet into the man’s last hours and shows the group preparing the massive truck bomb used in the attack.
[….]
Since sketchy images of the bombing and a still image of Abu Asma emerged identifying him as an Australian in September, Australia’s intelligence and police agencies have been trying to trace his route from suburban obscurity to jihad.
It is understood they have identified the man they believe carried out the bombing.
Jihad is the duty of every Muslim! Forget your family and the “good life.”
He bids farewell to fellow jihadists then urges more foreigners to come and join the fight.
“This is a message to all my brothers in the world: Today jihad is a duty of every Muslim, to carry a weapon and come to the land of jihad… today jihad is duty imposed on every Muslim, so rise up Muslims.
“This is a duty imposed on us and the best of people are those who fight for the sake of God. So if you are afraid, why are you afraid? For your wives and your children? Trust in God. In the West or in any country, you think you are men? Or (that) you are living a good life? Today real men are living in the land of jihad. They are our brothers, they are the Muslims who defend the religion of God.”
20 to 30 Australians are believed to have joined the Jihad. Not mentioned here is any discussion about how they became indoctrinated in Australia. Radical mosques?
There are signs that others who have expressed an interest in fighting in Syria have been able to use contacts in Australia to get in touch with armed groups.
The militias are happy to get new recruits, but want them to bring money for weapons and supplies, and there is evidence many would-be jihadists raise money in Australia before heading to Syria.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) says over the past 12 months there has been a substantial increase in the number of Australians going to join hardline groups, including Jabhat al Nusra.
In just a year the number has risen from a few to 20 or 30, possibly more.
Australian security is cancelling passports of those they suspect might be ready to bolt. That is something we should be doing in the US too! And, where have they been bolting to? To Turkey as the gateway to Syria!
Turkey is the most important gateway for foreign fighters headed into Syria.
Presumably to head off the fear some have of the Jihadists returning to Australia, the government is also cancelling passports of those they suspect have gone for terrorism training so they can’t get back in!
The fears about what these men might do in Australia when they head home are well publicised.
For the news in 2008 about America’s first suicide bomber, go here. Those Somali “kids” who left the “good life” in Minneapolis to receive terror training in Somalia may never have grown up except for the goodness of the American tax payer.
For more on Australia’s immigration problems, click here.
Consider the source! The World Socialists are mad as hell at Australia which has managed to thwart more boat arrivals of illegal aliens in recent weeks. Readers may wish to visit our Australia category, here, where we have several recent posts about how immigration policy in Australia was front and center in recent elections.
Here is what the spitting-mad Socialists say (emphasis mine):
At his weekly media briefing on asylum seeker arrivals last Friday, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison boasted of halting the arrival of refugee boats. No vessels arrived in the previous week, he said, while refusing to say whether the Australian navy pushed any back to Indonesia.
Both Morrison and Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell, the commander of the Abbott government’s military campaign, dubbed Operation Sovereign Borders, to prevent boat arrivals, responded to questions about boats being forced back by saying they would not comment on “on-water operations.”
These remarks reinforced the extraordinary secrecy and military atmosphere surrounding the government’s anti-refugee policy.
[…..]
There is fundamental bipartisan unity on this reactionary objective. The Labor opposition’s responded to Morrison’s boasts by insisting that the previous Rudd government had already succeeded in stopping refugees by deporting all arrivals to detention in remote Pacific island camps in Nauru or Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Manus Island.
[…..]
Just as the campaign for the September 7 election featured a contest between Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition to produce the most punitive anti-refugee policy, since the election there has been a fight to claim credit for repelling asylum seekers, accompanied by a cover-up of what is happening to the victims of the new regime.
They are “illegal arrivals.”
Morrison has instructed his department to refer to asylum seekers as “illegal” arrivals, a term he used throughout last Friday’s briefing. It is not illegal under Australian or international law to claim asylum. The 1951 Refugee Convention recognises a right to flee persecution, and refugees arriving in Australia have committed no crime under domestic law.
Get this! The Syria “crisis” is the West’s fault (say what!) and so therefore the Socialists say we have to welcome Syrians to live in Western countries, presumably forever! And, be entitled to breast enhancement and botox.
