The Jewish Press has been widely and wildly criticized for giving voice to a young Turkish, Muslim author named Sinem Tezyapar, who is, essentially, a spokesperson for author and television personality Adnan Oktar, pen named Harun Yahya, also a Turkish religious Muslim.

Oktar and his followers (feel free to use the terms “Sect” or “Cult,” it’s not anything they haven’t heard before) are no friends of the secularist establishment in Turkey. Oktar himself has done some serious time in Turkish prison, and his followers live in constant fear of persecution. They are also hated and regularly harassed by fascistic Muslims such as the Al Qaida thugs.

After a fairly jaded start, in which Oktar, or people in his employ, published several books denying the Holocaust and attacking Israel, this Muslim leader began a kind of transformation. He became better acquainted with Judaism and with Zionist history through some new Jewish friends (e.g. Jerusalem-based writer Ehud Tokatly) he was making over the Internet. He recognized his mistakes, apologized for the Holocaust denial book–which he had not authored, and started forging a brand new Muslim vision of a peaceful Middle East in which Israel is not only a Jewish Homeland ruling over its entire biblical territory, but also a place where the Jewish Temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem to become the center of adoration by the entire faithful world.

In addition, Adnan Oktar has played host to major Jewish and Israeli figures, including former Israeli Chief Rabbi Israel Lau, the late Rabbi Menachem Froman, and several past and present Israeli politicians, including many of the Shas leadership.

Sinem Tezyapar, essentially representing her teacher’s lessons, has been laboring over the virtual pages of The Jewish Press to debate against Islamic antisemitism, and presenting through cited verses a positive and optimistic vision of the Koran. At every turn, she has expressed nothing but love and acceptance of Jews and the Torah tradition. I’ve been responsible for bringing her work to this website and for preparing it for publication, and so I’ve been intimately familiar with it. There are no false notes here, no hidden agendas.

And so I was taken aback by the vitriolic response of so many of our readers, who attacked Sinem either as a naïve simpleton who doesn’t really understand what a hateful religion she follows, or a sinister Svengali, looking to trap innocent Jews in her web of lies.

At this stage of the game, the caustic debate has spread beyond our own website, to dedicated websites and Facebook pages, intended to smear both the author and us, the supposedly duped Jewish Press. That’s why I feel compelled to respond, so that we’re on the record, rather than to allow some outsider decide what our position might be.

For the record, then, and please feel free to copy and paste this to your hearts’ content (you got that, Israel Matzav?), here are the reasons why The Jewish Press has been publishing these articles:

First, Sinem and Oktar are not promoting terrorism, on the contrary, they openly and unequivocally denounce violence, hatred, anti-Semitism and terrorism.

That’s huge. As a Jew, member of a persecuted minority, my first inquiry regarding a gentile person must be: is he interested in killing me? It’s also recommended to anyone else when picking friends and loved ones, but to Jews it’s absolutely essential.

So, while millions of Muslims want me dead in many different hellish ways, these folks from Istanbul don’t. I find it refreshing and a very good start towards a better future. In fact, once I’m convinced—and I am—that they don’t want me dead, I don’t really care how truly devout they are, how chaste they are (or are not), and what are their preferred peccadilloes. It’s a group of monotheistic gentiles what don’t want me dead – I’m totally happy.

Second, they are preaching an alternative interpretation of Islam, promoting peace, love, tolerance and democracy.

They live in Turkey, for crying out loud, don’t you think they know that most Muslim leaders and followers the world over disagree with them? But they have the courage, even the chutzpah, to tell the world—and they publish unabashedly on Muslim and Arab websites as well—what Islam should be.

Unlike some American sitting in his Mom’s basement, typing away how naïve Sinem is, she is actually putting her money—and her life—where her keyboard is. And she’s doing it patiently, humbly, never an angry word, never a snappy retort. I couldn’t do it, honestly.

So we discovered these lovely Muslim peaceniks, who are lovey-dovey about Jews and Israel, and who completely ignore the grim realities of a billion Muslims out there who hate us. Fine. It still means these strange Muslim don’t want me dead, right? That definitely goes on the plus side in my ledger.

Third, they support Israel’s right to exist as an independent Jewish State, based on the Koran, they pray for the coming of the King Mashiach ben David, they support the right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, they oppose Holocaust denial, they support the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the same Temple Mount. Is it any wonder they are being accused by radical Islamists that they are Zionist agents?

A recent Al Qaida attack in Istanbul, I’m told, was in retaliation for Oktar’s hosting of Rabbi Lau.

So, Muslim peaceniks, don’t want to kill me, and they’re saying my country belongs to me. Beats my European friends who say I must give away another two thirds of my country so that my neighbors might agree I have the right to exist.

