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Facebook Postings Lead To Arrest for Heresy In the West Bank
forand writes "Using screen shots of a customer's Facebook profile, owners of a West Bank internet cafe helped Palestinian intelligence forces capture a man accused of heresy." According to sources quoted in the story, residents of both Gaza and the West Bank face ongoing scrutiny of their online activities; in Gaza, "Internet cafe owners are forced to monitor customers' online activity and alert intelligence officials if they see anything critical of the militant group or that violates Hamas' stern interpretation of Islam."
As an Israeli I have no goddamned fucking idea what you're talking about.
Supporting terrorists as our government might have been a bad idea after all... who could have known?
Bad idea? The locals seem to be quite rejoiced at the thought of this little witch hunt. From TFA:
Many in this conservative Muslim town say that isn't enough, and suggested he should be killed for renouncing Islam. Even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.
"He should be burned to death," said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public "to be an example to others," he added.
When these folks elected Hamas, they knew full well what they were getting into. Keep that in mind next time Israeli steamrolls over the place after a bunch more missiles launched from there land in Israeli towns.
Yes, exactly, If you go around saying judaism is fake, absolutely nothing is going to happen to you. Well, some people may be pissed off, but that's it. Nobody is going to arrest you, send Mossad after you, have black helicopters take you to secret prison. Some people may yell at you, that's about it.
Yes, I am Israeli and lived in Israel for 13 years, and I know what I am talking about. Looks like you do not.
-- Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
The problem is with theocratic governments, it doesn't matter in the least what the actual religion is.
You know that Islam doesn't recognize the separation of church and state, don't you? In the early years, the entire domain of Islam was ruled by a caliphate, which is essentially the pope and king rolled into one. I'm afraid that Islamic areas are always going to run into this problem because of the bad precedent set early in Islam's history - when church and state were one entity, and presumably, that's the way "God wanted it". The only hope is that people become so modernized that they stop caring about trying to recreate the imaginary golden-age of Islam.
The Israeli penal code does make blasphemy illegal (output from Google Translate):
170. Destroying, damaging, or desecrating a place of worship, or any object held sacred crowd of people, deliberately degrade their religion, or knowingly that they may see this act an insult to their religion, Dino - three years imprisonment.
173. Makes one of the following countries - one year's imprisonment; (1) Publishes advertising that injure blatantly religious beliefs or their feelings of others; (2) Makes a public place and in the hearing of a certain word or sound that may harm the faith or gross violation of religious feelings. (3) Harm our sons public tombstones
Not as severe as Islamic blasphemy laws, but they still make blasphemy illegal.