Having helped create this catastrophe in Syria, just as they did in backing US-led interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya before it, successive Australian governments have increasingly sought to shut the door to those fleeing the consequences.
For new readers, the Rohingya are Muslims, some of whom have lived in Burma, others in Bangladesh. They are often called “stateless” by the human rights industrial complex which has made them a cause celebre in a public relations campaign we have followed for over five years. We have a category specifically for Rohingya posts, here(156 previous posts!)
Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, second from right, is quoted often in support of Rohingya.
Australians, fed up with the thousands of mostly Muslim illegal migrants coming to their shores in recent years, has elected a government which is sending signals that it won’t be a push-over as some recent governments have been on the subject of illegal immigration.
Here is an article in The Irrawaddywhich reports that Rohingya people (already in their own “cultural zones” of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh) are now having second thoughts about trying to reach Australia. Emphasis below is mine.
KUALA LUMPUR — Australia’s clampdown on refugees and migrants trying to reach the country’s shores by boat has prompted uncertainty among Rohingya who, facing state oppression and attacks by Arakanese Buddhists, have fled Burma in the tens of thousands in recent years.
Since Australia’s now-ousted Labor government decided in July to prevent refugees traveling by sea from landing in Australia—saying that would-be arrivals would be taken to processing centers in neighboring Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG)—some Rohingya who had hopes of making it to Australia are now in a bind.
“We are disappointed, we feel like we are stuck,” said Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, president of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHOM). “Many of us do not have papers here [in Malaysia] and we have no status in Burma. It is a difficult situation for anyone who hoped to travel to Australia,” Ahmad told The Irrawaddy. [To “travel” or make an illegal run for Australian shores!—ed]
Thousands of Rohingya refugees undertake a treacherous maritime journey from western Burma to Thailand or Malaysia. From there some in turn hope to reach Australia, usually attempting another dangerous maritime crossing through the Indian Ocean.
[…..]
Rohingya arrivals to Australia are difficult to quantify, as those who do make it are listed as “stateless” by Australia, while some others who arrived in Australia over recent years claimed to be Rohingya but were assessed by Australia to be either Bangladeshi nationals or Burmese Muslims, according to Chris Lewa. [I suspect that those Rohingya getting into the US through refugee resettlement are being referred to as Burmese Muslims as well, since the word ‘Rohingya’ is associated with some pretty rough types.—ed]
Australian government statistics—covering the years from 1998 to 2012—list 2,204 stateless maritime arrivals to Australia, a cohort that includes Kurds, Palestinians and Rohingya.
The boat people issue became a major election issue as immigration restrictionist Tony Abbott was elected as the new Prime Minister last month.
A voter backlash against the arrival of over 40,000 asylum seekers since 2007, when policy was relaxed for a time, prompted both of Australia’s main parties to suggest tighter controls.
I found this bit of the story of interest too:
Indonesia is a common transit point for refugees trying to reach Australia, Rohingya included. At least 28 Middle Eastern migrants drowned when a boat, which was aiming to reach Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, sank off Indonesia in late September.
Note they are simply referred to generically as ‘Middle Eastern’ migrants with no mention that they were Lebanese pretending to be Syrian refugees as our commenter ‘pungentpeppers’ reported here.
The photo is from this story about a UNHCR meeting in June. In a cursory search I can’t find a specific website for Lewa’s Arakan Project, lots of references to Lewa and the status of the Project as an NGO, but no website. if any industrious readers find one, let us know!
Asylum seekers at off-shore detention centres asked doctors for breast enlargements, IVF treatments, Botox and cosmetic dentistry, the director of health services has said.
Dr Ling Yoong, who was director of health on Christmas Island, Nauru and Manus Island, revealed the odd requests to the Medical Observer this week.
She also said she refused the requests.
“We give [the asylum seekers] the health services they need, we do not give them the services they want,” Dr Yoong said.
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison reiterated that “those seeking to come illegally by boat won’t receive such lavish treatments”.
Refugee advocates know that this type of publicity for those they are depicting as poor and destitute, is deadly.
