Without A Reckoning, The First U.S. Terror Attack Caused By Open Borders Won’t Be The Last
Americans deserve a full-scale investigation into what happened in Chicago and how to prevent the next open-borders-enabled attack on U.S. soil.Americans deserve a full-scale investigation into what happened in Chicago and how to prevent the next open-borders-enabled attack on U.S. soil.I'm voting Republican to protect my liberal values
I am a lifelong Democrat, a feminist, a progressive, and a Jew. I marched to Take Back the Night and canvassed for the Sierra Club in college. I volunteered with a domestic violence shelter as a young lawyer. My children and I donned pink p***y hats as we chanted at the 2016 Women’s March in Washington, D.C. I held a “Jews for Black Lives Matter” sign at a BLM rally in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. I took a group of teens to protest the killing of Antwon Rose in downtown Pittsburgh. I became a foster mom during the pandemic. Last summer, I shared my home with a family of Muslim refugees from Afghanistan.
I’ve supported only Democratic candidates for president. I posted a Clinton/Gore sign in my bedroom window before I was old enough to vote. I attended an Al Gore rally in 1996 at the University of Delaware. I volunteered to get John Kerry elected. I contributed to Barack Obama’s campaign. I dressed up in a pantsuit and took my kids with me to vote for the candidate I thought would be the first woman president, Hillary Clinton. In 2020, I voted for Joe Biden.
Islamist ideology is a poison. It is not liberal. It is not progressive. It is not inclusive.
You might think, then, that as a resident of Squirrel Hill, I’d be voting in the upcoming election for Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), state treasurer candidate Erin McClelland (D), U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and Kamala Harris (D). You would be wrong.
After witnessing the horrors of October 7 and after realizing that too many Democratic Party elected officials and constituents lack the moral clarity to respond effectively to the war Israel is fighting and to the threat of Islamism, I have decided to vote Republican. On November 5, 2024, I will vote for congressional candidate James Hayes (R), state Treasurer Stacey Garrity (R), U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormack (R) — and, reluctantly, Donald Trump (R).
Most people believe that this is an important election — that its results might even determine the future of our democracy. I agree with them. And that is why, in 2024, I am voting for the party that is more likely to contain Iran and remind it and its terror proxies that America will defeat their threats to democracy and freedom; more likely to support Israel in its defensive, existential war; and more likely to protect civil rights by punishing unlawful acts of violence and anti-Semitic harassment on college campuses.
I am not voting for the party that abandoned the girls of Afghanistan and unnecessarily sacrificed the precious lives of our soldiers there. I am not voting for the party that condemns anti-Semitism on the right while excusing, and even spreading, leftist anti-Semitism and blood libels. I am not voting for the party that is equivocal in its support for Israel as she fights to defend her borders, half the world’s Jews, some of the freest Arab citizens in the world, and Western values, including democracy. I am not voting for the party that chooses appeasement as its foreign policy. I am not voting for the party that took no definitive action as anti-Semitic violence raged on college campuses across the United States.
The threat coming from Iran and its proxies (including those who support them in the West) is a threat to women, LGBTQ+ people, Jews, and other minorities. It is a threat to liberal democracies across the world. We must elect those who will not tolerate an Islamist invasion of a liberal democratic ally and who will make it clear that Islamism will never defeat Western civilization. If the United States permits Islamists to spread their supremacist, misogynist, Jew-hating, freedom-hating ideology, they will do so. While Israelis and others in the Muslim and Arab world are most vulnerable, it is only a matter of time until we are all at risk.
Islamist ideology is a poison. It is not liberal. It is not progressive. It is not inclusive.
Islamists ban girls from school (Afghanistan). They brutally murder gay men, sometimes by throwing them off buildings (Palestinians, Islamic State). They rape, murder, mutilate, and burn Jews (October 7). They kidnap non-Muslim girls into sexual slavery (Boko Haram, Islamic State). They imprison, rape, and murder women who violate hijab rules by daring to expose their hair or neck (Iran). They stone women for having unsanctioned sex or pursuing forbidden love (Taliban, Iran). They kidnap, imprison, torture, and assault women as part of their plan to relegate women to the role of bearing child soldiers for their Islamist army (Houthis).
