Free Republic

The fighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2007_March_13#.5B.5BWikipedia:Deletion_review.2FLog.2F2007_March_13.7C13_March_2007.5D.5D The Article 'deleted' (so far) As a slogan short cut used by those in the west that take seriously Islamists actions and words as such of forcing to convert non Muslims or face death.In the global war on terror, the phenomenon of forced conversion, Islamization goal by Jihadists, is a fundamental part, just as bin Laden wants to restore an Islamic caliphate[1], as well as radical Islamists as a whole, their ultimate goal of is not to secure westerners' withdrawal from Afghanistan or Iraq, or even only to destroy Israel, but to reestablish the caliphate and the rule...

JERUSALEM – Palestinian terror groups and security organizations in the Gaza Strip received $2 million from a United States source in exchange for the release of Fox News employees Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, who were kidnapped here last summer, a senior leader of one of the groups suspected of the abductions told WND. The terror leader, from the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees, said his organization's share of the money was used to purchase weapons, which he said would be utilized "to hit the Zionists." He said he expects the payments for Centanni and Wiig's freedom will encourage Palestinian groups...

JERUSALEM – Palestinian terror groups and security organizations in the Gaza Strip received $2 million from a United States source in exchange for the release of Fox News employees Steve Centanni and Olag Wiig, who were kidnapped here last summer, a senior leader of one of the groups suspected of the abductions told WND. The terror leader, from the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees, said his organization's share of the money was used to purchase weapons, which he said would be utilized "to hit the Zionists." He said he expects the payments for Centanni and Wiig's freedom will encourage Palestinian groups...

The release of the Fox News personnel brings up what I think is an interesting moral question. If you give in and 'convert' so you can get back to your family etc., are you violating your true faith? I don't think anyone can say for sure what they would do under such prolonged duress and I wouldn't judge someone harshly for having a breaking point, but I hope I would resist even to death any effort to force me to deny my faith. I started a poll on this at FreeDominon, and thought you might want to have a go...

Did you see that video of the two Fox journalists announcing they'd converted to Islam? The larger problem, it seems to me, is that much of the rest of the Western media have also converted to Islam, and there seems to be no way to get them to convert back to journalism. Consider, for example, the bizarre behavior of Reuters, the once globally respected news agency now reduced to putting out laughably inept terrorist propaganda. A few days ago, it made a big hoo-ha about the Israelis intentionally firing a missile at its press vehicle and wounding its cameraman Fadel...

Say Anything to Live I've been struggling all this week to find the right words regarding Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig who were released after being forced to convert to Islam. Many Conservatives are defending it including Captain Ed who writes: Warren wants kidnapped hostages to die for Christianity and the West rather than jolly along their kidnappers to gain their own freedom. That may be a splendid sentiment, but it results in dead Westerners rather than dead Islamists, and I fail to see how that represents any kind of victory. One of the reasons why Western culture is superior...

This is one case where silence isn't golden and ignorance isn't bliss. They are dangerous and dumb It's not easy to be shocked by jihad these days, five years and numberless atrocities after the Twin Towers imploded on almost 3,000 fellow citizens. That said, I admit my own jihad-fatigue was broken — shattered, really — by the "conversion" to Islam of Fox journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig videotaped during their two-week ordeal as captives of Palestinians in Gaza. Why? Andrew G. Bostom, writing at Frontpage mag. tells us forced conversions to Islam "have been the norm, across three continents...

IF YOU WERE one of the journalists kidnapped in Gaza last month and ordered at gunpoint to become a Muslim, what would you have done? Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig announced their acceptance of Islam on a videotape released by their kidnappers -- ``because they had the guns," Centanni later said, ``and we didn't know what the hell was going on." Whether their acquiescence was an act of cowardice or of prudence, reasonable people can debate. Clearly it wasn't their only choice. If I were ever told, with a gun to my head, to recite the...

Chestlessness - August 30, 2006 The case of the two Fox News journalists, held hostage in Gaza, is worth dwelling upon. They were released after their captors had made tapes of them dressed as Arabs and announcing they had changed their names and converted to Islam. Lately I have been looking at the large -- at how the West is proving unable to cope with a threat from a fanatical Islamic movement, that it ought to be able to snuff out with fair ease. (See my column last Sunday.) But the large is often most visible in the small. The...

