Isis
- Thread starter Goober
- Start date
It's difficult to watch these people because really,,,they do exhibit a full on retardism that doesn't seem to have a solution.
Muslims hilariously troll the hell out of ISIS after their call for new jihadists ends up on Twitter
slims mocked the Islamic State group on social media after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi issued a call for Muslims worldwide to join his drive for an international caliphate.
“ISIS leaders: We urgently call upon every Muslim to join the fight, especially those in the land of the two shrines, rise,” Baghdadi said in an Arabic audio message released Sunday night.
The message ended up on Twitter after being translated to English by human rights activist Iyad El-Baghdadi, who posted translated excerpts on his Twitter account.
Twitter users — including quite a few Muslims — mocked the request, filling Twitter with hilarious insults, with one user stating, “Sorry, but I can’t trust a group that uses a deflating football and Arabic comic sans as their logo.”
From there it went downhill for ISIS.
see all the awesome tweeted replies here:
Muslims hilariously troll the hell out of ISIS after their call for new jihadists ends up on Twitter
Middle East Goes Monty Python on ISIS
Middle East Goes Monty Python on ISIS - The Daily Beast
rab standup comics, and even an Iraqi TV show, regularly mock ISIS mercilessly. It might get them killed, but it might be worth it.
Have you heard the joke by Iraqi Kurds about ISIS fighters milking male goats? The comedy comes from fact that you can’t milk a male goat but you can perform a sexual act on the goat using a similar motion. Enough said.
Well, many in the Middle East have heard that one and many others as Muslim and Arab comedians are on the front lines in fighting ISIS. However, these satirists’ weapon of choice isn’t airstrikes, but rather comedy, which they are employing to ridicule ISIS on TV shows and in YouTube videos. And nothing is off limits as they mock ISIS on everything from being hypocrites when it comes to Islam to being bumbling idiots to simply smelling like crap.
What’s truly remarkable is that some of these comedic performers are waging their comedy battle in countries were ISIS is fighting them, such as those involved in the new Iraqi TV show that began airing Saturday that lampoons ISIS. Unlike us, they don’t need to watch ISIS on TV; they can see ISIS from their front window.
No one doubts that these comedians will be killed if ISIS captures them. ISIS doesn’t want to be laughed at, they want to be feared. In fact, just a few months ago, ISIS threatened to cut the tongue out of anyone who referred to them as “Daesh,” which is the Arabic acronym for ISIS. Why? Because ISIS learned that many Arabs use that term as an insult, because Daesh in Arabic also can mean “a bigot who imposes his view on others.”
And keep in mind that even pre-ISIS, an Iraqi comedian was killed in 2006 for comically mocking those in power. Hard to find a tougher room for a comedian to play than Iraq, and it’s even more dangerous today.
I’m sure a few questions come to my mind when hearing about this comedy against ISIS. Such as, “I didn’t know Arabs or Muslims are funny!?” Well, don’t blame yourself, because it’s not something our media covers. But as someone who has performed standup comedy across the Middle East with very funny local Arab comedians in countries ranging from Egypt to Jordan to even Saudi Arabia, humor is a staple of Arab culture. And for those in the New York City area who want to witness first-hand comics of Arab heritage telling jokes mocking ISIS, then check out the annual New York Arab American Comedy Festival this week. (Full disclosure: I co-produce the Festival so, yes, that was a shameless plug.)
Are these videos actually funny? Well, I watched as many as I could find that were translated into English. (My Arabic is limited to a vocabulary of my favorite foods, such as “I love chicken and rice.”) Some were funny, while some were more heavy handed slams of ISIS simply framed in comedic terms.
One of the funniest videos I watched was produced by Palestinians and is premised upon ISIS’ fighters manning a checkpoint. The Palestinian actors depicted the ISIS soldiers as bumbling morons. They even referred to them as being “I-sissys.”
Plus they ridiculed ISIS for claiming to be waging their war in the name of Islam while truly being hypocrites, such as mentioning they had been partying in nightclubs in Beirut. This is a common theme in the comedy being launched at ISIS; namely, making the point that ISIS is truly not Islamic. (Of course, many on the right in the United States disagree, claiming that ISIS is truly Islamic. You can decide if you agree with the actual Muslims in Middle East or right-wing people whose understanding of Islam is based on talking points from Islamophobes.)
One of the most recent comedic slams of ISIS is a music video starring Iraqi Kurds.
The video, which recently aired on Kurdish satellite TV and posted online, features five actors dressed as ISIS fighters complete with a huge ISIS flag behind them. They sing over a traditional Middle Eastern-sounding musical composition with lyrics mocking ISIS’ fighters, such as “We are ISIS. We milk the goat, even its male.” The song also features less subtle lyrics: “We are brainless with nothing in our heads. We are bearded, dirty and filthy.”
Why are these comedians doing this? Nabil Assaf, one of the creators of Lebanese TV’s “The Ktir Salbe Show” that also ridicules ISIS, explained to the UK’s Daily Mail that there are two reasons. One is to make to clear that “these people are not a true representation of Islam.” And second, “It is a way to show we are against them.”
slims mocked the Islamic State group on social media after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi issued a call for Muslims worldwide to join his drive for an international caliphate.
“ISIS leaders: We urgently call upon every Muslim to join the fight, especially those in the land of the two shrines, rise,” Baghdadi said in an Arabic audio message released Sunday night.
The message ended up on Twitter after being translated to English by human rights activist Iyad El-Baghdadi, who posted translated excerpts on his Twitter account.
Twitter users — including quite a few Muslims — mocked the request, filling Twitter with hilarious insults, with one user stating, “Sorry, but I can’t trust a group that uses a deflating football and Arabic comic sans as their logo.”
From there it went downhill for ISIS.
see all the awesome tweeted replies here:
Muslims hilariously troll the hell out of ISIS after their call for new jihadists ends up on Twitter
Middle East Goes Monty Python on ISIS
Middle East Goes Monty Python on ISIS - The Daily Beast
rab standup comics, and even an Iraqi TV show, regularly mock ISIS mercilessly. It might get them killed, but it might be worth it.
Have you heard the joke by Iraqi Kurds about ISIS fighters milking male goats? The comedy comes from fact that you can’t milk a male goat but you can perform a sexual act on the goat using a similar motion. Enough said.
Well, many in the Middle East have heard that one and many others as Muslim and Arab comedians are on the front lines in fighting ISIS. However, these satirists’ weapon of choice isn’t airstrikes, but rather comedy, which they are employing to ridicule ISIS on TV shows and in YouTube videos. And nothing is off limits as they mock ISIS on everything from being hypocrites when it comes to Islam to being bumbling idiots to simply smelling like crap.
What’s truly remarkable is that some of these comedic performers are waging their comedy battle in countries were ISIS is fighting them, such as those involved in the new Iraqi TV show that began airing Saturday that lampoons ISIS. Unlike us, they don’t need to watch ISIS on TV; they can see ISIS from their front window.