These are the ways of the “freedom fighters” in support of whom our college campuses have erupted. Islamist leaders happily acknowledge the support they have received from progressive students. The ayatollah of Iran publicly reached out to the student radicals, stating, “You have now formed a branch of the Resistance Front and have begun an honorable struggle in the face of your government’s ruthless pressure — which openly supports Zionists.”
The United States must recognize the imminent threat posed by Islamist ideology. It must defeat Islamists when they dare to cross a democratic country’s border. If they are not stopped, they will continue to spread their vile ways in an Islamic caliphate across the Middle East, Europe, and, eventually, the Americas. They will institute the same regressive laws in other lands that they have instituted in their own.
Today, Israel is actively fighting this threat on seven fronts. If we do not ensure that Israel wins these wars and if we do not help her to defeat the threat posed by Iran soon, we risk not only the lives of persecuted people and other minorities in faraway lands but, in time, our own.
It has been heartbreaking for me to realize that the party I believed would always defend the rights of women and minorities is not interested in defending them against the Islamists. This November, I will vote for those who I believe will fight the hardest to protect democracy and Western civilization.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPennsylvania and made available via RealClearWire.
Christopher Hitchens’ dark prediction that just came true
The late great Christopher Hitchens was an undeniable intellectual force — and, unfortunately, some of his darkest predictions are coming true.
“Give it up or give it to your deadliest enemy and pay for the rope that will choke you,” Hitchens said in a 2009 interview. “This is very urgent business, ladies and gentlemen.”
“I beseech you, resist it while you still can, and before the right to complain is taken away from you, which will be the next thing. You will be told you can’t complain because you’re Islamophobic. The term is already being introduced into the culture as if it was an accusation of race hatred,” he continued.
“The barbarians never take a city till someone holds the gates open for them. And it’s your own preachers who will do it for you, and your own multicultural authorities who will do it for you. Resist, resist it while you can,” he added.
Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” is floored.
“Christopher Hitchens warned his country, he was warning the entire world, but he was warning his country — resist it while you can,” Rubin says, noting that Democrat politicians are now openly discussing how “they’re going to censor misinformation.”
“You might go, 'Oh, it doesn’t really make sense that these gender queer weirdos are working together with the Hamas people except if their goal is complete and total power.' Then it actually does make perfect sense, and that really is where we are at,” he adds.
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German officials failed to deport Syrian migrant who allegedly butchered Germans at Christian concert
A 26-year-old Syrian asylum seeker is in custody after allegedly admitting to butchering three people — two men aged 56 and 67, and a 56-year-old woman — and leaving another six grievously wounded Friday at a Christian music festival in Solingen, Germany.
Leftist politicians, poised to lose ground to the right-leaning Alternative for Germany party in next month's state elections, have expressed concern that this latest avoidable blood-letting may embolden critics of the country's immigration and asylum policies.
According to the German publication Spiegel, a witness heard the suspect, Issa Al Hasan, shout "Allahu Akbar" while randomly stabbing bystanders. Hasan allegedly attempted to kill as many Christians and other Germans he regarded as "non-believers" as possible before escaping, masked in his victims' blood.
Hasan turned himself into a police patrol late Saturday night, still wearing bloody clothes, and reportedly admitted to having committed the crime.
Police arrested two other individuals, including a 36-year-old man in a residence for asylum seekers. It is unclear what connection the other arrestees had to Hasan or his plan.
The terrorist organization ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack "on a gathering of Christians in the city of Solingen in Germany," reported the Telegraph.