An unnamed refugee advocate told The Australian that such requests were “outrageous” but also an “aberration”.
Choosing a photo was challenging because the before (botox) and after (botox) pictures of Secretary of State John Kerry are pretty amazing.
This is our 115th post in our ‘Australia category.’ Thanks to all of you who visit RRW from Australia, you consistently represent our second highest number of readers after the US.
This is a special commentary from reader ‘pungentpeppers’ who has become a much-appreciated unofficial reporter and investigator here at RRW. Emphasis is mine.
The doomed boat (photo texted from a cell phone).
A LEBANESE TRAGEDY
You may have heard the terrible news last week about the ill-fated group of mostly Lebanese migrants who had dreams of living in Australia. They included 68 Lebanese citizens, of whom 40 perished. Many of them were children who drowned when their boat crashed and broke up in rough waters 50 meters off the Indonesian coast. It was an ill-conceived voyage from the start.
These Lebanese, who were dissatisfied with their lives in Lebanon, believed they could do better. So they listened to the sales pitches of unscrupulous smugglers. People smugglers, who work in the lucrative trade of transporting human souls, persuaded their Lebanese victims that they would be transported safely and would receive residency in Australia. Some Lebanese from their region had previously succeeded in such a venture. But the smugglers neglected to mention that the Australian Government had changed its policies and would no longer grant asylum to any person who comes to Australia illegally by boat.
There were warnings. One man, Ali Taleb, who had already settled in Australia and was living in Melbourne, told his brother, “If you come with them I will never talk to you till the end of time.” Perhaps because of that threat his brother is alive today. Another family, that of survivor Hussein Khoder, urged the father to make the voyage alone, and leave his eight children in Lebanon – their grandfather offered to take care of them. His brother said, “There’s a 90 percent chance you will die.” But Hussein Khoder answered, “Either we all die, or we all live”, and chose to go ahead. Call it hubris, call it irrational expectations, or call it entitlement or greed, or perhaps it was the false belief that the involvement of children would force the Australian Government’s hand – whatever was in his mind, the man decided to spend the $80,000 the smugglers demanded, and set out with his wife and children for Indonesia, along with the other doomed travelers.
The plan for these Lebanese was to pose as Syrian war refugees, fly to Indonesia, get on a boat, and then call Australian rescue who would come, like a taxi service, and pick them up and carry them to Australia. The migrants destroyed their Lebanese documents, grabbed their fake Syrian passports and took off from Indonesia in a rickety wooden boat. One of the men texted home to Lebanon a picture of them sitting on that boat. [*photograph link below* use as illustration*] The small craft traveled some distance, but was still within the range of cell phone service, so it could not have wandered far offshore. At that point, according to one of the survivors, Abdullah Al-Qisi, they called the Australian Government for help, even though they were still close to the Indonesian shoreline. “We called the Australian Government for 24 hours, they were telling us ‘we’re coming, we’re coming, we’re coming,’ and they didn’t come,” said Al-Qisi to TV reporters. “We sent them the position on the GPS, exactly where we are, and we drowned and nobody came. This is because of the Australian Government. I want them to know that.” “And we wait two hours. We wait 24 hours, and we kept calling them: ‘We don’t have food, we don’t have water for three days, we have children, just rescue us.’ And nobody come. Sixty person dead now because of Australian government.’’ He further alleged that he lost his whole family because Australians did not come when they phoned in the rescue the day before the sinking.
Here’s where accounts differ: The asylum seekers’ story was that they called on Thursday. However, a statement from the Australian immigration minister’s office states that the first time the Australians heard about the boat was from a call on Friday morning. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority coordinated the initial rescue effort and notified the Indonesian search and rescue agency, since the boat was in Indonesian waters. A merchant vessel responded, as well as an Australian Border Protection Command aircraft, but neither could locate the vessel.
But why did the boat migrants need help? The survivors said their two motors had stopped working. So they called Australia and waited for their Australian rescuers to arrive. While they waited, their stocks of food and water diminished and the seas grew rougher. The motor that pumped water ran out of fuel, and the boat started taking on water. The migrants and the boat’s crew decided they had better turn back towards land. It’s unclear how they managed to return without either “broken” motor working.