No one doubts that these comedians will be killed if ISIS captures them. ISIS doesn’t want to be laughed at, they want to be feared. In fact, just a few months ago, ISIS threatened to cut the tongue out of anyone who referred to them as “Daesh,” which is the Arabic acronym for ISIS. Why? Because ISIS learned that many Arabs use that term as an insult, because Daesh in Arabic also can mean “a bigot who imposes his view on others.”
And keep in mind that even pre-ISIS, an Iraqi comedian was killed in 2006 for comically mocking those in power. Hard to find a tougher room for a comedian to play than Iraq, and it’s even more dangerous today.
I’m sure a few questions come to my mind when hearing about this comedy against ISIS. Such as, “I didn’t know Arabs or Muslims are funny!?” Well, don’t blame yourself, because it’s not something our media covers. But as someone who has performed standup comedy across the Middle East with very funny local Arab comedians in countries ranging from Egypt to Jordan to even Saudi Arabia, humor is a staple of Arab culture. And for those in the New York City area who want to witness first-hand comics of Arab heritage telling jokes mocking ISIS, then check out the annual New York Arab American Comedy Festival this week. (Full disclosure: I co-produce the Festival so, yes, that was a shameless plug.)
Are these videos actually funny? Well, I watched as many as I could find that were translated into English. (My Arabic is limited to a vocabulary of my favorite foods, such as “I love chicken and rice.”) Some were funny, while some were more heavy handed slams of ISIS simply framed in comedic terms.
One of the funniest videos I watched was produced by Palestinians and is premised upon ISIS’ fighters manning a checkpoint. The Palestinian actors depicted the ISIS soldiers as bumbling morons. They even referred to them as being “I-sissys.”
Plus they ridiculed ISIS for claiming to be waging their war in the name of Islam while truly being hypocrites, such as mentioning they had been partying in nightclubs in Beirut. This is a common theme in the comedy being launched at ISIS; namely, making the point that ISIS is truly not Islamic. (Of course, many on the right in the United States disagree, claiming that ISIS is truly Islamic. You can decide if you agree with the actual Muslims in Middle East or right-wing people whose understanding of Islam is based on talking points from Islamophobes.)
One of the most recent comedic slams of ISIS is a music video starring Iraqi Kurds.
The video, which recently aired on Kurdish satellite TV and posted online, features five actors dressed as ISIS fighters complete with a huge ISIS flag behind them. They sing over a traditional Middle Eastern-sounding musical composition with lyrics mocking ISIS’ fighters, such as “We are ISIS. We milk the goat, even its male.” The song also features less subtle lyrics: “We are brainless with nothing in our heads. We are bearded, dirty and filthy.”
Why are these comedians doing this? Nabil Assaf, one of the creators of Lebanese TV’s “The Ktir Salbe Show” that also ridicules ISIS, explained to the UK’s Daily Mail that there are two reasons. One is to make to clear that “these people are not a true representation of Islam.” And second, “It is a way to show we are against them.”
“This coalition will provide a wide range of resources from surveillance, to strike operations against Islamic State who have made significant progress in Libya.
Approximately 6,000 European and US soldiers, including 1,000 British troops, will be involved in a number of offensives set up to halt the advance of the jihadist terror group in Libya.
The operation will be led by Italian forces and supported mainly by Britain and France.
Special Forces, including military close observation experts from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, are spearheading the major coalition offensive against the jihadist group.
IS has seized several revenue-boosting oil fields in Libya and is eager to win more control over the country, as the land could provide them with millions of dollars to fund terror attacks.
The terrorist network is now targeting the Marsa al Brega oil refinery, the biggest in North Africa.
If jihadists successfully capture the oil refinery, located between Sirte and Benghazi, they would gain full control of the country’s oil.
https://www.rt.com/uk/327846-sas-libya-oil-isis/
Approximately 6,000 European and US soldiers, including 1,000 British troops, will be involved in a number of offensives set up to halt the advance of the jihadist terror group in Libya.
The operation will be led by Italian forces and supported mainly by Britain and France.
Special Forces, including military close observation experts from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, are spearheading the major coalition offensive against the jihadist group.
IS has seized several revenue-boosting oil fields in Libya and is eager to win more control over the country, as the land could provide them with millions of dollars to fund terror attacks.
The terrorist network is now targeting the Marsa al Brega oil refinery, the biggest in North Africa.
If jihadists successfully capture the oil refinery, located between Sirte and Benghazi, they would gain full control of the country’s oil.
https://www.rt.com/uk/327846-sas-libya-oil-isis/
Siddhartha Dhar: From bouncy-castle salesman to ISIS recruiter to hardened murderer
By Ted Rath, Postmedia Network
First posted: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 07:40 AM EST | Updated: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 04:50 PM EST
The masked British-accented ISIS militant, believed to be a former inflatable bouncy castle salesman in London, was originally put in charge of promoting ISIS-conquered territories as tourist destinations.
Hindu-born Siddhartha Dhar changed after his father's death, according to family members. The man known as Sid converted to Islam -- a fundamentalist version of the religion -- and began preaching hate. By 2014, he was arrested for encouraging terror. But on bail, he slipped through porous European borders to Syria.
He's now believed to be the man behind the mask in the latest ISIS propaganda video.
In the 10-minute clip released Sunday, the masked man threatens U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron before shooting an alleged spy in the head.
Dhar's sister Konika told British media the man in the video sounded just like her brother, echoing the views of others who knew him well. However, neither she nor security experts said they could be certain.
If it is Dhar -- who's since changed his named to Abu Rumaysah -- his new role is a big, violent step forward from that of ISIS tourism promoter, his last known job with the terror group.
Under his Islamic name, Dhar penned a 46-page booklet called A Brief Guide to the Islamic State.
Part tourism promotion, part recruitment tool, the booklet promises a holiday lifestyle in ISIS caliphate.
The 32-year-old wrote that Islamic State features "breathtaking" scenery, fresh and familiar foods such as shawarma and kebabs, as well as chocolates -- "Snickers, Kit Kat, Bounty, Twix, Kinder Surprise, Cadburys -- yes, yes we have it all."
Without a note of irony, he wrote the Islamic State "screams diversity."
"In my short time here I have met people from absolutely every walk of life."
Dhar -- who British media have taken to calling "Sid Vicious" -- appears to be taking over for "Jihadi John," another British ISIS member who appeared in several videos in which hostages were murdered. Jihadi John -- real name Mohammed Emwazi -- was believed to have been killed in an airstrike late last year.
Robb Leech, who got to know Dhar while making a documentary about his own stepbrother who was jailed for terrorism offences in 2013, said Dhar never struck him as violent, and was always friendly.
He used to sell children's bouncy castles in Britain, and was a fan of Arsenal soccer club and the rock group Nirvana.
"To remember him like that and then see him supposedly in this video, I don't understand that," Leech told BBC radio. "Because the guy who I knew was no more capable of it than you or I as far as I could tell."