The terrorist organization circulated a video on its propaganda channels showing the alleged attacker brandishing a knife and explaining his motives. Apparently, the terrorist wanted to avenge the supposed killing of Muslims in Iraq, Syria, and Bosnia, as well as to exact retribution for the "people of Palestine," reported Spiegel.
The terrorist noted further in the video that he hails from Deir al-Sor in eastern Syria, where ISIS still has a foothold.
'It should now be clear: it is not the knives that are the problem, but the people who carry them around.'
The last time ISIS claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack in Germany was in December 2016. An Islamic terrorist from Tunisia who unsuccessfully applied for asylum intentionally drove a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56 others. A 13th victim later died of his injuries.
The attacker in the 2016 Christmas attack pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi whose reign as caliph of the Islamic State was brought to an end in 2019 during a U.S. military raid green-lit by President Donald Trump.
Hasan, the apparent attacker in the Friday stabbings, reportedly entered Germany in December 2022 and applied for asylum. He was, however, ineligible under the EU's Dublin Regulation, which in this case would have made Bulgaria responsible for him.
Although Germany and Bulgaria agreed on the Syrian's deportation, Hasan managed to dodge the authorities and go into hiding.
Spiegel indicated that an arrest warrant was not ultimately issued for Hasan, in part because there were not enough detention facilities for prospective deportees. Since Hasan was not deported by the transfer deadline in August 2023, he officially became Germany's problem.
Hasan subsequently secured the special protection Syrians oftentimes receive in Germany and was dispatched to Solingen in September 2023.
As of July, German authorities reportedly made at least 43,000 transfer requests to other EU countries, but had only followed through on 3,500 deportations.
The anti-Christian terror attack comes just months after an Afghan migrant, Sulaiman Ataee, went on a German stabbing spree at an anti-jihad rally in Mannheim's supposed knife-free zone. After stabbing multiple people, Ataee fatally slit a police officer's throat. The terrorist was subsequently shot dead by another cop.
Friedrich Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union and the opposition in the Bundestag, noted on Sunday:
The attack is one of a whole series of knife attacks that have claimed the lives of many people in Germany in recent months. The coalition has been discussing — and arguing — for several weeks about tightening the gun laws and banning knives. After the terrorist attack in Solingen, it should now be clear: it is not the knives that are the problem, but the people who carry them around. In the majority of cases, these are refugees, and in the majority of the attacks, there are Islamist motives behind them.
Merz called on German chancellor Olaf Scholz of the leftist Social Democratic Party of Germany to "join us in making decisions quickly and without further delay that are consistently aimed at preventing further terrorist attacks like the one last Friday in our country. People can be deported to Syria and Afghanistan, but we will not accept any more refugees from these countries."
Scholz subsequently noted on X, "Islamists endanger the peaceful coexistence of Christians, Jews and Muslims. We will take action against them with all severity and will not stop persecuting them."
Despite Scholz's strong rhetoric online, his party appears reluctant to take meaningful action.
'So of course, we are all very afraid that the right wing is getting more and more power.'
The German publication Junge Freiheit reported that Scholz's general secretary Kevin Kühnert suggested Merz's proposal for a moratorium on asylum seeker admissions from Syria and Afghanistan is not legally possible.
Kühnert apparently claimed that in the wake of such a terrorist attack, Germany cannot "now slam the door in the faces of people who are themselves fleeing from Islamists."
Nancy Faeser, another leftist serving in Scholz's cabinet as Germany's federal minister of the interior, has expressed concerns that the Islamic terror attack may cause domestic division.
Solingen city councilor Simone Lammert told Euronews, "We just heard that the far right Youth Party is talking about coming together today here. So of course, we are all very afraid that the right wing is getting more and more power. And that's definitely not the way of course, we have to ask some hard questions, but, you know, racism is never the answer."
While the current German political establishment appears unwilling to address its problem with violent migrant crime, it is more than happy to hound immigration critics.
