Episodes

  • Jihad and the World - Women Warriors against Islamofascism - Fallaci and Satrapi

    Jihad and the World - Women Warriors against Islamofascism - Fallaci and Satrapi
    Jun 17 2026
    Hello from Jihad and the World – a podcast that explores the intersection of Western and Islamic cultures. I am Mark Silinsky of Kensington Security Consulting, Let’s delve into the Kensington archives of women we love. Let’s start with an Italian. In earlier videocasts, we looked at some boutique social issues in Italy, illustrating Muslim-non-Muslim friction. There was the plastic pig of Padua, standing in the window of a delicatessen as a symbol of resistance to Muslim demands that it be removed. Then there was the nonsense about Italian and French women who adopt pigs as pets to keep Muslim men at bay. How this silly fable took hold in Europe and in India escapes me. It is easy to have fun with inane stories. But Islam in Italy and throughout Europe is serious business, and Oriana Fallaci was a very serious social critic. So, I would like to take a look at her life and the impact her writings had on shaping European opinions. Why did I select this celebrated, vilified, quoted, scorned, admired, and hated Italian journalist? Because, in my judgment, her insights into European-Islamic relations were second to none. She died 20 years ago. She argued, “there is no place for muezzins, minarets, fake teetotalers, their f****** middle ages, and their f****** chadors.” Yeah, So lets buckle up. The independent scholar Hugh Fitzgerald condenses her writings into the argument that Muslim immigration was turning Europe into “a colony of Islam.” She borrowed the neologism “Eurabia,” coined by Bat Ye’or, to refer to the Islamification of Europe, which, in her words, would “end up with minarets in place of the bell-towers, with the burka in place of the mini-skirt.” Fallaci argued that, from its inception, Islam was driven to conquer Europe and force it under its rule. It came damn close a few times. Until the 21st Century, the apogee was probably the siege of Vienna in 1683. The armies were beaten back, and Europe became resurgent in technology and science. The invasion had been halted. Now, here is where Fallaci becomes controversial. She claims that “children and boats” instead of “troops and cannons.” She continued, “The art of invading and conquering and subjugating” is “the only art at which the sons of Allah have always excelled.” Wow! Such sulfurous rhetoric. Well, you can see she certainly speaks her mind. Is this over the top? Was the only art in which Muslims excelled subjugation? What about the architecture, calligraphy, some poetry, and decorative arts? Also, is the historical analogy between invading Muslim armies and today’s migration solid? Aren’t European countries allowing them in? Aren’t they inviting them in? Well, let’s dive into her argument. But first, who was this woman? She was one of Italy's most celebrated and later reviled journalists, who died in her late seventies in 2006, covered the Vietnam War, and interviewed Henry Kissinger, Indira Gandhi, and Ruhollah Khomeini. And I particularly enjoy the story of her truncated interview with Ayatollah Khomeini. We will get into that. Her spunky persona developed early. Her father was a partisan during the war, captured and tortured by the Germans. As a 14-year-old, she was a courier for the Italian Resistance in Nazi-occupied Florence. As a young journalist, she took risks while covering the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and its crushing by the Soviet army. In my view, she developed wisdom while covering the Vietnam War. She was a loud critic of American efforts to defeat communism. She was hardly alone. She also gained insights into the American and European left. And with these insights came contempt and anger. She began as a strident critic of the American effort but became increasingly alarmed at the ruthlessness of the North Vietnamese and consequently, more sympathetic to the Americans. She developed a great hatred for certain American leftists poseurs, threatening to “kick Jane Fonda in the ass and spit in her face for lying about her coverage of the Vietnam War and betraying the confidence of American POWs.” She developed a respect for Israel, particularly for Golda Meir. Fallaci developed an early concern about Islam, Arabs, and Muslim leaders, and she interviewed a slew of them. These included Khomeini, Arafat, Gaddafi, and PFLP leader George Habash, a Christian Arab and a terrorist. She wasn’t impressed. My favorite story is her tryst with Ayatollah Khomeini, whom she described as a humorless fanatic. Standing in front of him, she ripped off her chador in his presence, yelling about “these medieval rags!” Well, as the story goes, even the grim old man laughed at her bravado. What a woman! After September 11, her views on Islam crystallized. According to Al Jazeera, she adopted an “anti-Islam stance.” Maybe, but these ideas didn’t spring from nowhere. By the mid-1960s, she distrusted Islam and began to see it as a threat to the Western ...
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    17 mins
  • Jihad and the World - Islam, Britain and Europe - A Yorkshire Man Writes F Hamas