- with files from Reuters
A masked man points a weapon as he speaks in this still image from a handout video obtained on Jan. 4, 2016, from a social media website which has not been independently verified. Britain was on Monday examining the Islamic State video showing a young boy in military fatigues and an older masked militant who both spoke with British accents. The propaganda video, which could not be independently verified, also shows the killing of five men accused of spying for the West. (REUTERS/Social Media via Reuters)
Siddhartha Dhar: From bouncy-castle salesman to ISIS recruiter to hardened murde
By Ted Rath, Postmedia Network
First posted: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 07:40 AM EST | Updated: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 04:50 PM EST
The masked British-accented ISIS militant, believed to be a former inflatable bouncy castle salesman in London, was originally put in charge of promoting ISIS-conquered territories as tourist destinations.
Hindu-born Siddhartha Dhar changed after his father's death, according to family members. The man known as Sid converted to Islam -- a fundamentalist version of the religion -- and began preaching hate. By 2014, he was arrested for encouraging terror. But on bail, he slipped through porous European borders to Syria.
He's now believed to be the man behind the mask in the latest ISIS propaganda video.
In the 10-minute clip released Sunday, the masked man threatens U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron before shooting an alleged spy in the head.
Dhar's sister Konika told British media the man in the video sounded just like her brother, echoing the views of others who knew him well. However, neither she nor security experts said they could be certain.
If it is Dhar -- who's since changed his named to Abu Rumaysah -- his new role is a big, violent step forward from that of ISIS tourism promoter, his last known job with the terror group.
Under his Islamic name, Dhar penned a 46-page booklet called A Brief Guide to the Islamic State.
Part tourism promotion, part recruitment tool, the booklet promises a holiday lifestyle in ISIS caliphate.
The 32-year-old wrote that Islamic State features "breathtaking" scenery, fresh and familiar foods such as shawarma and kebabs, as well as chocolates -- "Snickers, Kit Kat, Bounty, Twix, Kinder Surprise, Cadburys -- yes, yes we have it all."
Without a note of irony, he wrote the Islamic State "screams diversity."
"In my short time here I have met people from absolutely every walk of life."
Dhar -- who British media have taken to calling "Sid Vicious" -- appears to be taking over for "Jihadi John," another British ISIS member who appeared in several videos in which hostages were murdered. Jihadi John -- real name Mohammed Emwazi -- was believed to have been killed in an airstrike late last year.
Robb Leech, who got to know Dhar while making a documentary about his own stepbrother who was jailed for terrorism offences in 2013, said Dhar never struck him as violent, and was always friendly.
He used to sell children's bouncy castles in Britain, and was a fan of Arsenal soccer club and the rock group Nirvana.
"To remember him like that and then see him supposedly in this video, I don't understand that," Leech told BBC radio. "Because the guy who I knew was no more capable of it than you or I as far as I could tell."
- with files from Reuters
A masked man points a weapon as he speaks in this still image from a handout video obtained on Jan. 4, 2016, from a social media website which has not been independently verified. Britain was on Monday examining the Islamic State video showing a young boy in military fatigues and an older masked militant who both spoke with British accents. The propaganda video, which could not be independently verified, also shows the killing of five men accused of spying for the West. (REUTERS/Social Media via Reuters)
Siddhartha Dhar: From bouncy-castle salesman to ISIS recruiter to hardened murde
Islamic State militant publicly executes his mother
Reuters
First posted: Friday, January 08, 2016 12:29 PM EST | Updated: Friday, January 08, 2016 12:59 PM EST
BEIRUT - An Islamic State militant executed his mother in public in the Syrian city of Raqqa because she had encouraged him to leave the group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday.
The woman in her 40s had warned her son that a U.S.-backed alliance would wipe out Islamic State and had encouraged him to leave the city with her.
She was detained after he informed the group of her comments, according to the British-based Observatory, which monitors the war through a network of sources on the ground.
Citing local sources, the Observatory said the 20-year-old man executed his mother on Wednesday near the post office building where she worked in front of hundreds of people in Raqqa, a main base of operations for the group in Syria.
The Islamic State group, which controls wide areas of Syria and Iraq, has executed hundreds of people it has accused of working with its enemies or breaching of its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.
The Observatory reported on Dec. 29 that Islamic State had executed more than 2,000 Syrian civilians in the 18 months since it declared its "caliphate" over the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq. They included people killed on the grounds of homosexuality, practicing magic and apostasy.
It was not possible to independently verify the latest report.
Islamic State militant publicly executes his mother | World | News | Toronto Sun
Reuters
First posted: Friday, January 08, 2016 12:29 PM EST | Updated: Friday, January 08, 2016 12:59 PM EST
BEIRUT - An Islamic State militant executed his mother in public in the Syrian city of Raqqa because she had encouraged him to leave the group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday.
The woman in her 40s had warned her son that a U.S.-backed alliance would wipe out Islamic State and had encouraged him to leave the city with her.
She was detained after he informed the group of her comments, according to the British-based Observatory, which monitors the war through a network of sources on the ground.
Citing local sources, the Observatory said the 20-year-old man executed his mother on Wednesday near the post office building where she worked in front of hundreds of people in Raqqa, a main base of operations for the group in Syria.
The Islamic State group, which controls wide areas of Syria and Iraq, has executed hundreds of people it has accused of working with its enemies or breaching of its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.
The Observatory reported on Dec. 29 that Islamic State had executed more than 2,000 Syrian civilians in the 18 months since it declared its "caliphate" over the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq. They included people killed on the grounds of homosexuality, practicing magic and apostasy.
It was not possible to independently verify the latest report.
Islamic State militant publicly executes his mother | World | News | Toronto Sun
ISIS holding 3,500 slaves -- mostly sex slaves and their children, says UN; 'The intent seems clear: genocide'
Reuters
First posted: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 03:17 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 03:40 PM EST
GENEVA -- ISIS is holding an estimated 3,500 slaves -- mostly women as sex slaves, and their children -- the United Nations said on Tuesday.
"Those being held are predominantly women and children and come primarily from the Yazidi community," said the joint report issued in Geneva.
The ancient Yazidis are a minority sect in northern Iraq. They believe seven angels look after the world and humanity, which God created. But the Islamic State considers them devil-worshippers and are trying to wipe them from the face of the Earth. the UN concluded.
The group seeks to "basically eliminate, purge or destroy minority communities," Francesco Motta, director of the U.N. human rights office in Iraq, said from Baghdad.
"We've seen communities like the Yazidi in particular bear the brunt of this. Yazidi were basically given the option by ISIL (ISIS) to convert or to be killed.
"The intent seems clear ... the international crime of genocide," he added. "The intention was to destroy part or the whole of the Yazidi people."
The report detailed Islamic State's homicidal campaign of executions by shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing people off buildings. Doctors, teachers and journalists opposed to its ideology have been "singled out and murdered."
"They use civilians as shields. They use children in armed conflict, they also directly target civilian infrastructure and that can amount to war crimes but they can also constitute crimes against humanity," Motta said.
Between 800 and 900 children in Mosul had been abducted for military and religious training, the report said.