Did you see that video of the two Fox journalists announcing they'd converted to Islam? The larger problem, it seems to me, is that much of the rest of the Western media have also converted to Islam, and there seems to be no way to get them to convert back to journalism. Consider, for example, the bizarre behavior of Reuters, the once globally respected news agency now reduced to putting out laughably inept terrorist propaganda.

I was planning to maintain a tasteful silence about the forced conversion of Fox newsmen Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig. I expressed my gratitude at their release, and was going to let the humiliating subject lie.Others haven’t, however, so let’s go: Centanni and Wiig -- abducted, bound and blindfolded by armed Islamic terrorists in Gaza -- were told they had to convert to Islam.They did so.They later said nice things about the Palestinian cause while still in the custody of Palestinian terrorist leaders. There was some premature debate among armchair heroes on the Internet about whether they should have done...

DUBAI - The militant Palestinian group which kidnapped and freed two Fox News Channel journalists last month vowed on Saturday to target all non-Muslims who enter the Palestinian territories. In a statement posted on the Internet, the Holy Jihad Brigades said all non-Muslim foreigners it captures could face death unless they convert to Islam or Muslim prisoners be freed in exchange for their release. “God ordered that we fight all infidels as they fight us all ... the blood of any infidel who comes to the land of Palestine has no sanctity,” said the group, unknown before the journalists’ kidnapping....

It's not easy to be shocked by jihad these days, five years and numberless atrocities after the Twin Towers imploded on some 3,000 fellow citizens. That said, I admit my own jihad-fatigue was broken, shattered, really, by the "conversion" to Islam of Fox journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig videotaped during their two-week ordeal as captives of Palestinians in Gaza.

The two Fox News staffers who were kidnapped in Gaza earlier this month were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint, according to news reports. Fox's Steve Centanni said on Wednesday that he didn't know if he was officially a Muslim—"I don't know enough about Islam to know if it was official, or recognized." Well, is he a Muslim, or isn't he?

"... disbelievers will be cast into an eternal fire. But Allah is also ever merciful, and the West can change its ways and turn to the purifying power of Islam ..." -- Kidnapped Fox reporter Steve "Khaled'' Centanni, channeling his captors. We don't often get to watch our media people convert to Islam, so the footage of Fox News' Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig has been riveting. Some people can't get enough of watching planes fly into the World Trade Center towers; I can't get enough of Centanni and Wiig pledging allegiance to Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him. The common...

'I Can't Hate Them for What They Did,' Olaf Wiig Says Aug. 31, 2006 — - Despite being taken hostage at gunpoint in Gaza by a jihadist group and held captive for 13 days, Fox News cameraman Olaf Wiig says he can't condemn his captors. "It's really complex," Wiig said on "Good Morning America." "In some ways, I feel such sympathy for the Palestinian cause. You know, in my heart. You know, I can't hate them for what they did. I resent on behalf of my family what they did. But there's a funny bit of me that's sympathetic to...

Journalists' Forced Conversion Not Contrary to Islamby Robert Spencer Posted Aug 30, 2006 The most bizarre element of the two weeks of captivity suffered by Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig was the video that surfaced depicting their conversion to Islam. Even before the journalists revealed that their conversions had been coerced, there were indications that they were not acting freely. While reading a statement he himself had ostensibly written, Centanni stumbled over words, appeared to puzzle over the handwriting, and seemed to grimace after pronouncing the words “peace be upon him” after the name of the...

Being a Kiwi saved me, says Wiig 31 August 2006 With NZPA Olaf Wigg says his status as a New Zealander was vital in his release. The Wellington cameraman, abducted from Gaza with United States reporter Steve Centanni earlier this month, drew a map of the world and pointed to New Zealand as he tried to talk his kidnappers out of harming them. "They were accusing both of us of being Americans and I stood up and said, 'Dude, I'm not American, I'm a New Zealander,' " Wiig told TV1's Close Up. The two men, freed on Sunday after...

The most bizarre element of the two weeks of captivity suffered by Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig at the hands of Gaza’s Holy Jihad Brigade was the video that surfaced depicting their conversion to Islam. Even before the journalists revealed that their conversions had been coerced, there were disturbing indications that they were not acting freely. While reading a statement he himself had ostensibly written, Centanni stumbled over words, appeared to puzzle over the handwriting, and seemed to grimace after pronouncing the words “peace be upon him” after the name of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Their...