    Jihad and the World - Islam, Britain and Europe - A Yorkshire Man Writes F Hamas
    Jun 10 2026
    Hello from Jihad and the World – a podcast that explores the intersection of Western and Islamic cultures. The author is Mark Silinsky of Kensington Security Consulting, which provides education on national security. It is part of a series titled "Europe Has Fallen: Islam, Britain, and the Continent." The author is Mark Silinsky of Kensington Security Consulting, and today’s episode focuses on Britain and its challenge of balancing free speech with respect for the sensitivities of the country’s Islamic and pro-Hamas communities. Today, we head to northern Yorkshire in Britain, where we meet Pete North, a man in his late 40s who has issues with Hamas, Muslims, and Palestine. He is very open and outspoken about his contempt for all three. His tweets “f_Hamas, f–k Palestine” and “f–k Islam earned him an arrest by the Yorkshire police. It also gained him support from people who share his opinions and from those who hold on to what little free speech remains in Britain. This is what happened: Peter North posted a meme on social media using the F word three times in reference to Hamas, Islam, and Palestine. In response, police knocked on his door at 9:30 on 25 September 2025 to arrest him and take him to the police station. Two officers informed him that he was under arrest under section 19, which relates to spreading racial hatred. One officer explained, “So you've posted something online that we believe is spreading racial hatred." However, according to North, the police refused to disclose the offending post. Was it on "Twitter or Facebook?" Responded a policeman, "Well, I can't explain too much. It's just to give you the context beforehand.” "What, you're taking me away now?" "Yes, so you're under arrest..." "In the middle of the night, over a tweet?" "I am, unfortunately." And off North went to the police station, where he was interrogated. North recalled, “The officer in the interview said, ‘Well, firstly, let’s start with the meme. You posted a meme that said f—k Hamas,’” North claimed. “I said, ‘yeah, I did post a meme that said f—k Hamas, because Hamas are a proscribed terrorist organisation internationally, including in Britain.“ ‘Just so we’re on the same page, you do know who Hamas are?'” “And he just … shook his head,” North continued, claiming the officer was just as clueless when he asked if he knew about the horrors committed by Hamas on Oct. 7. “He was totally oblivious,” he claimed. “If you’re going to arrest people for memes, you probably need to pay more attention to current events.” North was later released without charges after a lengthy interrogation and has since accused authorities of trying to “terrorize” people into being politically correct online. I was held in a holding area for some time before being taken for an interview. During the interview, to my shock and disgust, I had to explain to the interviewing officer what Hamas is. He was completely unaware. It seemed he didn't know what happened on 7/10. One of the questions was “Do you know who Tommy Robinson is?”—followed by “Are you aware that he was the first person to post this meme?” North responded that he did not believe that is what happened. North then explained that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist group in the UK. In his words, “The Palestine flag is the flag of Islamo-leftist revolution, and the agenda it represents is committed to the extermination of Jews. If you want to stand in support of that, you should go to a Muslim country. As it happens, many Muslim countries would lock you up—both for supporting Hamas and for protesting.” North expressed his disgust towards the police, stating: "I'm disgusted by the police because they could have handled this in an orderly, civil manner, but instead they chose the maximum intrusion, and it was essentially like being treated as an act of terrorism. "They were trying to find evidence that I intended to stir up racial hate with it, which is unbelievable. It's crass. The meme itself is controversial, but controversy isn't illegal, and it simply reflects my opinion.” North did not back down. In fact, he double-downed. “I feel quite strongly that what political cartoons and memes I post on social media is none of the police’s business. Nobody should be facing police inquiries for posting memes on Twitter. “The whole point of this exercise is not to win convictions. It’s to terrorize people like me into thinking twice about posting spicy memes.” North received support on social media. On Jihad Watch, many followers offered comments like these: “Is this Communist China? Why do the people here speak English? From MihaiI, “I have a genuine question for every police officer in the UK: Is this what your ancestors fought and died for? One said, “Hamas is a terrorist group. Are the police defending Hamas now? Lou C. asked, “When are the police in the UK going to wear Brown Shirts? This ...
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    7 mins
  • Jihad and the World - When the Pagers Went Boom!