Blaze News previously reported that Marie-Thérèse Kaiser, a member of the right-leaning Alternative for Germany, was convicted in May of a hate crime for sharing statistics about the disproportionate number of gang rapes committed by immigrants, specifically Afghan nationals, and for questioning whether multiculturalism means accommodating rape culture.
In the wake of the AfD's strong electoral showing in June, a Bavarian court ruled that the country's domestic intelligence agency could surveil a regional association of the party as a suspected extremist group.
The 22nd Chamber of the Düsseldorf Administrative Court — not far from Solingen — revealed last month that membership in the AfD precludes German citizens from owning firearms.
AfD Bundestag lawmaker Nicole Höchst tweeted Saturday, "In Germany, thousands of people fall victim to knife attacks every year. Anyone who continues to vote for the CDU, CSU, Greens, SPD, FDP, Left, BSW is choosing to carry on as before. Change can only happen with us."
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This is not 'traditional dress': Actor Ben Savage critiques Islamism by sharing images of women wearing burkas
Beloved actor Ben Savage has shared a series of images and videos critical of Islamism over how the dress of women in Muslim countries has evolved over the years.
Over the span of a few days, Savage shared multiple videos that featured comparisons of burkas, niqabs, and other cumbersome garments with the traditional, non-Islamic dress of women in the same regions.
'Woman, Life, Freedom.'
One video in particular mentioned Afghanistan, Algeria, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, and Yemen as places where Muslim women wear the concealing garments.
"This is not Pakistani traditional dress," the video said, for example.
Under a series of images on his Instagram story, Savage captioned the photos with the text "Woman, Life, Freedom."
Also on his Instagram page, Savage shared a post that claimed "Iraq legalized child marriage by lowering the minimum legal marriage age to just 9."
According to multiple outlets, the Iraqi government has indeed proposed changing marriage laws that would make the minimum age 9 for girls and 15 for boys. According to the Standard, the previous age was 18.
Despite the existing law, the Times of India cited a UNICEF report that claimed 28% of Iraqi females are already married before the age of 18.
The law does not appear to have been passed yet.
Savage ran for Congress in 2024 in California's 30th Congressional District where Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff previously sat. Savage came in seventh with just 4% of the vote and did not advance past the primary.
The 43-year-old ran as a Democrat who shared many social justice views related to the left but also advocated for strong public safety measures.
Savage's social media pages are quite political, although the "Boy Meets World" star does not include direct statements.
His latest Instagram post said, "Bring the Bibas family home," in reference to an Israeli family who were captured on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists.
On his X page, Savage has honored slain police officers and shared pro-America sentiments for Memorial Day.
As for his career in show business, Savage has remained distant in recent years from his 1990s Disney co-stars. As former castmates Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel, and Will Friedle have enjoyed success with a podcast that reviews their hit sitcom, Savage has yet to appear on the program.
"He just kind of disappeared from our lives," Fishel revealed in an interview with Variety.
Neither Savage nor his former campaign have responded to requests for interviews with Blaze News.
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Terrorists declare support for anti-Israel student protesters while the Associated Press gives them nominal cover
Anti-Israel radicals across America have taken over several college campuses where they have erected pro-Hamas encampments, attacked police, made foreign policy demands, and parroted genocidal rhetoric. Their efforts to signal solidarity with the Islamic terrorists who massacred thousands of Israelis and dozens of Americans in October — the same terror organization that has since plotted attacks on Western nations — have not gone unnoticed overseas.
Two Palestinian terrorist groups announced their support this week for the student protesters, even referring to them as their own.
Endorsed by terrorists
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Gaza-based terrorist group that combines Marxist-Leninist ideology with Arab nationalism, released a statement Tuesday condemning Israel and celebrating the students who have condemned the Jewish state's self-defense.
"At a time when all peace-lovers in the world stand by the Palestinian people in their just struggle to regain their usurped rights, the ugly face of Zionist racism is clearly visible," said the terror group, according to an online English translation tool. "While our students at American universities were looking forward to the support and solidarity of the administration of universities whose interests, profits and investments prevailed over noble human values."