Muslims to journalists: "Convert or Die!"Convert or die. That is the message that Muslim terrorists sent by freeing two kidnapped journalists only after they “converted� to Islam on videotape at the point of a gun. The International Herald Tribune reported, The two journalists from Fox News—Steve Centanni, 60, an American, and Olaf Wiig, 36, a freelance cameraman from New Zealand—were held for 13 days in an abandoned garage in the Gaza Strip as hostages of a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades. “I’m really fine, healthy, in good shape and so happy to be free,� Mr. Centanni...

The forced conversion of two television journalists to Islam is nothing new – except for the use of videotape and the celebrity value in play. The jihad of today is actually very old, and embedded in the very foundations of Islam. Fox News journalists Steve Centanni and his accompanying cameraman Olaf Wiig were released on Sunday, August 27, 2006, following almost two weeks of captivity. While both men appeared to be in good physical health, the prognosis for their psychological state, and future journalistic contributions, is less sanguine. As depicted in this disturbing video, Centanni and Wiig were forced to...

Fox News journalist Steve Centanni's credibility is SHOT. He will forever be viewed as "the journalist that converted to Islam" to save his skin and then "unconverted" when he thought he was "safe", and as the "journalist" who praised the terrorists and their cause and told the west that they and Israel are the bad guys and admonished more reporters to “come to Gaza and report on the plight of the poor Palistinians”. The reality is his conversion was presented and viewed by MILLIONS of Muslims (along with the rest of us) world-wide. According to Islam, he has now become...

Set free after two weeks in captivity, FNC Reporter Steve Centanni and Cameraman Olaf Wiig sit down with Greta for their first television interview since returning to the U.S. What happened during their ordeal? Tune in tonight for the complete story.

What are we seeing when we watch events from the Middle East on our television screens? Is it news or is it terrorist theater? Let us observe two media events which occurred on Sunday in Gaza. Sunday afternoon released hostages and Fox News journalists Steven Centanni and Olaf Wiig spoke before the cameras. The fact of their release and their statements were reported by more than 1,000 news organizations throughout the world. At the press conference, Centanni and Wiig, who were forced by their Palestinian captors to convert to Islam, praised the Palestinians. Centanni said, "I just hope this never...

The identity of the kidnappers of the two Fox News journalists released un-harmed in the Gaza Strip on Sunday was still shrouded in mystery as Palestinian Authority leaders remained tight-lipped on the case. Cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, and US-born correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, were handed over to PA security officers two weeks after they were seized by unidentified gunmen in Gaza City. For a Jerusalem Online video of events click here The two were driven to the Beach Hotel, where they were met by several Palestinian journalists and PA officials, including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. "I want...

JERUSALEM, Aug. 27 — Two journalists kidnapped in Gaza were released unharmed on Sunday after being forced at gunpoint to say on a videotape that they had converted to Islam. *snip* “I’m really fine, healthy in good shape and so happy to be free,” Mr. Centanni told Fox News. He said the two had been forced at gunpoint to say that they were converting to Islam and had taken Muslim names. “I have the highest respect for Islam,” he said. “But it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn’t know what...

I just learned of the release of the two kidnapped reporters, Steven Centanni Olaf Wiig, in Gaza. We thank God for their release and safety. They reported that they were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint and they complied. The implications of this are profound. A Christian who says any statement against Christ (be it coerced or not) has committed the sin of apostasy. "But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." Matt 10:33. The Chronicles of the first 500 years of Christianity testify that this was the gravest sin...

Two Fox News journalists freed by militants Sunday described a harrowing two weeks of captivity during which they were blindfolded, tied in painful positions and forced at gunpoint to say on a video that they converted to Islam. After their release, the men met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and left Gaza, but first appealed at a brief news conference for foreign journalists not to be deterred from covering the plight of the Palestinians in the volatile coastal strip. "I hope that this never scares a single journalist away from coming to Gaza to cover the story because the...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Militants freed two Fox News journalists on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, ending a nearly two week hostage drama in which one of the former captives said they were forced at gunpoint to make statements, including that they had converted to Islam. Correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of Washington, D.C., and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, were dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials. A tearful Centanni briefly embraced a Palestinian journalist in the lobby, then rushed upstairs with Wiig behind him. "I want to thank everybody. I am...