    Jihad and the World - When the Pagers Went Boom!
    Jun 8 2026

    Hizballah - When the Beepers Went Boom!

    On September 17 2024, explosions rocked Lebanon and Syria. These were not rockets launched from aircraft or shells from naval ships or ground-based artillery. Instead, they seemed to come from hand-held pagers, but witnesses and observers were not sure. Most of the explosions took place in Beirut, a stronghold for Hizbollah. Soon, the connection between the pager and Hizbollah was clear. But what on earth was happening? Why did the beeps go bang?

    For many younger listeners, pagers are largely artifacts of the past. They belong to yesterday’s technology. Maybe their parents used them early in their careers. They appear in old TV shows from the 1980s and 1990s, when women had poofy hair, and men wore suspenders at the office. But today’s generation is the cell phone generation. So, what exactly are pagers?

    Pagers are handheld communication devices that display short text messages relayed over telephone lines by a central operator. They operate on radio waves rather than the Internet. This makes them harder to monitor, which, in turn, makes them popular with terrorist groups, including Hizbollah.

    Hizbollah turned to pagers after its leadership determined that cellphones were being monitored by Israeli intelligence. Israeli intelligence got wind of this intended switch in communications and saw it as an opportunity. It crafted an intelligence operation like no other and one likely to make a mark in the history of intelligence operations, because it is one hell of a story! And here it is.

    When Israelis heard about the planned bulk purchase of cell phones, intelligence got to work. Technicians designed pagers with a battery that concealed a small but potent charge of plastic explosive and a one-of-a-kind, largely undetectable detonator. The Israeli pseudo-pager was significantly larger than other pagers to accommodate the mini-bomb. They crafted a marketing campaign to incite would-be Hizballah purchasers. Sure, the pager was bulkier, but that was because it was combat-tough – a real war pager. They dressed up the ads with military paraphernalia. But who would sell these pagers? Hizballah would not buy an Israeli pager or one connected to Israel. So Israel invented a company and the pager it claimed to sell. This company was BAC Consulting, ostensibly a Hungary-registered firm that partnered with a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, these were shell companies created by Israeli intelligence.

    But BAC Consulting would have to appear credible. Why didn’t it have significant sales? Why haven’t more people heard of it? What is this company, anyway? It is not well-known because it has very few clients. After all, it was military-grade. BAC needed only one client – Hizballah. And Hizballah took the bait and bought hundreds. Hizballah bought and distributed the pagers in the summer of 2022. The group’s technicians found nothing suspicious in the new product. Now, Israel would wait and wait for an opportune time to kill and maim.

    The moment came when Israel claimed it had thwarted a Hizballah attempt to kill senior Israeli leaders in September 2024. When the Israeli attack struck, it did so like lightning. Hundreds of pagers exploded nearly simultaneously, killing dozens and maiming and disfiguring scores of others. While the largest number of casualties was in Beirut, many people were also wounded in the country's north and south.

    But what were the mechanics of the attacks? Israeli intelligence sent a ring to each pager. The recipient then picked up the pager and, usually, saw the message “error.” This was followed by the message “Press OK,” which many did. This detonated the explosive inside the pager and usually killed or seriously injured the victim. Many lost fingers, which were blown off. Many suffered severe facial scars and blindness because they held the pager close to their face so they could read the message. The facial scars will remain clearly visible.

    There was also the psychological trauma. Mohammed Awada, 52, and his son were driving when the boy saw a pager explosion. Awada said. “My son went crazy and started to scream when he saw the man’s hand flying away from him.” Elsewhere, a young girl, Fatima, had just come from school when she answered her father’s pager. The explosion killed the 9-year-old girl. How reliable is each story related to journalists? Some are certainly fabricated or exaggerated. However, local hospitals treated people of all ages.