Once they were within 50 meters of the Indonesian shore, tragedy struck. The boat crashed in heavy seas and broke into pieces. The men who could swim headed for the shore. As far as I can tell practically all of the women on board perished. One woman, Nazime Bakour, spied the eldest of her three children in the water and grabbed him, saving his life. Most of the men, however, apparently saved only their own skins. Hussein Khoder, the man who had paid $80,000 to the smugglers to take him, his pregnant wife, and eight children on the boat – he was the sole survivor of his family. He swam ashore and left his family behind to drown.
I cannot comprehend how a man who was able to collect $80,000 for such a trip, would not spend some of that sum on life jackets for his children! Saying they are “poor” and have no money is a recurring theme with these migrants. Yet if you saw the conditions in which they were living in Lebanon – their town, their automobiles, their houses, their furniture – and their ability to come up with thousands upon thousands of dollars to pay the smugglers – you realize they have a rather strange notion of poverty.
After the disaster, the survivors appeared on television, very emotional. Abdullah Al-Qisi mentioned previously, who spoke excellent English, complained and blamed the Australians. He said he called the Australians many times on his iPhone! Did he ever think to use his iPhone to look at the map and check the distance to Australia? Did he not realize that maybe he should call Indonesia and not Australia, especially since they were barely offshore?! Al-Qisi and the others spoke of the lost women and children. How precious and beloved these women and children must have been that the men did not strive to save them? Left them in the water? Did not give them life jackets? Put them on a rickety boat? Indeed, they seem not to have been very concerned about those “women and children”!
An Australian television program, SBS Dateline, aired a 6-minute special about the reaction in Lebanon to the deaths. The video shows Qabeit, the village where many of the victims came from. Overhead hangs a black banner describing those who perished as “martyrs*** in search of a dignified life”. It’s a nice village, surrounded by orchards and mountains. People have cars and trucks, not donkeys. Homes, not shacks. Furniture, not mats on the floor. Curtains on the windows. People who looked well fed. Do they even know what “poor” means? Yet, in the film they say the family that spent $80,000 could not “afford” to buy their baby a bed. The relatives of the dead children brought out their photographs, and called them “an army” – because of how many they were. One by one, they reverentially laid out each photograph on a table. They showed the girls. They showed the boys. As the pictures of the two lost boys were placed on the table, their uncle called each one by his nickname and said he was “mudallal” – “pampered”. Yes, the boys were pampered and spoiled. And as spoiled boys become men – they become willing to risk their women and children’s lives and leave them in the ocean to drown.
The cleric of the village, Sheik Ali Khoder, yelled in anger in Arabic, “Listen, Australia. The boat sought help and rescue and the coastguard kicked the boat out and told the boat “Go back to where you came from.” Shame on you. Shame on you. Ask for the meaning of these words. Australia, shame on you. Australia, which has been the land of dreams, freedom, humanity and justice for so long. Shame on you, that your new rulers have reached the stage of killing people and making this part of their election campaign. Is there a court of justice to try you, Australia?” Yes, the speechmaker was indignant and angry and put on a big show. Lebanon is all about appearances. It doesn’t matter that the ship fell apart but 50 meters from Indonesia’s shore. It does not matter that the migrants were neither kicked out, nor were they told to go back. The evil Australians are to blame! They must be made to feel guilt! They must mend their ways! The world must condemn them! Lebanon is all about showing bravado, and anger, and strength. That’s how their society works. The truth is twisted. The weak are abused. The kind are taken advantage of. And humanity is viewed as a weakness to be exploited.
Editor: Cynic that I have become wonders if this was a plan to test the new Australian government hoping to force them to rescue yet another boat carrying illegal Muslim migrants and it went very wrong.
***Why “martyrs” were these Jihadists?
‘Pungentpeppers” has included these links for your further information. Photo is here.
Dateline is here. Opinion pieceat the Herald-Sun. Lebanese village in shock, here. Survivors will return to Lebanon, here.
40 drowned or are missing, here. Survivors blame Australia, here. Asylum seeker recalls horror, here.