The PFLP decried the "punitive measures" taken against students, alleging that professors and school administrators have threatened and blackmailed students "simply because they stand by the Palestinian people and support their just struggle for freedom and human dignity."
The PFLP extended the ACLU's November complaint against Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida education officials to other officials who have ordered the breakup of pro-terror student organizations.
According to the terrorists, those who have taken action against fellow travelers on campus operate "under the illusion that they are capable of suppressing the struggle of our students in universities in the United States."
"We ... affirm our unwavering support for the student struggle," said the terror group, singling out the George Soros-funded "Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) at Columbia, Rutgers, Yale, Stanford universities, and others."
Extra to championing the student groups and underscoring their value to the terrorist cause, the PFLP gave them marching orders: "We call for strengthening the unity of students and their struggle to withdraw the investments of American universities from the Zionist entity, and to sever all forms of relations with them," emphasizing the need for the "escalation of their struggle."
Izzat Al-Rishq, reportedly a Hamas Political Bureau official, issued a statement Wednesday similarly signaling support for the student radicals on American soil, reported the New York Sun.
"The American administration, led by President Biden, violates individual rights and the right to expression, and arrests university students and faculty members because of their rejection of the genocide that our Palestinian people are subjected to in the Gaza Strip at the hands of the neo-Nazi Zionists, without the slightest sense of shame about the legal value represented by the students and university professors," said the terrorist.
Perhaps recognizing the resonance of the anti-Israeli rhetoric with elements of the Democratic Party, Hamas added, "Today's students are the leaders of the future, and their suppression today means an expensive electoral bill that the Biden administration will pay sooner or later."
Pro-Hamas radicals by any other name
Palestinian terrorists clearly understand what the student radicals mean to accomplish, but the Associated Press appears keen to pretend students' intentions are alternatively benign.
The liberal media outfit has begun referring to the pro-Hamas protests as "antiwar protests" despite their participants' genocidal slogans — such as "long live intifada" or "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" — and the violent verve that animates them.
This rhetorical switch aligns the publication with Progressive Democrats, such as anti-Israel Rep. Cori Bush (Mo.), who similarly refer to the pro-Hamas students as "anti-war protesters."
Natalie Sanandaji, a New Yorker who survived the Nova music festival massacre, expressed disgust this week over the Associated Press' strategic wordplay, telling "Just the News, No Noise," "When people are chanting in their protests, 'intifada now,' simply look up the definition of 'intifada' — that is not anti war."
"To downplay it is to make these people feel like what they're doing is okay," continued Sanandaji. "We need to talk about how serious it is. Downplaying it is just putting more people at risk."
"Nobody is pro-war. To call this an anti-war protest is absurd," Dan Schneider, vice president of Media Research Center's Free Speech America told Just the News. "This is not about war. This is about the extermination of Jews and the elimination of Israel as a legal state."
Human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali suggested on X that it would even be deceitful to refer to the protesters as pro-Palestinian, noting, "They are not pro Palestinian. They are anti-Jewish and anti-American. They are flexing their Islamist muscles. Incompetent and weak university students who allowed this problem to get out of hand will not stop them."
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Bishop stabbed by Islamic terrorist speaks out against Australia's global censorship demands
Australian officials appear desperate to hide video evidence of a recent manifestation of anti-Christian hatred. Whereas Facebook was more than willing to aid in Australia's global censorship initiative, Elon Musk's X has indicated it will not comply.
This resistance has enraged Australian officials, prompting legal action and one senator to even declare that Musk should be imprisoned.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, the survivor of the Islamic terror attack, cut through all the noise Wednesday, noting that he is not "opposed to the videos remaining on social media" and that freedom of speech is a "God-given right."
