Monthly Archives: July 2014

Muslim spitting incident: police release CCTV images of suspect

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bristol spitting suspect CCTV images

Police want to trace this man in connection with a spitting incident in which a Muslim woman was left shocked and in tears.

Hasina Khan, who was born in Bristol, was on her way to work when she was attacked by a man in Cabot Circus at about 9am on Monday, July 21. Saliva ended up on her hijab and her left hand. She was also subjected to verbal abuse.

Investigating officer PC Hannah King said: “We are issuing several images of a man we want to speak to about this incident, which we are treating as a hate crime. The victim was left shaken and distressed by the ordeal and we hope by releasing these images, someone will come forward with information which will help us identify who this man is.”

If you can help, please call PC King via the 24-hour Police Enquiry Centre on 101 and quote reference 74214/14.

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Kalgoorlie-Boulder council approves mosque during fiery meeting

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The City of Kalgoorlie Boulder approved the construction of a mosque in the inland city during a heated council meeting on Monday night, passing the motion six votes to four.

Acting mayor Allan Pendal said it was clear from the start of public question time the issue would be hotly contested, with what he described as a “vocal minority” clearly opposed to the planned construction of the mosque on Park Street in the suburb of Williamstown.

An alternative motion was put forward during the meeting that would have seen the application sent back to the council’s all-purpose committee to seek more information. The vote on that motion was deadlocked at 5-5, with Cr Pendal using his casting vote, as presiding officer, to defeat the motion. The original motion was then moved and passed 6-4.

Cr Pendal said the council was bound to judge the application on planning grounds, something he believed the anti-mosque supporters couldn’t comprehend.

“It was the biggest council meeting I’ve seen in nine years, we couldn’t actually fit everyone in the council chambers,” he said. “There was strong representation against the item. They were very vocal but they couldn’t seem to understand that we couldn’t judge the application on political or moral or religious grounds. This was a planning decision and they didn’t understand that despite me explaining it to them five or six times.”

He said the heckling of the anti-mosque group reached its peak during the debate of the item and at several points descended into abuse of council.

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Torygraph discovers ‘jihad on dogs’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Under the headline “Commonwealth Games Scottie dogs ‘disrespectful to Muslims’”, the Telegraph reports that the use of Scottish terrier dogs to lead teams around Celtic Park in the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last Wednesday has been criticised by “Malaysian politicians and religious leaders”. (In the Daily Mail‘s version of the story, the critics are elevated to “Malaysian officials”.)

The criticisms quoted were in fact raised by two individuals – one the leader of a minor political party and the other of an extremist movement – and it looks like their objections were not so much to the use of dogs as such but rather to reports that the dog supposed to be leading the Malaysian team refused to move and had to be carried by a team representative.

The Telegraph article helpfully explains: “Many Muslims refuse to have direct contact with dogs, which are considered by some to be ‘unclean’ in Islamic culture. Some overseas Muslim groups have reportedly previously called for a jihad on dogs.”

The article concludes: “A Glasgow 2014 spokesman said: ‘Glasgow 2014 have received no complaints from the Commonwealth Games Associations of the competing nations and territories following the Opening Ceremony’.”

So, another anti-Muslim story concocted out of nothing.

For the background to the “jihad on dogs” nonsense, see here and here.

Muslim school targeted by far right will open in September

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Portsmouth protest
Members of the EDL and other far-right factions battle with police during a protest against the Madani Academy last August

An open day will be held for families interested in sending their children to a controversial Muslim school. The Madani Academy in Portsmouth is holding the event on Sunday. It is inviting prospective students along ahead of its official opening, which it hopes will be before September.

But last summer, demonstrations led by the English Defence League were held outside the venue in opposition to it opening. And there was outcry later in the year after a pig’s head was stuck on a spike on the back gates.

As reported in The News, the academy will be based at Merefield House, on the corner of Lake Road and Fratton Road. The people behind the academy won a bid to buy the building off Portsmouth City Council for £750,000. The management team said the site was the right one given its central location in the city and the fact it has a car park. They raised the £300,000 deposit for the building and the rest will be paid off in stages.

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Fury over ‘Muslim only’ rental advert as landlords fuel ghetto culture

Posted on by Bob Pitt

That was the headline to a report in yesterday’s Daily Star Sunday (the headline has since been amended to remove the reference to “ghetto culture”, although this remains in the article itself).

The inflammatory subheading, which suggests that there is a connection between adverts for rooms to rent and violent extremism, reads “Homes are being illegally advertised for rent to ‘Muslims only’ yards from where soldier Lee Rigby was killed.”

The Star even included photos of the adverts, without bothering to blank out the phone numbers, with the predictable result that the English Defence League has been encouraging its supporters to ring up and harass the Muslim landlords.

See Steve Rose, “An insight into the Daily Star exclusive on ‘Muslim only’ rental ads”, Tell Mama, 28 July 2014

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Ofsted has ‘no plans’ to target inspections at Bradford over Trojan Horse row

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Education bosses have played down claims that Bradford schools are to be the focus of new targeted inspections in the wake of the Trojan Horse row.