"We have a lot of information on the recruitment of children, children as young as nine, to train them sometimes to use them as suicide operatives in their operations, but also forcing them to give blood and also take armed combat roles in other parts where conflict is taking place," Motta said.
The impact of the terror campaign has resulted in at least 18,802 civilians killed in violence in Iraq in the first 10 months of 2015, half of them in Baghdad, and 36,245 civilians wounded, the report concluded.
ISIS holding 3,500 slaves -- mostly sex slaves and their children, says UN; 'The
Reuters
First posted: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 03:17 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 03:40 PM EST
GENEVA -- ISIS is holding an estimated 3,500 slaves -- mostly women as sex slaves, and their children -- the United Nations said on Tuesday.
"Those being held are predominantly women and children and come primarily from the Yazidi community," said the joint report issued in Geneva.
The ancient Yazidis are a minority sect in northern Iraq. They believe seven angels look after the world and humanity, which God created. But the Islamic State considers them devil-worshippers and are trying to wipe them from the face of the Earth. the UN concluded.
The group seeks to "basically eliminate, purge or destroy minority communities," Francesco Motta, director of the U.N. human rights office in Iraq, said from Baghdad.
"We've seen communities like the Yazidi in particular bear the brunt of this. Yazidi were basically given the option by ISIL (ISIS) to convert or to be killed.
"The intent seems clear ... the international crime of genocide," he added. "The intention was to destroy part or the whole of the Yazidi people."
The report detailed Islamic State's homicidal campaign of executions by shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing people off buildings. Doctors, teachers and journalists opposed to its ideology have been "singled out and murdered."
"They use civilians as shields. They use children in armed conflict, they also directly target civilian infrastructure and that can amount to war crimes but they can also constitute crimes against humanity," Motta said.
Between 800 and 900 children in Mosul had been abducted for military and religious training, the report said.
"We have a lot of information on the recruitment of children, children as young as nine, to train them sometimes to use them as suicide operatives in their operations, but also forcing them to give blood and also take armed combat roles in other parts where conflict is taking place," Motta said.
The impact of the terror campaign has resulted in at least 18,802 civilians killed in violence in Iraq in the first 10 months of 2015, half of them in Baghdad, and 36,245 civilians wounded, the report concluded.
ISIS holding 3,500 slaves -- mostly sex slaves and their children, says UN; 'The
ISIS reduces 1,400-year-old Christian monastery in Iraq to rubble
Martha Mendoza, Maya Alleruzzo and Bram Janssen, The Associated Press
First posted: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 07:39 AM EST | Updated: Thursday, January 21, 2016 12:05 AM EST
IRBIL, Iraq -- The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State group's relentless destruction of ancient cultural sites.
For 1,400 years the compound survived assaults by nature and man, standing as a place of worship recently for U.S. troops. In earlier centuries, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ's name, were carved near the entrance.
Now satellite photos obtained exclusively by The Associated Press confirm the worst fears of church authorities and preservationists -- St. Elijah's Monastery of Mosul has been completely wiped out.
In his office in exile in Irbil, Iraq, the Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, 39, stared quietly at before- and after-images of the monastery that once perched on a hillside above his hometown of Mosul. Shaken, he flipped back to his own photos for comparison.
"I can't describe my sadness," he said in Arabic. "Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically levelled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land."
The Islamic State group, which broke from al-Qaida and now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians and forced out hundreds of thousands of Christians, threatening a religion that has endured in the region for 2,000 years. Along the way, its fighters have destroyed buildings and ruined historical and culturally significant structures they consider contrary to their interpretation of Islam.
Those who knew the monastery wondered about its fate after the extremists swept through in June 2014 and largely cut communications to the area.
Now, St. Elijah's has joined a growing list of more than 100 demolished religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches in Syria and Iraq. The extremists have defaced or ruined ancient monuments in Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra. Museums and libraries have been looted, books burned, artwork crushed -- or trafficked.
"A big part of tangible history has been destroyed," said Rev. Manuel Yousif Boji. A Chaldean Catholic pastor in Southfield, Mich., he remembers attending Mass at St. Elijah's almost 60 years ago while a seminarian in Mosul.
"These persecutions have happened to our church more than once, but we believe in the power of truth, the power of God," said Boji. He is part of the Detroit area's Chaldean community, which became the largest outside Iraq after the sectarian bloodshed that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003. Iraq's Christian population has dropped from 1.3 million then to 300,000 now, church authorities say.
At the Vatican, spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, noted that since the monastery dates back to the time Christians were united, before the break with Orthodox and Catholics, the place would be a special one for many. He said it was the first news he had had of the destruction.
"Unfortunately, there is this systemic destruction of precious sites, not only cultural, but also religious and spiritual. It's very sad and dramatic," Lombardi told the AP.
The destruction of the monastery is a blow for U.S. troops and advisers who served in Iraq and had tried to protect and honour the site, a hopeful endeavour in a violent place and time.
Suzanne Bott, who spent more than two years restoring St. Elijah's Monastery as a U.S. State Department cultural adviser in Iraq, teared up when the AP showed her the images.
"Oh no way. It's just razed completely," said Bott. "What we lose is a very tangible reminder of the roots of a religion."
Army reserve Col. Mary Prophit remembered a sunrise service in St. Elijah where, as a Catholic lay minister, she served communion.
"I let that moment sink in, the candlelight, the first rays of sunshine. We were worshipping in a place where people had been worshipping God for 1,400 years," said Prophit, who was deployed there in 2004 and again in 2009.
"I would imagine that many people are feeling like, 'What were the last 10 years for if these guys can go in and destroy everything?'" said Prophit, a library manager in Glenoma, Wash.
This month, at the request of AP, satellite imagery firm DigitalGlobe pulled a series of images of the same spot from their archive of pictures taken globally every day.
Imagery analyst Stephen Wood, CEO of Allsource Analysis, reviewed the pictures for AP and identified the date of destruction between Aug. 27 and Sept. 28, 2014. Before it was razed, images show a partially restored, 27,000-square-foot religious building. Although the roof was largely missing, it had 26 distinctive rooms including a sanctuary and chapel. One month later, "the stone walls have been literally pulverized," said Wood.
"Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of grey-white dust. They destroyed it completely," he said. "There's nothing to rebuild."
The monastery, called Dair Mar Elia, is named for the Assyrian Christian monk -- St. Elijah -- who built it between 582 and 590 A.C. It was a holy site for Iraqi Christians for centuries, part of the Mideast's Chaldean Catholic community.
In 1743, tragedy struck when as many as 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred under orders of a Persian general, and the monastery was damaged. For the next two centuries it remained a place of pilgrimage, even after it was incorporated into an Iraqi military training base and later a U.S. base.
Then in 2003 St. Elijah's shuddered again -- this time a wall was smashed by a tank turret blown off in battle. Iraqi troops had already moved in, dumping garbage in the ancient cistern. The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division took control, with troops painting over ancient murals and scrawling their division's "Screaming Eagle," along with "Chad wuz here" and "I love Debbie," on the walls.