    Lebanese government officials and Hezbollah were quick to blame Israel. "After examining all the facts, available data, and information regarding the heinous attack this afternoon, we hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression.” The following day, hundreds of walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives also exploded.
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    9 mins
  • Jihad and the World - Videocast Four - Monica Witt - Turncoat for Iran and Mossad's Animals

    Jihad and the World - Videocast Four - Monica Witt - Turncoat for Iran and Mossad's Animals
    Jun 6 2026
    Hello from Jihad and the World – a podcast that explores the intersection of Western and Islamic cultures. The author is Mark Silinsky of Kensington Security Consulting, and today’s episode will examine the strange case of Monica Witt – from all-American girl to a traitor for Iran. Here is an update to a podcast I made a few months ago. So, an all-American girl joins the Air Force, becomes an intelligence analyst, learns Persian, and defects to Iran. It doesn’t happen often. Generally, defections go the other way, from autocracy to freedom. There are, of course, exceptions. Kim Philby and the other Cambridge spies skedaddled to Moscow when their cover was blown. A few Americans hightailed it to Cuba. But this was rare. Rarer still was defecting to Iran. Some Iranians who lived in the West for a while returned to Iran. Maybe they have very aged parents, saw business opportunities, or were seized by religious conviction. But they were not defectors. However one was, and her name is Monica Elfriede Witt. Witt was born in Texas, raised in Florida, served competently in the Air Force, earned an advanced degree at a top university, and then she defected. She claimed to use her intelligence background, knowledge of tradecraft, and personnel to support a higher purpose—serving the Islamic Republic of Iran. She was indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to deliver national defense information to the Iranian government; prosecutors say Witt provided highly classified secrets to Iranian intelligence and helped them target operations after she defected to Tehran. She remains at large, with a $200,000 bounty from the U.S. Department of Justice. So, What Happened? Well, she didn’t like it in the Air Force. Years after her service and speaking on Iran's Press TV, Witt criticized a "boy's club atmosphere" and widespread sexual harassment that she claimed was systemic in the U.S. military. In June 2008, she left the Air Force and earned a degree from the University of Maryland. With her security clearance and bachelor’s degree, she was well-positioned to work for national security contractors, a role she held for several years. From November 2008 to August 2010, she worked as a Middle East Desk Officer in Virginia. She later worked for a nonprofit organization that connected Middle Eastern students with Fulbright scholarships. She enrolled at George Washington University and partially paid her tuition through an Iraq Fulbright scholarship. You think she would be happy, but she wasn’t. In choppy English, she published an article in the university’s International Affairs Review that was very critical of the United States. She, like many other university students, was openly critical of the United States, and at first her anti-American rhetoric was indistinguishable from that of other graduate students. Many Middle East studies departments have been highly hostile to the policies of successive administrations. They are also well-financed by Middle Eastern states. But the key here is that she began to show signs of disloyalty to the United States, and these signs were noted but not reported. Something similar happened with an Army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Hasan. He began to turn away from his country and embrace radical Islam. He unleashed his fury on his fellow American soldiers as they were preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. On a rampage, he shot at anything that moved, killing 14 and wounding and crippling others. It is vital to note that both Hasan and Witt were ostentatiously disdainful of America, and their fellow students were concerned. But they were also worried about being tarred as a bigot or Islamophobic. Referring to Monica Witt, a fellow student at George Washington, later recalled, 'There weren't warning signs in terms of 'go to authorities' warning signs.' One student recalled that “everyone just kind of sat and watched” as Witt expressed strong opposition to American foreign policy in class. No one, it seems, pushed back with even a limited defense of America. According to some accounts, Witt was haunted by what she claimed were American war crimes in the Middle East. A classmate recalled that she said she had difficulty sleeping and reconciling her participation in the war effort. Witt would mention drone strikes, extrajudicial killings, and atrocities against children, all of which she claimed her colleagues in the military would brag about. She appeared distressed by what she called ‘gross incompetence’ by her superiors. Well, they were certainly not competent enough to catch on to her. And I am very dubious about her alleged war crimes. The Hollywood Conferences 2012 and 2013 Her journey toward becoming an agent for the Iranian government took a significant step in 2012, when she attended a ...
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    23 mins
  • Jihad and the World - Roger Waters and Medea Benjamin – Pretty in Pink