Fourth, it is in our own interest to embrace friends of the Jews and of Israel. Plenty of Jews happily embrace messianic evangelicals who write openly that all they want is for us to convert to Christianity, and they even know that we’re all going there, like it or not, when That Man supposedly returns. We trumpet any pope who says we no longer have to pay for crucifying what’s his name. We’re a tiny nation, we can’t afford to scoff at anyone who wants to be our friend and lives up to it.

So, please, people, get with it. We’re in a war for our lives in which every friend counts. Enough with the crazy talkbacks.

On Tuesday, Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor spoke during a Security Council open debate on the “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.”

Prosor referred to the finding last week, by Bulgarian authorities, that Hezbollah was the culprit behind the July bus bombing in Burgas, which killed five Israelis and one Bulgarian citizen.

“This was the deadliest attack on European soil since 2005,” Prosor said. “Despite this, however, Hezbollah remains conspicuously absent from the European Union’s list of recognized terrorist organizations. In fact, many states—including some in this hall—continue to classify Hezbollah as a charity. Not since Napoleon invaded Russia has the European continent seen such an astonishing lack of foresight.”

Prosor cautioned that Hezbollah’s sole purpose is “to commit terrorist acts both inside and outside the Middle East,” commenting that “calling Hezbollah a charity is like calling al Qaida an urban-planning organization because of its desire to level tall buildings.”

“One does not need the fortitude of Richard the Lionheart to do the right thing here,” Prosor concluded. “The EU must find the moral and political courage to place Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations. It must send a clear message that Hezbollah can no longer target its citizens with impunity.”

The head of the supreme security committee in Benghazi, Libya, quit his position on Wednesday, citing tension between the ministry of interior and the security services.

In an interview with AFP, Fawzi Wanis al-Kadhafi said he decided to resign because “working conditions are not the same” since ex-rebels who overthrew Muammar Qaddafi last year re-established the committee.

On Monday, Libya’s interior minister fired the deputy interior minister for the eastern region and the head of national security for Benghazi, a week after US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed after the US embassy was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades.

Initial reports suggested the attacks resulted from outrage over an anti-Muslim film produced in the US, but experts say the riots may have been pre-planned with Al-Qaida support.

In a statement, Al-Qaida praised the killing of Stevens as “the best gift you give to his arrogant and unjust administration,” and urged Muslims to continue violent uprisings “and to kill their (American) ambassadors and representatives or to expel them to cleanse our land from their wickedness.”

About 300 French police officers continue to surround a house in the Croix-Daurade district of Toulouse, trying to encourage the suspect in the deadly shootings at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school to give himself up.

France 24 news identified the man as Mohammed Mura, 24, is a 24-year old Algerian Muslim with self-proclaimed ties to Al-Qaida.  Mura said he committed the murders – as well as the shootings of three French paratroopers – to commit “revenge for Palestinian children” and to punish France for its foreign military involvement.

Special police forces began their raid at 3:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. ET Tuesday.  Three French officers have been injured in the operation, including one who was shot in the knee when Mura fired at a door through which police were attempting to enter, according to French Interior Minister Claude Gueant. The man now said he plans to give himself up in the afternoon. His brother is still at large.

Working up to the 7th hour of the standoff, the suspect showed no signs of surrendering, though he reportedly tossed one firearm out of the window in exchange for a communications device.

Mura is accused of killing seven people in the last 10 days: a rabbi and three children at the Jewish school on Monday, and three soldiers of north African origin who had recently returned from Afghanistan in two earlier incidents.

Police had been searching for a man on a Yamaha TMAx530 with license plate number CA-676-RT, according to French TF1 News.  The motorcycle was stolen on March 6.

According to  Gueant, the suspect is a French national of Algerian origin who spent considerable time in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Toulouse house in which Mura has barracaded himself is a five-story block of flats and the man is on the ground or first floor.  His mother was called to the scene to attempt to persuade him out, but she refused to participate in police efforts, saying she had “little influence on him”.  One brother of Mura has been captured.

Investigators told the BBC that the suspect was identified through an email message he sent to his first victim. He had also been looking for a garage in Toulouse to remove a GPS tracking device from his Yamaha scooter after the first two attacks. Police knew a scooter was used in all the attacks.

“He claims to be a Mujahideen and to belong to al-Qaeda,” Gueant said. “He wanted revenge for the Palestinian children and he also wanted to take revenge on the French army because of its foreign interventions.”

According to Agence France-Presse, a French secret service source said the suspect had been “in the sights” of France’s intelligence agency after the first two attacks, when police were able to provide “crucial evidence”.

Police wearing helmets and flak jackets have cordoned off the area and other operations are under way to track down possible accomplices. Other emergency services are also in attendance.