A U.S. military chaplain, recognizing St. Elijah's significance, kicked the troops out and the Army's subsequent preservation initiative became a pet project for a series of chaplains who toured thousands of soldiers through the ruin.
"It was a sacred place. We literally bent down physically to enter, an acquiescence to the reality that there was something greater going on inside," remembered military chaplain Jeffrey Whorton. A Catholic priest who now works at Ft. Bragg, he had to collect himself after viewing the damage. "I don't know why this is affecting me so much," he said.
The U.S. military's efforts drew attention from international media outlets including the AP in 2008. Today those chronicles, from YouTube videos captured on the cellphones of visiting soldiers to AP's own high resolution, detailed photographs, take on new importance as archives of what was lost.
One piece published in Smithsonian Magazine was written by American journalist James Foley, six years before he was killed by Islamic State militants.
St. Elijah's was being saved, Foley wrote in 2008, "for future generations of Iraqis who will hopefully soon have the security to appreciate it."
This combination of two satellite images provided by DigitalGlobe, taken on March 31, 2011, top, and Sept. 28, 2014, shows the site of the 1,400-year-old Christian monastery known as St. Elijah’s, or Dair Mar Elia, on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq. These satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press in January 2016 confirm what church leaders and Middle East preservationists had feared: The monastery has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State's relentless destruction. (DigitalGlobe via AP)
ISIS reduces 1,400-year-old Christian monastery in Iraq to rubble | World | News
Martha Mendoza, Maya Alleruzzo and Bram Janssen, The Associated Press
First posted: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 07:39 AM EST | Updated: Thursday, January 21, 2016 12:05 AM EST
IRBIL, Iraq -- The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State group's relentless destruction of ancient cultural sites.
For 1,400 years the compound survived assaults by nature and man, standing as a place of worship recently for U.S. troops. In earlier centuries, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ's name, were carved near the entrance.
Now satellite photos obtained exclusively by The Associated Press confirm the worst fears of church authorities and preservationists -- St. Elijah's Monastery of Mosul has been completely wiped out.
In his office in exile in Irbil, Iraq, the Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, 39, stared quietly at before- and after-images of the monastery that once perched on a hillside above his hometown of Mosul. Shaken, he flipped back to his own photos for comparison.
"I can't describe my sadness," he said in Arabic. "Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically levelled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land."
The Islamic State group, which broke from al-Qaida and now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians and forced out hundreds of thousands of Christians, threatening a religion that has endured in the region for 2,000 years. Along the way, its fighters have destroyed buildings and ruined historical and culturally significant structures they consider contrary to their interpretation of Islam.
Those who knew the monastery wondered about its fate after the extremists swept through in June 2014 and largely cut communications to the area.
Now, St. Elijah's has joined a growing list of more than 100 demolished religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches in Syria and Iraq. The extremists have defaced or ruined ancient monuments in Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra. Museums and libraries have been looted, books burned, artwork crushed -- or trafficked.
"A big part of tangible history has been destroyed," said Rev. Manuel Yousif Boji. A Chaldean Catholic pastor in Southfield, Mich., he remembers attending Mass at St. Elijah's almost 60 years ago while a seminarian in Mosul.
"These persecutions have happened to our church more than once, but we believe in the power of truth, the power of God," said Boji. He is part of the Detroit area's Chaldean community, which became the largest outside Iraq after the sectarian bloodshed that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003. Iraq's Christian population has dropped from 1.3 million then to 300,000 now, church authorities say.
At the Vatican, spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, noted that since the monastery dates back to the time Christians were united, before the break with Orthodox and Catholics, the place would be a special one for many. He said it was the first news he had had of the destruction.
"Unfortunately, there is this systemic destruction of precious sites, not only cultural, but also religious and spiritual. It's very sad and dramatic," Lombardi told the AP.
The destruction of the monastery is a blow for U.S. troops and advisers who served in Iraq and had tried to protect and honour the site, a hopeful endeavour in a violent place and time.
Suzanne Bott, who spent more than two years restoring St. Elijah's Monastery as a U.S. State Department cultural adviser in Iraq, teared up when the AP showed her the images.
"Oh no way. It's just razed completely," said Bott. "What we lose is a very tangible reminder of the roots of a religion."
Army reserve Col. Mary Prophit remembered a sunrise service in St. Elijah where, as a Catholic lay minister, she served communion.
"I let that moment sink in, the candlelight, the first rays of sunshine. We were worshipping in a place where people had been worshipping God for 1,400 years," said Prophit, who was deployed there in 2004 and again in 2009.
"I would imagine that many people are feeling like, 'What were the last 10 years for if these guys can go in and destroy everything?'" said Prophit, a library manager in Glenoma, Wash.
This month, at the request of AP, satellite imagery firm DigitalGlobe pulled a series of images of the same spot from their archive of pictures taken globally every day.
Imagery analyst Stephen Wood, CEO of Allsource Analysis, reviewed the pictures for AP and identified the date of destruction between Aug. 27 and Sept. 28, 2014. Before it was razed, images show a partially restored, 27,000-square-foot religious building. Although the roof was largely missing, it had 26 distinctive rooms including a sanctuary and chapel. One month later, "the stone walls have been literally pulverized," said Wood.
"Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of grey-white dust. They destroyed it completely," he said. "There's nothing to rebuild."
The monastery, called Dair Mar Elia, is named for the Assyrian Christian monk -- St. Elijah -- who built it between 582 and 590 A.C. It was a holy site for Iraqi Christians for centuries, part of the Mideast's Chaldean Catholic community.
In 1743, tragedy struck when as many as 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred under orders of a Persian general, and the monastery was damaged. For the next two centuries it remained a place of pilgrimage, even after it was incorporated into an Iraqi military training base and later a U.S. base.
Then in 2003 St. Elijah's shuddered again -- this time a wall was smashed by a tank turret blown off in battle. Iraqi troops had already moved in, dumping garbage in the ancient cistern. The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division took control, with troops painting over ancient murals and scrawling their division's "Screaming Eagle," along with "Chad wuz here" and "I love Debbie," on the walls.
A U.S. military chaplain, recognizing St. Elijah's significance, kicked the troops out and the Army's subsequent preservation initiative became a pet project for a series of chaplains who toured thousands of soldiers through the ruin.
"It was a sacred place. We literally bent down physically to enter, an acquiescence to the reality that there was something greater going on inside," remembered military chaplain Jeffrey Whorton. A Catholic priest who now works at Ft. Bragg, he had to collect himself after viewing the damage. "I don't know why this is affecting me so much," he said.
The U.S. military's efforts drew attention from international media outlets including the AP in 2008. Today those chronicles, from YouTube videos captured on the cellphones of visiting soldiers to AP's own high resolution, detailed photographs, take on new importance as archives of what was lost.
One piece published in Smithsonian Magazine was written by American journalist James Foley, six years before he was killed by Islamic State militants.
St. Elijah's was being saved, Foley wrote in 2008, "for future generations of Iraqis who will hopefully soon have the security to appreciate it."