    Jihad and the World - Roger Waters and Medea Benjamin – Pretty in Pink
    Jun 2 2026
    Hello from Jihad and the World. The author is Mark Silinsky of Kensington Security Consulting, which provides education on national security. Today’s episode is called “Roger Waters and Medea Benjamin – Pretty in Pink.” It examines two colorful characters. Roger Waters “We, the ordinary people of the world, hugely outnumber the Israeli scum and the ruling Elites in the West. We stand alongside our brothers and sisters in Iran in the fight to end the occupation, oppression, and genocide in Palestine.” Roger Waters For listeners over 50, the name Roger Waters is instantly recognizable. You likely know some of his songs by heart. Some songs were rebellious, while others were gentle. Pink Floyd blasted onto the London music scene in 1965 and stayed on the charts for over a decade. The iconic album The Wall was released in 1979. Waters, one of the group’s veterans, continues to make music and stir controversy. Like many entertainment celebrities, he is an activist. A very loud one, and his perennial hobby horse is Israel. He is certainly not alone, but his theatrical flair has drawn the attention he sought. He appeared publicly in a Nazi uniform and performed with a giant inflatable pig bearing a Star of David on its side. The balloon also features words and symbols such as “kyke” [sic], “scum,” “follow the money,” and dollar signs. Waters is particularly incensed by the “religious supremacism” he attributes to “the Jews.” He says that “supremacy of all kinds is the key to understanding why people behave in these extremely evil ways, like the Israelis have done for the last 75 years and are continuing to do so with the support of the American empire, including my country, the United Kingdom, which is part of the American empire.” “And it’s deeply, deeply depressing to me.” He repeatedly assures his fan base and others that, in his words, “I am not an antisemite.” But not everyone is persuaded. Polly Samson, the wife of his former Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, who has known Roger Waters for decades, is credited with texting, “Sadly, Roger Waters, you are antisemitic to your rotten core. Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac.” It doesn’t help his cause that so many of his comments are captured on tape and that his cavalier insults annoy his bandmates more than he realizes. Given all this, it surprised few that he wanted to weigh in on the joint American-Israeli attacks against Iran in 2025 and 2026. The Pink Floyd bassist texted, “March 1st, 2026, is day two of WW3. We, the ordinary people of the world, hugely outnumber the Israeli scum and the ruling Elites in the West. We stand alongside our brothers and sisters in Iran in the fight to end the occupation, oppression, and genocide of our brothers and sisters.” This was a broadside against Israelis and Western elites, presumably Americans. He speculated that Donald Trump might have him assassinated. His contempt is not limited to Donald Trump. He loathed his predecessor. Iranian media referred to Waters as a “political expert” and quoted him on the Russian channel RT as saying, "Biden (is a) warmongering servant of the oligarchy that rules the United States of America and will continue to be so for however long he remains the president of the United States. He's not to be trusted on anything.” On his television show, Piers Morgan unsuccessfully pressed Waters to condemn Iran. On his show, he said to the 82-year-old rocker: "(Roger) You like to stand up for one of the world's worst regimes in Iran and pretend that the only reason people there are protesting is because of the economy, and that's because of sanctions put on it by other countries, wrongly, because they don't prop up any terror groups. "So, when I look at your worldview, I don't see a guy - with all due respect, Roger - who's standing up for the voiceless and powerless. I see somebody trying to prop up terrorists and powerful dictatorships and regimes." That is what Piers said. Medea Benjamin There is another “pink” in this podcast beyond Pink Floyd. This is Code Pink, cofounded by Medea Benjamin. The website touts Code Pink’s involvement in many causes. These include Justice for Palestine, U.S. Out of Africa, China is Not our Enemy, Peace in Ukraine, and, for our purposes today, No War on Iran/Peace with Iran. The site requests, “Tell Congress we don’t want ANY troops sent to the Middle East, we want a complete halt in military equipment and aid to Israel, and we want peace with Iran. Over 60% of Americans want to stop arming Israel, and Americans certainly do not want to go to war with Iran. No more endless wars, we want peace!” The website offers an “action toolkit” that is not easily accessible. But Ms. Benjamin and Code Pink call people of conscience to “Gather a group of people - reach out to your local anti-war ...
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    8 mins
  • Jihad and the World - Videocast Three - Sheik Yassin and Zionist Super Rats