A huge manhunt had been launched after Monday’s shooting at the  Ozar HaTorah Jewish school that left four people dead, and the killing of three soldiers in two incidents last week.

Reuters reports that on Saturday the U S drone attacks killed at least 25 al-Qaida fighters, including one commander, while a Yemeni air force raid killed 20 more in the south, sources said on Saturday. These were the biggest air strikes since Yemen’s new president took office.

Al-Qaida forces have increased their operations in southern Yemen while the country was in political turmoil during months of turmoil, anticipating the resignation of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was replaced in a February election by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Two al-Qaida fighters were killed late Friday while attempting to set off a bomb at a security checkpoint near the town of Mudiyah in the southern province of Abyan.

Thousands of mourners took part in a mass funeral for 45 people killed in twin intelligence agency compound bombings in Syria’ capital city of Damascus on Saturday. The attacks involved suicide bombers, the first such attack since opposition to President Bashar Assad’s rule arose in March.

An additional estimated 166 people were wounded in the attacks.  One took place in Damascus’ upscale Kfar Sousa district at 10:30 on Friday morning, when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden car outside a military intelligence building.  The second attack took place a minute later at the gate of the General Intelligence Agency.

Relatives and friends of the deceased, loyalists of Assad’s regime, wore black garments and carried Syrian flags and pictures of the dead, chanting “Martyr after martyr we want no one but Assad,” according to a report by the Associated Press.  Coffins were draped with Syrian flags at the Omayyad Mosque, built in the year 715, the burial place of Crusader nemesis and former ruler of Jerusalem, Saladin.

All but six of the remains were identified.  Most of the victims were civilians, though some were security officers.  State television broadcast the funeral live on-air.

Assad’s administration responded to the attacks by saying preliminary investigations point to al-Qaida, further suggesting that the current battle with opposition forces was not a battle with reformers, but rather with al-Qaida terrorists.

For its part, opposition members said Assad himself could be behind the attack, which took place the day after a team of Arab League observers arrived in country to investigate Assad’s crackdown on resistance.  Anti-Assad forces also expressed concern that the recent attack would lead to a massive onslaught in central Syria.  Furthermore, reports from rebels indicate that Assad is inhibiting the work of the observers and causing delays for the team.

On Saturday, at least three people were killed in Baba Amr by shelling, with homes and stores set on fire.  Another four bodies were found dumped on the streets of Houla in the volatile Homs province, with indications they had been tortured.

An Arab woman was wounded in southern Lebanon on Sunday when a Katyusha rocket aimed at Israel landed short of its mark.

The rocket was fired from the area of Bint Jbeil, a town a mile from Israel and the site of a major battle of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, and landed on an apartment building in the Lebanese border village of Hula.  Hizbullah denies connection to the attack.

Two weeks ago, rockets were fired from Lebanon to Israel, the first time since 2009.  The rockets, which landed in the western Galilee, caused property damage but no injuries.  An Al-Qaida-affiliated terror group called the Abdullah Azzam Brigades initially issued a statement taking responsibility for those attacks on “the settlements of the Zionist enemy in northern Palestine,” but later retracted.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been deployed in Lebanon since 1978 to serve as an observing and peacekeeping force.  Its almost 14,000 troops are charged with preventing violence and terrorism in the region.

The IDF fired at Lebanese targets just after midnight on Tuesday after the firing of three rockets into northern Israel.

Three rockets fired from Lebanon were located in Israeli communities near the Lebanese border in the Western Galilee.  No injuries were reported.  Police are searching for a possible fourth rocket.  The rockets are believed to have been Katyushas.

Katyusha Lands in Israel, Oct. 2009. Hamad Almakt/Flash90

Two of the rockets landed in Netua, a small Moshav of 250 people.  A chicken coop and propane gas tank were damaged.

Another rocket has been confirmed in Biranit, with no damage reported.

Police conducted searches for a fourth rocket in the woods  near Kfar Vradim, a town of approximately 6,000 people 14 kilometers from the border with Lebanon, where residents reported hearing an explosion.

The IDF Northern Command has gone on full alert.

IDF spokespersons said the IDF considers the incident severe, and holds the Lebanese government responsible for not preventing the attacks.  The IDF said in a statement that it views the rocket attacks as a severe incident and it holds the Lebanese government and the Lebanese military responsible for preventing such actions.  Israel will file a complaint with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was charged by the UN under Resolution 1701 with monitoring the border in order to prevent hostilities between Israel and Lebanon.  Under the resolution, UN troops which stood at 2,000 prior to the 2006 war were increased to a maximum of 15,000.

Army Radio reported this as the eight rocket attack on the North since Israel’s war with Hizbullah in 2006.  IDF officials believe the attacks were all conducted by Al-Qaida or Palestinian terror groups.