There are reports that Whitehall officials are planning to carry out snap inspections at the city amid concerns that the problems found in Birmingham schools could be repeated elsewhere in the country. Claims that Muslim governors were attempting to take over state schools in Birmingham has led to a series of inspections by the Government, the local council and Ofsted.

Ofsted placed five schools in Birmingham in special measures and said a “culture of fear and intimidation has taken grip” in some schools. A separate report by former counter terrorism chief Peter Clarke said there was evidence of an “aggressive Islamist agenda” being pursued by some schools in the city

Now a national newspaper has said that Bradford is to be the focus of new inspections by both Ofsted and officials from the Department for Education (DfE). However Ofsted said it was not aware of any plans to carry out snap inspections in Bradford and Bradford Council’s executive member for schools Coun Ralph Berry said the DfE had not raised any specific concerns about the city.

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Germany’s biggest tabloid attacks Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nicolaus Fest comment piece

Germany’s biggest newspaper, Bild, was forced to climb down over the weekend after a highly critical and controversial comment piece which attacked Islam as a barrier to integration appeared in its Sunday sister paper.

“I don’t believe in God, but at the same time Christianity, Judaism or Buddhism don’t bother me. Only Islam bothers me more and more,” wrote Nicolaus Fest, vice editor-in-chief of the Bild am Sonntag newspaper in the editorial published on Sunday.

Fest then laid out why Islam’s “criminality,” “murderous contempt” and “honour killings” did not belong in Germany, in comments which prompted a raft of hostility online against the Axel Springer-owned tabloid. “I’m bothered by the considerably disproportionate criminality of youths from Muslim backgrounds,” wrote Fest. “I’m bothered by Islam’s murderous contempt for women and homosexuals. I’m bothered by forced marriages, ‘justices of the peace,’ ‘honour killings.'”

All this, wrote Fest, was making Islam “a barrier to integration” – something which should be weighed up when assessing claims for asylum and visa applications to Germany. “I don’t need any imported racism and I don’t need anything else Islam stands for,” he concluded.

The short piece, which by Monday morning had been shared over 9,700 times on social media, quickly drew harsh criticism of the paper by politicians calling it racist and calling for the paper to apologize to the estimated 4.3 million Muslims in Germany.

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Israel now, Ireland next: Dublin embassy in propaganda pics storm

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Israeli embassy Twitter images

An Israeli spokesman has confirmed that offensive images featuring European national icons were sent from his embassy’s official social media accounts.

Dublin was not the only city to come into the Israeli propaganda sights. A montage of pictures also showed the Mona Lisa in Paris wearing a niqab and carrying a rocket launcher. Michaelangelo’s David was shown in Arab headgear and wired up as a suicide bomber with a warning to Italy, while Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid was shown holding a gun.

The Israel In Ireland Facebook and Twitter accounts have been blasted for sharing the series of controversial posts.

An embassy spokesman told the Irish Sun: “Yes they were sent from the official Facebook but they were taken down, I don’t know why. Often things get deleted for space reasons but it wasn’t taken down because of any complaints.”

But disgusted online viewers called on the Government to take decisive action.

One said: “Feckin’ Facebook has taken more action against Israel in Ireland than our own Govt! Useless, spineless cowards. Further disgusting imagery from the Israeli Embassy in Ireland @IsraelinIreland.” Another fumed: “A disgusting piece of propaganda incitement attempt by @IsraelinIreland – embassy in Dublin. Simply disgusting. #GazaUnderAttack.”

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Anger as Islamic charity with Bradford base has its bank account shut down

Posted on by Bob Pitt

 

Ummah Welfare Trust (2)

An Islamic charity with a base in Bradford has been told that its bank account is being shut down, although it has yet to be told why. Now Bradford West MP George Galloway says he will “demand” to know the reason that HSBC has decided to shut the account of the Ummah Welfare Trust.

The registered charity, which has an office on Manningham Lane, believes HSBC has taken the action because some of the money it collects goes towards humanitarian projects in Palestine. It was this week given notice that its accounts were being shut in two months’ time. Although the account closure is not expected to hit the charity too hard, members feel it was morally wrong, and are calling for a boycott of the bank.

The trust had its account with Barclays bank shut in 2008.

Shoyeb Mayat, of the Bradford office, said: “We have no idea why they made this decision. We are in the middle of our busiest time for donations. During Ramadan we get 70 per cent of the donations we get each year.”

The group provides emergency relief in 20 countries across the world, including Pakistan, Palestine and India. It said the money goes towards providing medicine and grants to vulnerable people and children whose families have been killed or injured.

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Tension ahead of Kalgoorlie mosque debate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stop the mosque in Kalgoorlie Boulder

Kalgoorlie-Boulder will have police on stand-by on Monday night when anti-mosque campaigners are expected to protest while Council debates a controversial proposal.

The Facebook page “Stop the mosque in Kalgoorlie Boulder” has created an event – “voice your objections to the proposed mosque” – urging supporters to attend council at 7pm to protest the proposed mosque.

“Stand up for Australia and stop this abhorrent proposed mosque in Kalgoorlie!,” the event invitation says. “Every man and his dog head to the Kalgoorlie town hall at 7pm to voice our outright objections to this vile mosque!”

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