    Jihad and the World - Videocast Three - Sheik Yassin and Zionist Super Rats
    May 28 2026
    Hello and welcome to Kensington Security Consulting, where we bring education to national security. This is Mark Silinsky. In this podcast, we will look at the founder of Hamas, Sheik Yassin, and examine the current controversy over capital punishment in Israel. Both are explored in my upcoming book, Cauldron of Terror – Hamas, Israel and the World. So who is Ahmed Yassin, and why was he important? He created and led Hamas, which is why he is important. He had a difficult but accomplished life, though his accomplishments were reviled by Israelis, which is why the IDF killed him. In some ways, he was an unconventional leader who overcame many challenges. First, he was a quadriplegic. He claimed that he was performing handstands on a beach in Gaza as a small boy when he snapped his neck. This bound him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It also forced him to rely on his intellect, which he did. Always studious, he studied English at Cairo University and later became a popular teacher in Gaza. He found a home in the Islamic Brotherhood, which we have discussed at length on podcasts and in Cauldron of Terror. The Brothers led a broad-based effort to return Muslims to the principles of Islam’s first generation of leaders. In the 1960s, he led the Gaza branch of the Brotherhood. At the time, Gaza was part of Egypt, which clamped down on the Brothers' recruitment and social agitation. Egypt imprisoned him for a few months in 1965, hoping he would cool down. He continued to agitate. A few years later, Yassin's Brotherhood began to build its influence by organizing and funding schools and medical clinics, a hallmark of the Brothers. He used this to call Muslims to Islam. Then he called his associates to violence. As future Hamas leader Khaled Mashal recounts, "In 1983, we carried out our first military experience under the leadership of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin; the 1983 organization sought to gather weapons to prepare groups for military training and launch the jihad project." Yassin himself has been directly tied to Hamas terrorism. Arrested in 1984, Yassin told Israeli authorities that he founded an organization intent on "fighting non-religious [Palestinian] factions in the territories and carrying out jihad operations against Israel." Released in a 1985 prisoner exchange, Yassin hatched a 1989 plot to kidnap and murder Israeli soldiers and negotiate the exchange of their bodies for the release of Hamas prisoners. Yassin was arrested again after the abduction and murder of Israeli soldiers and was sentenced to two life terms for his role in these killings. Yassin was again released from prison in 1997 as part of a deal with Jordan's King Hussein, following Israel's botched attempt to assassinate Khaled Mashal in Jordan. Palestinian security forces placed Yassin under house arrest several times between 1998 and 2000 in an effort to curb Hamas's terrorist efforts to undermine the peace process. Since then, Yassin has played an increasingly active role in coordinating and financing Hamas attacks. In a well-known March 2000 case, Palestinian security officials arrested several members of Yassin's entourage, including two bodyguards, and uncovered explosives (intended for an attack against Israel) hidden in a kindergarten in Gaza's Shati refugee camp. Yassin was again released from prison in 1997 as part of a deal with Jordan's King Hussein, following Israel's botched assassination attempt on Khaled Mashal in Jordan. Palestinian security forces placed Yassin under house arrest several times between 1998 and 2000 to curb Hamas's terrorist efforts to undermine the peace process. Since then, Yassin has played an increasingly active role in coordinating and financing Hamas attacks. Yassin is also directly linked to the one documented case of operational crossover between Hamas and al-Qaeda. A Hamas activist receiving religious instruction in Pakistan was recruited in February 1998 for military training in al-Qaeda's camps in Afghanistan. So, what was he like? He is a martyr and an inspirational figure for many Palestinians and other Muslims. An Israeli security officer interrogated him for over 12 years. They met at his home in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City after his arrest in May 1989 and his trial before a military court. The Israeli was struck by his saintly status, and his followers obeyed his instructions immediately and unquestioningly. For both his admirers and his enemies, Yassin cut a respectable figure. Bottom Line: Yassin brought Hamas from obscurity to prominence after splitting from Arafat in 1994, when the Nobel Prize-winning PLO leader accepted a two-state solution. Yassin demanded that all Israeli land be surrendered to Palestinians and ordered a wave of suicide bombings. In response, Israel decided to eliminate him. In March 2004, a drone spotted him being wheeled to prayer and targeted him with an invisible laser. Helicopters launched three Hellfire missiles, one of which ...
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    18 mins
  • Jihad and the World - The Southern Poverty Law Center - Islamophobia? Really?