This combination of two satellite images provided by DigitalGlobe, taken on March 31, 2011, top, and Sept. 28, 2014, shows the site of the 1,400-year-old Christian monastery known as St. Elijah’s, or Dair Mar Elia, on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq. These satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press in January 2016 confirm what church leaders and Middle East preservationists had feared: The monastery has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State's relentless destruction. (DigitalGlobe via AP)
ISIS reduces 1,400-year-old Christian monastery in Iraq to rubble | World | News
Student pulled from school after pledging allegiance to ‘ISIS’
The Associated Press
First posted: Thursday, January 21, 2016 08:57 AM EST | Updated: Thursday, January 21, 2016 09:11 AM EST
ANSONIA, Conn. -- A Connecticut high school student has been pulled out of classes and reported to police for substituting "ISIS" for the "United States of America" during the Pledge of Allegiance.
"ISIS" is a term commonly used for the Islamic State group. The Pledge of Allegiance is an oath of loyalty to the country that students recite before class in some U.S. schools.
Lt. Andrew Cota says the 15-year-old student at Ansonia High School wasn't charged, but the case was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. Police say there is no danger to the community. Federal officials declined to comment.
The boy, who wasn't identified, now attends classes in a Board of Education annex building.
An attorney representing the school and Board of Education says the boy's dismissal was "out of an abundance of caution."
The boy's mother said at a board meeting that removing her son from school was an irrational decision.
Student pulled from school after pledging allegiance to ‘ISIS’ | World | News |
The Associated Press
First posted: Thursday, January 21, 2016 08:57 AM EST | Updated: Thursday, January 21, 2016 09:11 AM EST
ANSONIA, Conn. -- A Connecticut high school student has been pulled out of classes and reported to police for substituting "ISIS" for the "United States of America" during the Pledge of Allegiance.
"ISIS" is a term commonly used for the Islamic State group. The Pledge of Allegiance is an oath of loyalty to the country that students recite before class in some U.S. schools.
Lt. Andrew Cota says the 15-year-old student at Ansonia High School wasn't charged, but the case was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. Police say there is no danger to the community. Federal officials declined to comment.
The boy, who wasn't identified, now attends classes in a Board of Education annex building.
An attorney representing the school and Board of Education says the boy's dismissal was "out of an abundance of caution."
The boy's mother said at a board meeting that removing her son from school was an irrational decision.
Student pulled from school after pledging allegiance to ‘ISIS’ | World | News |
With sledgehammers?? Really??? The brown would be dust from the bombing and the roads would be where Photoshop took over.ISIS reduces 1,400-year-old Christian monastery in Iraq to rubble
Martha Mendoza, Maya Alleruzzo and Bram Janssen, The Associated Press
ISIS reduces 1,400-year-old Christian monastery in Iraq to rubble | World | News
The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish north has called on global leaders to acknowledge that the Sykes-Picot pact that led to the boundaries of the modern Middle East has failed, and urged them to broker a new deal paving the way for a Kurdish state.
Massoud Barzani, who has led the troubled country’s Kurds for the past decade, said the international community had started to accept that Iraq and Syria in particular would never again be unified and that “compulsory co-existence” in the region had been proven wrong.
“I think that within themselves, [world leaders] have come to this conclusion that the era of Sykes-Picot is over,” Barzani told the Guardian. “Whether they say it or not, accept it or not, the reality on the ground is that. But as you know, diplomats are conservatives and they give their assessment in the late stages of things. And sometimes they can’t even keep up with developments.”
The political map of northern Iraq has changed drastically in the 18 months since Islamic State overran Iraq’s second city, Mosul. Kurdish forces are now in full control of Kirkuk and Sinjar and have claimed control of thousands more miles of land that had been under control of Iraq’s central government.
Now, four months before the centennial of the Sykes-Picot agreement under which Britain and France carved spheres of influence from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, Barzani said maintaining the status quo would ensure further regional disintegration and destruction.
more
Iraqi Kurdistan president: time has come to redraw Middle East boundaries | World news | The Guardian
Massoud Barzani, who has led the troubled country’s Kurds for the past decade, said the international community had started to accept that Iraq and Syria in particular would never again be unified and that “compulsory co-existence” in the region had been proven wrong.
“I think that within themselves, [world leaders] have come to this conclusion that the era of Sykes-Picot is over,” Barzani told the Guardian. “Whether they say it or not, accept it or not, the reality on the ground is that. But as you know, diplomats are conservatives and they give their assessment in the late stages of things. And sometimes they can’t even keep up with developments.”
The political map of northern Iraq has changed drastically in the 18 months since Islamic State overran Iraq’s second city, Mosul. Kurdish forces are now in full control of Kirkuk and Sinjar and have claimed control of thousands more miles of land that had been under control of Iraq’s central government.
Now, four months before the centennial of the Sykes-Picot agreement under which Britain and France carved spheres of influence from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, Barzani said maintaining the status quo would ensure further regional disintegration and destruction.
more
Iraqi Kurdistan president: time has come to redraw Middle East boundaries | World news | The Guardian
Newsweek Verified account @Newsweek Here's how many ancient sites ISIS has destroyed http://www.newsweek.com/cultural-heritage-destruction-map-418618 …
Danish teen gets 9 years for stabbing mom to death after bingeing on ISIS behading vids
Postmedia Network
First posted: Friday, January 29, 2016 02:33 PM EST | Updated: Friday, January 29, 2016 04:58 PM EST
The blond Danish girl who brutally killed her mother with a knife after watching hours of ISIS beheading videos has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
Court heard that Lisa Borch, who was 15 at the time of the killing, was radicalized first by an older Swedish Muslim boyfriend who left her to go back to his wife and kids, and then by her new boyfriend -- a 29-year-old Iraqi refugee.
After initially confessing to the crime, Borch then reportedly tried to recant -- telling authorities she only admitted to the murder because she was afraid of her boyfriend.
A judge ruled both of them had a part in the killing.
Tina Romer Holtegaard was found dead in her home in Kvissel in October 2014. She was stabbed at least 20 times.
Lisa Borch is pictured in this undated handout photo. The Danish 15-year-old has been jailed after murdering her mother after watching ISIS beheading videos. (Handout/Postmedia Network)
Danish teen gets 9 years for stabbing mom to death after bingeing on ISIS behadi
Postmedia Network
First posted: Friday, January 29, 2016 02:33 PM EST | Updated: Friday, January 29, 2016 04:58 PM EST
The blond Danish girl who brutally killed her mother with a knife after watching hours of ISIS beheading videos has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
Court heard that Lisa Borch, who was 15 at the time of the killing, was radicalized first by an older Swedish Muslim boyfriend who left her to go back to his wife and kids, and then by her new boyfriend -- a 29-year-old Iraqi refugee.
After initially confessing to the crime, Borch then reportedly tried to recant -- telling authorities she only admitted to the murder because she was afraid of her boyfriend.
A judge ruled both of them had a part in the killing.