Background
A 16-year-old Islamic terrorist savagely stabbed Bishop Emmanuel during his April 15 evening sermon at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Sydney. The attack at the Assyrian Orthodox church would likely have been fatal were it not for the bravery of the priest and parishioners who rushed to the defense of their bloodied leader, subdued the barbarian, and ultimately restored order to the sanctuary.
The attacker, who allegedly targeted the bishop over a perceived slight to Muhammad, apparently belongs to a network of radicals. The Associated Press reported that seven teens were arrested in Sydney Wednesday in connection to the terror attack. Two teens, one age 16 and the other 17, were charged with conspiring to engage in a terrorist act. Another was charged with carrying a knife in public.
The attack at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church was captured on film, providing the world with a stark reminder of a number of apparently inconvenient truths, not least that Christians remain a prime target for hatred, brutality, and repression, even in the welcoming Anglosphere.
Below is the video the Australia government wants us not to be able to view and is trying to censor globally. \n\nThis is the moment when a Jihadi is stabbing a Christian Bishop in Australia. \n\nYou know what to do. Share it as much as possible.\n\n\ud83d\udd0a— (@)
Censors piggyback on anti-Christian violence
Blaze News previously reported that in the aftermath of the attack, the Australian government worked feverishly to suppress the video online.
X's Global Government Affairs team revealed Friday that the "Australian eSafety Commissioner ordered X to remove certain posts in Australia that publicly commented on the recent attack against a Christian Bishop" even though they had not violated the platform's content rules.
The commissioner is Julie Inman-Grant, an American leftist who previously worked as a government relations professional at Microsoft and Twitter. Despite an early flirtation with the CIA, she claims she never pursued a career with the agency.
Inman-Grant, who now also serves on the World Economic Forum's Global Coalition for Digital Safety and collaborates with the Biden White House's Gender Policy Council, has worked ardently in recent years to censor various other posts online that, while lawful, are offensive to progressive sensibilities.
For instance, she had Australian mother and breastfeeding advocate Jasmine Sussex censored for daring to suggest that men cannot breastfeed. Inman-Grant demanded earlier this year that a Canadian be censored over his criticism of a United Nations-affiliated transvestite. She also demanded that the feminist publication Reduxx take down an article detailing how a transvestite injured female players in a women's soccer game.
True to form, Inman-Grant — deemed the "Australian censorship commisar" by Musk — indicated she would exercise her powers under the Online Safety Act "to formally compel" X to remove the video of the bishop's stabbing.
X initially complied, geo-blocking the video in Australia pending a legal challenge. However, it was then threatened with a daily fine of roughly $500,000 if it didn't also "globally withhold these posts."
The Global Government Affairs team responded, "While X respects the right of a country to enforce its laws within its jurisdiction, the eSafety Commissioner does not have the authority to dictate what content X's users can see globally. ... Global takedown orders go against the very principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere."
An Australian judge ruled Monday that X must block the video across the globe. On Wednesday, the judge exended this order, banning X from showing the video until May 10. Musk has said X will not delete the videos for users based in other countries.
Musk, whose app became the most downloaded news app in Australia earlier this week, posed the question Monday, "Our concern is that if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries, which is what the Australian 'eSafety Commissar' is demanding, then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet?"
Outrage, uncensored
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters, "By and large, people responded appropriately to the calls by the eSafety Commissioner. X chose not to. They stand, I think — I find it extraordinary that X chose not to comply and trying to argue their case."
The prime minister has suggested that the video evidence of the attack amounts to "misinformation," as do memes of his head photoshopped onto images of other people's bodies.
New South Wales Police Force Commissioner Karen Webb similarly condemned the supposed "misinformation," stating, "I think leading a social media platform should bring with it big social, corporate responsibility."
"I think to have images like that online, they need to be removed immediately and not left up there," added Webb.
Australian Senator Jackie Lambie said, "I think [Elon Musk] a social media nob with no social conscience, he has absolutely no social conscience — someone like that should be in jail and the key be thrown away."