    Jihad and the World - The Southern Poverty Law Center - Islamophobia? Really?
    May 27 2026
    Hi, Mark here from Kensington Security Consulting videocasts. This is our second videocast, titled “The Southern Poverty Law Center – Islamophobia? Really?” Today, we turn to the Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC, which is much in the news these days. First, let’s recap our first videocast, “Of Pigs and Men . . . and Women, too.” In that video, we briefly examined two stories about pigs in Europe. The first involved a yellow plastic pig in the front window of an Italian delicatessen. It was clearly a marketing prop, and there is no reason to believe the store owner intended to offend Muslims by displaying it. But a Muslim village elder demanded that the owner remove it, and when he refused, the case went to court. The owner and the pig won round one. There is a standoff, as the deli’s owner refuses to chuck the swine and influential Muslims demand that he do so. Why did I mention it? This is one of the myriad points of tension in Europe over seemingly trivial issues. The pig dustup is, by itself, trivial. But it, almost humorously, illustrates the growing tensions in Europe, which, to my observation, are worsening rather than improving. The other pig story is the claim that women are buying pigs to keep annoying Muslim men at bay. I think this is largely a hoax, which is why I mentioned it. As the story goes, European women are tired of unwanted sexual advances from Muslim men, so they harness pigs to leashes and walk them on city streets. Right. A woman will bunk near a pig in her tiny European apartment and clean up after it so she can use it as a deterrent against Muslim men? Does that make sense to you? Well, it is circulating online, and I don’t buy it. If you have inside baseball on the pigs of Paris or Rome, please let us know. But anyone who believes this is a truthful story will believe anything. But prove me wrong! OK, enough of pigs. Now, let’s turn to today’s episode, “The Southern Poverty Law Center – Islamophobia? Really?” This week, we will examine the ongoing controversy surrounding the Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC. Staying true to our goal at Jihad and the World, we will limit this podcast to Middle Eastern issues within the broader drama of the SPLC. In particular, we will focus on the SPLC’s charges and biographies of leading Middle East commentators whom the Center labeled as Islamophobic. We will look at the origins, mission statement, evolution, and the controversy in which it is currently embroiled. What is the SPLC? The answer depends on whom you ask. By its own account, it “defends racial justice issues.” OK. Good so far, but what do they mean by racial justice issues? Their website lists quite a menu: challenging racism, strengthening democracy and voting rights; dismantling white supremacy, ending unjust imprisonment, and eliminating poverty and economic inequality. Hmmm, that is an exhaustive mission statement. Tackling multiple wicked problems. Certainly ambitious. I’m still confused, but I would like to limit this videocast to Middle Eastern and Islamic issues. But first, what is the current lawsuit about? The Department of Justice was indicted in April 2026 on charges of fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors said the group misled donors by using their money to pay informants who served as leaders in the very hate groups the organization was founded to fight. Why would they do that? The SPLC responded that it paid informants just as the FBI or the military does. Justice says that this explanation is nonsense. The payments were part of a vast fraud that funded high-profile organizations to inflate their importance and lethality. These groups included the Ku Klux Klan, which is nationally notorious. But funding the Klan? Is this serious? Yes. Because the SPLC needed a cause – a great big one – to solicit mega donations. Well, it worked. The SPLC has an endowment of nearly $1 billion, some of which is held offshore. So, where does the Center stand on these issues? It has the Intelligence Project Dispatch. Let’s look at it. “The Southern Poverty Law Center works to dismantle white supremacy in public forums and online, exposes hate and anti-democratic extremism, and counters disinformation and conspiracy theories with research and community resources.” The Intelligence Project monitors and exposes white supremacy, anti-immigrant activity, and anti-Muslim activity, as well as their impact on communities. OK. That’s still awfully broad. What counts as anti-Muslim activity? Certainly, harassing or harming Muslims because they are Muslims is an anti-Muslim activity. OK. But what about drawing cartoons of Mohammed? What about displaying the yellow pig of Padua? Are these anti-Muslim activities? We don't know because the SPLC does not define anti-Muslim activity. Now let’s turn to an article the SPLC published in 2011. “A decade after 9/11, anti-Muslim hatred is on the rise again. This time, a cadre of activists and ...
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    15 mins
  • Jihad and the World - The Lady in Red