Two Fox News journalists were freed on Sunday in Gaza after a complex deal was hammered out between the kidnappers and the Hamas-led government of Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh. The negotiations brought an end to the two week long hostage ordeal, but it may complicate efforts to free another captive — Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit — held by Palestinian militants. In its broadcasts, Fox News often portayed the Hamas militants as terrorists, but the kidnapping of the two journalists, sources tell TIME, had nothing to do with Fox's perceived pro-Israel stance or a serious attempt, as the captors first demanded,...

FOX News journalists Steve Centanni and veteran cameraman Olaf Wiig were released by a Palestinian terrorist group early Sunday morning. Centanni, 60, and Wiig, 36, were abducted on August 14th and held captive for 14 days somewhere in Gaza, south of Israel. In an interview with FOX, Centanni said himself, Wiig and a so-called security man were ambushed by a group which consisted of four hooded gunmen. For the first week of Centanni's and Wiig's captivity, there was a virtual news blackout regarding this case with little or no reports on the subject coming from FOX News or any other...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two FOX News journalists were released by their kidnappers Sunday, nearly two weeks after they were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. Steve Centanni, 60, and Olaf Wiig, 36, left Gaza and have since crossed into Israel after their release. The men left Gaza through the Erez border crossing. The freeing of Centanni, a correspondent, and Wiig, a cameraman, ends the longest-running drama involving foreign hostages in Gaza. The two journalists were dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials and appeared to be in good health. A tearful Centanni embraced a...

GAZA (Reuters) - Two kidnapped Fox journalists appeared on a new videotape released by their captors on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, in which the reporters said they had converted to Islam, the Fox News Channel said. Palestinian Interior Minister Saeed Seyam said efforts were under way to secure within hours the release of Fox correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36. Both journalists appeared to be in good health in the new video. They were seized on August 14. They were shown separately sitting cross-legged, reading a statement which Fox said was an...

On the face of it, conversion to Islam would appear to provide a painless escape device for any hostage who happens to fall into fundamentalist terrorist hands. After all, once free, the hostage can always revert to his real faith or non-faith. It is hard to blame the two Fox News journalists, the American Steve Centanni, 60, and the New Zealander, Olaf Wiig, 36, for taking that path on to buy their way out of an uncertain fate at the hands of Palestinian terrorists – especially as they later reported they were forced to make the gesture at gunpoint. And,...

<p>Two FOX News journalists were released Sunday, nearly two weeks after being seized by militants in Gaza. First footage showed the two, Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni, being dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel.</p>

Perhaps I am misreading what I have seen on Fox News, or perhaps I am getting too cynical in my old age. Perhaps not. Is anyone else being struck by the "oddness" of this whole scenario? As I watched the men being rushed into the building and as they met with the head of the Palestinian Authority and as they were dragged out for their "press conference" (Mrs. BBC Wiig's big moment) I couldn't help noticing the dearth of western faces. I also noticed Wiig's reaction to being grabbed by several Palestinian "officials" and his yelling "Get off!". My immediate...

http://today.reuters.co.uk/tv/videoStory.aspx?isSummitStory=false&storyId=eb16e63077404ca28ffbcacecb56291d0ef0f9b0&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-R4-WatchVideos-2

Kidnapped Fox reporters "convert to Islam" on video Sun Aug 27, 2006 5:20 AM EDT By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Two kidnapped journalists for the American Fox News Channel appeared on a new videotape released by their captors on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, saying they had converted to Islam. Palestinian Interior Minister Saeed Seyam said efforts were under way to secure the release of Fox correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, within hours. Both journalists appeared to be in good health in the new video. They were seized on August 14...

Per Fox News

The kidnappers of the two Fox News journalists abducted in Gaza City on August 14 have promised to release them unharmed, Palestinian Authority officials said on Saturday night. According to the officials, the PA has managed to establish contact with the kidnappers, who promised to resolve the affair peacefully. PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he had personally received assurances from the kidnappers that the two, reporter Steve Centanni, from the US, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, from New Zealand, would be released unharmed and unconditionally. PA Interior Minister Said Siam, who is in charge of part of the PA security...