BREAKING\ud83d\udea8\n\nAustralian Senator, Jackie Lambie has called for Elon Musk to be JAILED for not complying to censorship requests from the Australian government\u2026 @elonmusk \n\nFREE SPEECH IS UNDER ATTACK— (@)
Musk responded, calling Lambie "an enemy of the people of Australia."
Tanya Plibersek, Australia's environment minister, called Musk an "egotistical billionaire," stating that "it's more important for him to have his way than to respect the victims of the crimes that are being shown on social media and to protect our Australian community from the harmful impact of showing this terrible stuff on social media."
The victim central to the controversy kicked out the legs from under Plibersek's argument, indicating he doesn't mind the video being online.
'God-given right'
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel cut through the noise Wednesday, expressing concern in an audio statement that bad actors were using his stabbing "to serve their own political interest to control free speech."
"I do acknowledge the Australian government's desire to have the videos removed because of their graphic nature," said the bishop. "However, noting our God-given right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, I'm not opposed to the videos remaining on social media."
"I would be of great concern if people use the attack on me to serve their own political interests to control free speech," continued Bishop Emmanuel. "The moment we oppress this very freedom of speech and religion, we are losing the very human identity and dignity as well."
"I do not wish for what has happened to me to be ... a threat to the very human freedom and freedom of religion," added Emmanuel.
Extra to making clear the censorship regime is not acting in his name and expressing forgiveness for his attacker, he stressed his patriotism, noting, "I'm a proud Aussie."
In light of the country's celebration of Anzac Day, he thanked those Aussies who had fought to protect freedom of speech and religion.
Sydney church stabbing: Multiple people injured during service | 7 News Australiayoutu.be
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FBI Won’t Say If It’s Investigating Self-Declared ‘Hamas’ Terrorists Protesting At U.S. Universities
The FBI would not say Tuesday whether it is investigating people identifying themselves as part of a foreign terrorist organizationBy Media Standards, Joe Biden Is A Terrorist Sympathizer Until He Personally Condemns Antisemitism
By media standards, President Joe Biden is a terrorist sympathizer until he personally delivers a press conference to condemn antisemitism.'Australian censorship commissar' orders X to globally remove video of Islamic terror attack on Christian bishop
A bearded teen complaining in Arabic about insults to Muhammad rushed the sanctuary of an Assyrian Orthodox church in Sydney last week, savagely stabbing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and Fr. Isaac Royel. Australian officials determined that the attack on Christian clergymen, which was captured on video, was an act of religiously motivated terrorism.
While apparently willing to admit the attack was what it appeared to be on video, the Australian government has attempted to erase the video evidence from social media.
X, formerly known as Twitter, indicated Friday that the Australian government has ordered it to remove the video evidence of the anti-Christian attack. While the platform appeared willing to accommodate the Australian eSafety Commissioner regionally, that apparently was not enough for the Australian state, which has since demanded global censorship of the video.
South African billionaire Elon Musk and his company have effectively told the government to pound sand.
The terror attack
Blaze News previously reported that police were dispatched Monday evening to the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, a suburb of Sydney, in response to reports that a "number of people were stabbed."
A 16-year-old radical previously charged for knife-related offenses had rushed the altar with a knife concealed in his hand.
In the video the Australian government appears keen to hide from the public, the attacker can reportedly be heard saying, "If he [the bishop] didn't get himself involved in my religion, if he hadn't spoken about my prophet, I wouldn't have come here. … If he just spoke about his own religion, I wouldn’t have come."
The attacker lunges at Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, a past critic of radical Islam, then repeatedly stabs the 53-year-old bishop.
The bishop and the parish priest who was cut up protecting him survived their injuries.
New South Wales Police Force Commissioner Karen Webb indicated Tuesday, "We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism."
"After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident," added Webb.
Nothing to see here
X's Global Government Affairs team revealed Friday morning that after the attack, "The Australian eSafety Commissioner ordered X to remove certain posts in Australia that publicly commented on the recent attack against a Christian Bishop. These posts did not violate X's rules on violent speech."