    Jihad and the World - The Lady in Red
    May 14 2026
    Hello from Jihad and the World, a product of Kensington Security Consulting. We will look at the Hamas-Israel war, the subject of our upcoming book, Cauldron of Terror – Hamas, Israel, and the World. Let’s begin by examining and updating the profile of Vlada Patapov, known to the world as the “Lady in Red.” Who is she? You may have seen her on television or social media, running for her life across the desert plain at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023. Her panicked, desperate look quickly circulated around the world. Her red shawl became instantly iconic, earning her a moniker. The twenty-something Vlada darted to safety, unlike more than 393 revelers who were pursued by Hamas gunmen and shot dead, some begging for their lives. Hamas gunmen stormed the Nova music festival, killing and taking 40 people hostage. Much of her story is unique, but much of it is common among survivors of that day. First came shock, then awareness, then a response to the attack. Nova’s attendees were in shock because they couldn’t make sense of what was happening. They saw paragliders approaching but didn’t realize they were Hamas operatives. Then came the pop, pop, pop, and the screams. That was when awareness gripped them. They were under attack, and the enemy was killing anything that moved. The party was over, and the response came quickly. Run, hide, plead, or fight if you can. OK. Let’s set the stage for the attack. The attack on Nova was last-minute. Hamas likely had no prior knowledge of the Nova Festival, as it was initially scheduled for October 6th. The Nova music festival, or Supernova Sukkot Gathering, was an open-air trance music festival held in the Re’im area in Israel’s western Negev desert. Many Supernova attendees who paid $100 per ticket were tickled about the warmth, sounds, and friendship they anticipated. “Nova is like a family,” says a 26-year-old Tel Aviv bartender. “I bartend at many festivals, and Nova is different. People had been preparing for this party for weeks. Everyone knows each other. It was like magic.” This was to be a party of electronic dance music, which has flourished in Israel since the late Eighties. Festivals and packed crowds are the norm, thanks to a temperate climate and a shared desire to chill out. “There’s no DJ in the world who doesn’t like to come to Tel Aviv — the great people, the great weather. You can party more than in any other city in the world.” Does this sound a little like Woodstock 1969? There was likely little electronic music at Woodstock, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash did not perform at Nova. At Nova, partiers are fans of psychedelic trance, or psytrance, the intense, celestial dance-music subgenre. A veteran British DJ explained, “The music is based on a philosophy of life. It’s Woodstock with electronic music. It’s that kind of mentality: a hippie culture, but the music is different. These are the sweetest people. They would never harm anybody.” Ukrainian-born Vlada was among the partygoers. This Ashdod-based wedding planner and mother of one decided at the last minute to attend the festival in southern Israel with her partner, Matan, and a friend, Mai. They came, danced, and sang, and then the killing began. The “sweetest people, who would never harm anyone,” were randomly raped, shot, and mutilated. More than 100 were abducted. We detail the party massacre in Cauldron of Terror, so we won’t go into detail here. As for Vlada, she was separated from her friends and watched helplessly as people were hunted down and killed. 'So Mai and I started running again, and that's when you see me in the video get into the car of my angel, a man called Yosef Ben Avu. He stopped and told us to get in, and we did, all the while shooting was going on.' There were eight of us in the car. It was a Kia Picanto, and we were all on top of each other. I called Matan and told him I was OK, and he said he had been picked up as well and was safe.” Vlada and Mai eventually made it to the safety of an army base at Tze'elim, while Matan went to one 20 minutes away at Orim. She said: 'The whole thing had lasted three hours, but it went by so quickly. The longest part was waiting at the base before I could be picked up and go home and see my daughter Romi, and I gave her the biggest hug ever.' During the attack, her primary concern was staying alive for Romi. “She will be four soon, and for a quarter of her life she has known only war. When Romi hears the sirens, she is so scared that she starts crying,” Patapov explained. "If I had one wish, it would be to have told everyone at the festival one hour before Hamas attacked that something was going to happen, so everyone could have gotten away. I've been in therapy and counseling, like many of the others who were there, and I find that speaking to people helps me cope with what happened that day. If I had one wish, it would be to have told everyone at the festival one hour ...
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    6 mins