Tina Romer Holtegaard was found dead in her home in Kvissel in October 2014. She was stabbed at least 20 times.
Lisa Borch is pictured in this undated handout photo. The Danish 15-year-old has been jailed after murdering her mother after watching ISIS beheading videos. (Handout/Postmedia Network)
Danish teen gets 9 years for stabbing mom to death after bingeing on ISIS behadi
Twitter says it has suspended more than 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 "for threatening or promoting terrorist acts".
In a blog, the US-based firm said the accounts "primarily related to ISIS" (the so-called Islamic State group).
"We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism," it said, adding that it had increased its report reviewing teams to react faster.
Twitter has more than 500 million users around the world.
Twitter suspends 125,000 'terrorism' accounts - BBC News
In a blog, the US-based firm said the accounts "primarily related to ISIS" (the so-called Islamic State group).
"We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism," it said, adding that it had increased its report reviewing teams to react faster.
Twitter has more than 500 million users around the world.
Twitter suspends 125,000 'terrorism' accounts - BBC News
Time to update your scorecard as to who's fighting who in the middle east.....
Saudi offers to invade Syria are mocked by Iran and Syria
Walid Mou’allem (Syria’s Foreign Minister) issued a response that promised to send the Saudi ground forces back in “wooden boxes” if they stepped foot inside of Syria.
As if the threat of sending Saudi soldiers back to their homeland in wooden boxes was not insulting enough, the Syrian Foreign Minister mocked the Al-Saud regime repeatedly for their diplomatic hypocrisy and military blunders.
Sharing Syria’s humor in regards to the Al-Saud regime’s offer to invade Syria, the Iranian Government poked fun at the Saudi Army’s military prowess, stating that the latter did not possess the “courage” to go through with a ground invasion.
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudi-threats-to-invade-syria-are-mocked-by-iran-and-syria/ | Al-Masdar News
Saudi offers to invade Syria are mocked by Iran and Syria
Walid Mou’allem (Syria’s Foreign Minister) issued a response that promised to send the Saudi ground forces back in “wooden boxes” if they stepped foot inside of Syria.
As if the threat of sending Saudi soldiers back to their homeland in wooden boxes was not insulting enough, the Syrian Foreign Minister mocked the Al-Saud regime repeatedly for their diplomatic hypocrisy and military blunders.
Sharing Syria’s humor in regards to the Al-Saud regime’s offer to invade Syria, the Iranian Government poked fun at the Saudi Army’s military prowess, stating that the latter did not possess the “courage” to go through with a ground invasion.
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudi-threats-to-invade-syria-are-mocked-by-iran-and-syria/ | Al-Masdar News
I absolutely agree that mocking is far better than bombing! Having said that, won't it make ISIS even madder? Mind you if it did make them madder I suppose it would just show the world how truly insane they really are.Muslims hilariously troll the hell out of ISIS after their call for new jihadists ends up on Twitter
slims mocked the Islamic State group on social media after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi issued a call for Muslims worldwide to join his drive for an international caliphate.
“ISIS leaders: We urgently call upon every Muslim to join the fight, especially those in the land of the two shrines, rise,” Baghdadi said in an Arabic audio message released Sunday night.
The message ended up on Twitter after being translated to English by human rights activist Iyad El-Baghdadi, who posted translated excerpts on his Twitter account.
Twitter users — including quite a few Muslims — mocked the request, filling Twitter with hilarious insults, with one user stating, “Sorry, but I can’t trust a group that uses a deflating football and Arabic comic sans as their logo.”
From there it went downhill for ISIS.
see all the awesome tweeted replies here:
Muslims hilariously troll the hell out of ISIS after their call for new jihadists ends up on Twitter
Middle East Goes Monty Python on ISIS
Middle East Goes Monty Python on ISIS - The Daily Beast
rab standup comics, and even an Iraqi TV show, regularly mock ISIS mercilessly. It might get them killed, but it might be worth it.
Have you heard the joke by Iraqi Kurds about ISIS fighters milking male goats? The comedy comes from fact that you can’t milk a male goat but you can perform a sexual act on the goat using a similar motion. Enough said.
Well, many in the Middle East have heard that one and many others as Muslim and Arab comedians are on the front lines in fighting ISIS. However, these satirists’ weapon of choice isn’t airstrikes, but rather comedy, which they are employing to ridicule ISIS on TV shows and in YouTube videos. And nothing is off limits as they mock ISIS on everything from being hypocrites when it comes to Islam to being bumbling idiots to simply smelling like crap.
What’s truly remarkable is that some of these comedic performers are waging their comedy battle in countries were ISIS is fighting them, such as those involved in the new Iraqi TV show that began airing Saturday that lampoons ISIS. Unlike us, they don’t need to watch ISIS on TV; they can see ISIS from their front window.
No one doubts that these comedians will be killed if ISIS captures them. ISIS doesn’t want to be laughed at, they want to be feared. In fact, just a few months ago, ISIS threatened to cut the tongue out of anyone who referred to them as “Daesh,” which is the Arabic acronym for ISIS. Why? Because ISIS learned that many Arabs use that term as an insult, because Daesh in Arabic also can mean “a bigot who imposes his view on others.”
And keep in mind that even pre-ISIS, an Iraqi comedian was killed in 2006 for comically mocking those in power. Hard to find a tougher room for a comedian to play than Iraq, and it’s even more dangerous today.
I’m sure a few questions come to my mind when hearing about this comedy against ISIS. Such as, “I didn’t know Arabs or Muslims are funny!?” Well, don’t blame yourself, because it’s not something our media covers. But as someone who has performed standup comedy across the Middle East with very funny local Arab comedians in countries ranging from Egypt to Jordan to even Saudi Arabia, humor is a staple of Arab culture. And for those in the New York City area who want to witness first-hand comics of Arab heritage telling jokes mocking ISIS, then check out the annual New York Arab American Comedy Festival this week. (Full disclosure: I co-produce the Festival so, yes, that was a shameless plug.)
Are these videos actually funny? Well, I watched as many as I could find that were translated into English. (My Arabic is limited to a vocabulary of my favorite foods, such as “I love chicken and rice.”) Some were funny, while some were more heavy handed slams of ISIS simply framed in comedic terms.
One of the funniest videos I watched was produced by Palestinians and is premised upon ISIS’ fighters manning a checkpoint. The Palestinian actors depicted the ISIS soldiers as bumbling morons. They even referred to them as being “I-sissys.”
Plus they ridiculed ISIS for claiming to be waging their war in the name of Islam while truly being hypocrites, such as mentioning they had been partying in nightclubs in Beirut. This is a common theme in the comedy being launched at ISIS; namely, making the point that ISIS is truly not Islamic. (Of course, many on the right in the United States disagree, claiming that ISIS is truly Islamic. You can decide if you agree with the actual Muslims in Middle East or right-wing people whose understanding of Islam is based on talking points from Islamophobes.)
One of the most recent comedic slams of ISIS is a music video starring Iraqi Kurds.