Australia's woke commissar is Julie Inman Grant, an American who allegedly turned down a CIA job to work in the U.S. Congress before heading off to work for Microsoft. The censorious commissioner, who also worked for Twitter as the director of public policy in Australia, has been celebrated by the World Economic Forum as among "the world's most influential leaders revolutionizing government."
Grant indicated last week that she personally was not "satisfied enough is being done to protect Australians from this most extreme and gratuitous violent material circulating online," reported News.com.au.
Seeking satisfaction on the matter, Grant indicated she was "exercising [her] powers under the Online Safety Act to formally compel them to remove it."
While convinced "eSafety's order was not within the scope of Australian law," X initially complied with the directive, geo-blocking the relevant content in Australia pending a legal challenge. However, it was apparently met with a subsequent demand to "globally withhold these posts or face a daily fine of $785,000 AUD (about $500,000 USD)."
The Global Government Affairs team noted, "While X respects the right of a country to enforce its laws within its jurisdiction, the eSafety Commissioner does not have the authority to dictate what content X's users can see globally. ... Global takedown orders go against the very principles of a free and open internet and threaten free speech everywhere."
Musk noted, "The Australian censorship commissar is demanding *global* content bans!"
Angry censors
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters, "By and large, people responded appropriately to the calls by the eSafety Commissioner. X chose not to. They stand, I think — I find it extraordinary that X chose not to comply and trying to argue their case."
Albanese insinuated that the video evidence of the attack on a Christian cleric amounted to "misinformation."
"We know, I think overwhelmingly, Australians want misinformation and disinformation to stop. This isn't about freedom of expression," said the prime minister. "This is about the dangerous implications that can occur when things that are simply not true, that everyone knows is not true, are replicated and weaponized in order to cause division and in this case to promote negative statements and potentially to just inflame what was a very difficult situation."
"Social media has a social responsibility," added Albanese.
Musk responded Monday, writing, "I'd like to take a moment to thank the PM for informing the public that this platform is the only truthful one."
The tech magnate also noted that it is "absurd for any one country to attempt to censor the entire world."
The prime minister was apparently not the only Aussie official who figured video evidence amounted to "misinformation."
NSWPF Commissioner Web condemned "misinformation," stating, "I think leading a social media platform should bring with it big social, corporate responsibility."
"I think to have images like that online, they need to be removed immediately and not left up there," added Webb.
Tanya Plibersek, Australia's environment minister, suggested Elon Musk's commitment to free speech and transparency just "beggars belief."
"This egotistical billionaire thinks that it's more important for him to be able to show whatever he wants on X or Twitter or whatever you wanna call it today, it's more important for him to have his way than to respect the victims of the crimes that are being shown on social media and to protect our Australian community from the harmful impact of showing this terrible stuff on social media," said Plibersek.
Plibersek enthusiastically noted how Australia has quadrupled the eSafety Commissioner's budget.
With that increased budget, the commissioner had Australian mother and breastfeeding advocate Jasmine Sussex censored for daring to suggest that men cannot breastfeed. The taxpayer-funded commissioner also demanded that X censor Canadian activist Chris Elson over a post criticizing a United Nations-affiliated transvestite.
Australian court demands global censorship
Vastly exceeding his jurisdiction, an Australian judge ruled Monday that X must block the video across the globe.
The Associated Press reported that Justice Geoffrey Kennett demanded that the tech company block all users from seeing the footage, including sovereign American citizens. X has been given 24 hours to "hide" the video.
Stephen Tran, lawyer for the censorious commission, suggested that continued circulation of the footage would cause "irreparable harm."
In the meantime, the Australian censorship regime has been targeting individuals who have shared the video. Popular X user Ian Miles Cheong, for instance, indicated that X had received a report from the Australian government over content he shared but that the platform would not be taking action.
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