From Propaganda Information Clearing House (now only via Google Cache): Are FOX News Employees really “Noncombatants”?By Mike Whitney08/24/06 "Information Clearing House" -- Are FOX employee’s innocent bystanders or an integral part of the American war machine? That may turn out to be an important question now that 2 FOX workers have been captured by a group of Palestinian militants.It would be hard, if not impossible to draw a line of separation between the US military and FOX News. Their anchors may shun the camouflage fatigues and jack-boots, but that is where the difference ends. FOX is a fully-integrated cog in...

Palestinian officials said today they expected to have “good news” about the two Fox News journalists kidnapped in Gaza City within two days and believe they are unharmed. The journalists, American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of Washington, DC, and New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, who has family in West Sussex, were seized in Gaza City on August 14. Their captors demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the US by midnight today, in exchange for freeing the pair. The kidnappers, a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades, did not say what it would do to...

Today two groups of protesters are gathered outside the Prime Minister's Office. The Movement for Quality Government is demanding the establishment of an official commission of inquiry, headed by a Supreme Court justice to investigate the handling of the war in Lebanon. Down the road, IDF reservists are demanding that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz resign. The critical question arising from the separate protests is whether or not the country's current political and military leadership are capable of drawing the proper lessons from the war. If Israel's...

GAZA CITY, Gaza City (AP) - With a 72-hour deadline approaching, a senior Palestinian security official said Friday he saw the ''first promising signs'' in efforts to free two Fox journalists who were abducted in Gaza nearly two weeks ago. The comments by Interior Minister Said Siyam of Hamas marked the first upbeat assessment by Palestinian officials since Fox correspondent Steve Centanni of Washington, D.C., and cameraman Olaf Wiig of New Zealand were seized from their TV van in Gaza City on Aug. 14. ''Efforts and contacts are being made to guarantee the safety and bring about the release of...

As vague as it was, the demand put forth Wednesday by a previously unknown Palestinian militant group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades who claimed to be behind the August 14 capture of two Fox News crewmen in Gaza appeared to be just part of yet another anti-Western kidnapping. In a videotape showing the two journalists — Steve Centanni, 60, a U.S. citizen, and Olaf Wiig, 36, a New Zealand cameraman — their captors demanded that in return for their release the U.S. should free an unspecified number of Muslim prisoners from its jails. But Palestinian security sources tell TIME...

Excerpt - The two Fox News employees kidnapped in the Gaza Strip recently are being held by one of Fatah's militias, Palestinian Authority security sources and Hamas activists told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. On Wednesday, a hitherto unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades claimed responsibility for the abduction and demanded that Muslim prisoners in US jails be freed within 72 hours. The kidnappers released a video showing correspondent Steve Centanni of Washington DC and cameraman Olaf Wiig of New Zealand dressed in training suits and sitting cross-legged on the floor inside a dark apartment. ~ snip ~...

The wife of kidnapped Kiwi cameraman Olaf Wiig made a fresh appeal for the release of him and his Fox News colleague last night, a day after a video tape of the two men was issued by their captors. Wiig and correspondent Steve Centanni were taken from the Gaza strip on August 14 by gunmen. Speaking before meeting Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh, Ainta McNaught urged the hostage-takers to understand that her husband and Centanni, were not their enemies. "Olaf and Steve have always worked for the interest of the Palestinian people, they came here to support you by telling...

WASHINGTON — The State Department rejected on Wednesday demands by a Palestinian group for the release of all Muslim prisoners in U.S. prisons in exchange for the release of two kidnapped Fox News journalists. "We don't make concessions to terrorists, and we continue to call for the release of these journalists without conditions," State Department press officer Gonzalo Gallegos said.

A group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades released a video overnight of New Zealand cameraman, Olaf Wiig, and his journalist colleague Steve Centanni. The group stated: "In exchange for the release of the Muslim prisoners, males and females in the prisons of America, with our prisoners. Release our prisoners and we will do the same. This applies to all without exception. And every Muslim is more cherished and more generous that a 1,000 Bushes. But this is a tradeoff of equals. We will grant you 72 hours…" See below for the full statement from the Holy Jihad Brigades. Statement...

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Wednesday he would lead an ecumenical delegation to the Middle East this week to meet with political and religious leaders about troubles in the region, including the kidnapping of two Fox News journalists. Jackson, the veteran civil rights leader and head of his Chicago-based Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said the group would leave Friday night for meetings in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. He declined to release his planned itinerary because of security concerns. "We had been working with the Middle Eastern Council of Churches, but couldn't get in earlier because of the bombings," Jackson said. He said...