The video, which recently aired on Kurdish satellite TV and posted online, features five actors dressed as ISIS fighters complete with a huge ISIS flag behind them. They sing over a traditional Middle Eastern-sounding musical composition with lyrics mocking ISIS’ fighters, such as “We are ISIS. We milk the goat, even its male.” The song also features less subtle lyrics: “We are brainless with nothing in our heads. We are bearded, dirty and filthy.”
Why are these comedians doing this? Nabil Assaf, one of the creators of Lebanese TV’s “The Ktir Salbe Show” that also ridicules ISIS, explained to the UK’s Daily Mail that there are two reasons. One is to make to clear that “these people are not a true representation of Islam.” And second, “It is a way to show we are against them.”
Love it, love it, love it as the mocking shows how idiotic their believes truly are and I have nothing but admiration for those who risk their lives proving it.
JMHO
oops, that should be "beliefs" - my bad
ISIS 'Bulldozer' beheads 15-year-old for listening to pop music
Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, February 18, 2016 02:30 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, February 18, 2016 02:38 PM EST
ISIS has reportedly beheaded a 15-year-old boy publicly for listening to Western pop music on a portable CD player in his father's grocery store.
Syrian Kurdish ARA News reported the jihadist thugs hauled the boy from his family's store in Mosul in northern Iraq.
He was beaten and quickly tried before a Sharia court.
"ISIS jihadis publicly beheaded the boy," an anonymous source told the news site.
The executioner was reportedly "The Bulldozer" -- a massive masked ISIS butcher who kills his victims with a giant sword.
The boy's body was handed over to his family on Tuesday.
In a rare show of public outrage in an ISIS-controlled area, residents reportedly protested outside the family's home, angry at the severity of the punishment.
ISIS has been increasingly issuing harsher and harsher punishments for perceived crimes under its murderous caliphate.
ISIS conquered the Iraqi city in 2014, as approximately half a million residents fled.
Islamic State compounds, banks and other centres have been regular targets of coalition air strikes.
ISIS 'Bulldozer' beheads 15-year-old for listening to pop music | World | News |
Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, February 18, 2016 02:30 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, February 18, 2016 02:38 PM EST
ISIS has reportedly beheaded a 15-year-old boy publicly for listening to Western pop music on a portable CD player in his father's grocery store.
Syrian Kurdish ARA News reported the jihadist thugs hauled the boy from his family's store in Mosul in northern Iraq.
He was beaten and quickly tried before a Sharia court.
"ISIS jihadis publicly beheaded the boy," an anonymous source told the news site.
The executioner was reportedly "The Bulldozer" -- a massive masked ISIS butcher who kills his victims with a giant sword.
The boy's body was handed over to his family on Tuesday.
In a rare show of public outrage in an ISIS-controlled area, residents reportedly protested outside the family's home, angry at the severity of the punishment.
ISIS has been increasingly issuing harsher and harsher punishments for perceived crimes under its murderous caliphate.
ISIS conquered the Iraqi city in 2014, as approximately half a million residents fled.
Islamic State compounds, banks and other centres have been regular targets of coalition air strikes.
ISIS 'Bulldozer' beheads 15-year-old for listening to pop music | World | News |
ISIS uses toothy metal clamp called ‘the Biter’ to punish women who expose any skin
Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, February 25, 2016 06:04 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, February 25, 2016 08:14 PM EST
Women who venture out of their homes with any skin exposed risk being punished with a device called "the Biter" -- a metal clamp with teeth that pierces the skin -- in the brutal ISIS caliphate.
One punished woman told The Independent the pain was excruciating -- "more painful than labour pains."
Women must be fully covered when leaving their homes, according to the strict laws in the ISIS-controlled regions of Syrian and Iraq.
One woman named Fatima, 22, who said she had recently escaped Mosul, told The Independent her sister was punished with the Biter after forgetting her gloves at home.
A month later, "the bruises and scars are still visible on her arm."
"The Biter has become a nightmare for us," she told the paper in the relative safety of a Syrian refugee camp in a Kurdish-controlled area of the country.
A 24-year-old mom in Raqqa spoke out about the torture device back in 2014.
"I did not know what the Biter was and I thought it was a reduced sentence," a woman named Batol was quoted as saying in the U.K. Daily Mail. "I was afraid of whipping, so I choose the Biter, then they brought a sharp object that has a lot of teeth and held me, placing it on my chest and pressing it strongly. I screamed from pain and I was badly injured. They later took me to the hospital."
While the brutal regime is well known for beheadings and other public punishments, often shared on social media as a tool of terror and recruitment, it's the women living under its control who are suffering most.
Captured Kurdish women and girls have been forced into sexual slavery by the hundreds, and adherence to a strict form of Sharia law strips all women of their freedom otherwise.
The metal torture device known as 'The Biter' is pictured in this undated handout photo. Women who venture out of their homes with any skin exposed risk being punished with the device in the brutal ISIS-controlled caliphate. (Handout/Postmedia Network)
ISIS uses toothy metal clamp called ‘the Biter’ to punish women who expose any s
Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, February 25, 2016 06:04 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, February 25, 2016 08:14 PM EST
Women who venture out of their homes with any skin exposed risk being punished with a device called "the Biter" -- a metal clamp with teeth that pierces the skin -- in the brutal ISIS caliphate.
One punished woman told The Independent the pain was excruciating -- "more painful than labour pains."
Women must be fully covered when leaving their homes, according to the strict laws in the ISIS-controlled regions of Syrian and Iraq.
One woman named Fatima, 22, who said she had recently escaped Mosul, told The Independent her sister was punished with the Biter after forgetting her gloves at home.
A month later, "the bruises and scars are still visible on her arm."
"The Biter has become a nightmare for us," she told the paper in the relative safety of a Syrian refugee camp in a Kurdish-controlled area of the country.
A 24-year-old mom in Raqqa spoke out about the torture device back in 2014.
"I did not know what the Biter was and I thought it was a reduced sentence," a woman named Batol was quoted as saying in the U.K. Daily Mail. "I was afraid of whipping, so I choose the Biter, then they brought a sharp object that has a lot of teeth and held me, placing it on my chest and pressing it strongly. I screamed from pain and I was badly injured. They later took me to the hospital."
While the brutal regime is well known for beheadings and other public punishments, often shared on social media as a tool of terror and recruitment, it's the women living under its control who are suffering most.
Captured Kurdish women and girls have been forced into sexual slavery by the hundreds, and adherence to a strict form of Sharia law strips all women of their freedom otherwise.
The metal torture device known as 'The Biter' is pictured in this undated handout photo. Women who venture out of their homes with any skin exposed risk being punished with the device in the brutal ISIS-controlled caliphate. (Handout/Postmedia Network)
ISIS uses toothy metal clamp called ‘the Biter’ to punish women who expose any s
What I don't understand is why the right-wingers ain't moving there. Sounds like everything they've ever wanted: lotsa guns, Gawd in the laws, swift, brutal punishment for wrongdoers, women in their place, and hating the French.
What's for a Trump supporter not to love?
What's for a Trump supporter not to love?