Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Greenwich Islamic Centre petrol bombed twice in a week

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mohamed KoheealleeA brave caretaker was hurt as he risked his life to save a mosque torched by arsonists in the second petrol bomb attack in a week.

Mohamed Koheeallee, 62, raced to tackle 7ft flames at the Greenwich Islamic Centre in Plumstead Road at 12.15am on Tuesday. Grabbing a bucket of water, he extinguished the fire as it spread inside but when he opened a fire exit, he was engulfed by flames burning his arm and his face.

Choking with smoke inhalation and despite his injuries, he carried on dousing the fire until the mosque was safe but when he tried to tackle the source of the blaze he was pushed back by its intensity.

Holy texts, including the most sacred in Islam – the Koran – were burned.

Mr Koheeallee, who believes the attack was racially motivated, was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance to be treated for smoke inhalation and burns and was later discharged. He said: “It makes me feel really bad to see the burnt holy scriptures. If these people have a problem they should be brave enough to say it to my face, but not like this.”

The caretaker had also dealt with another arson attack at the mosque which had been less serious but had taken place a week before at approximately the same time of night.

The centre’s director, Dr Tariq Abbasi, said “enough is enough,” and has called on the new Greenwich borough commander Richard Wood to take action.

Dr Abbasi said: “This is as bad as it can get. Nobody deserves this. Seeing burnt copies of the Koran, the emotional impact has been devastating.  Monetary loss is one thing, the building can be re-built, but the emotional scars can last for years. The Muslim community see this as a racist attack on a place of worship.”

He said a racist minority may have been encouraged after BNP members won seats in the European elections.

Bexley Times, 17 June 2009

Via ENGAGE  See also Asian Image, 18 June 2009

In the European elections the four London boroughs in which the BNP registered its highest votes were Barking & Dagenham 19.3%, Havering 14%, Bexley 12.3% and Greenwich 8.4%.

Update:  See “CCTV images released after Mosque fire”, Bexley Times, 31 July 2009

Douglas Murray and Anjem Choudary – two self-publicists help each other out

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Murray and Choudary

Over at Comment is Free, Douglas Murray of the Centre for Social Cohesion tries to defend his decision to debate Anjem Choudary at a meeting at Conway Hall, London, organised by an al-Muhajiroun front calling itself the “Global Issues Society”.

The meeting was cancelled following a confrontation over al-Muhajiroun’s attempt to impose gender separation, resulting in lots of publicity for both Murray and Choudary.

Murray claims: “We were sceptical of GIS from the start. We strongly suspected that they were some sort of front group. But we couldn’t satisfactorily confirm the fact. Despite our concerns, and our knowledge that it was a possible ambush, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and decided to attend the event in good faith.”

According to Murray, he went to Conway hall with the highest motives, intent only on defending “religious pluralism, women’s rights, gay rights, and actual diversity in society”. It is, Murray asserts piously, “possible to chip away at the mindset of radicalised Muslims – sowing seeds of doubt. Even if it is just one member of the audience who is receptive to the anti-totalitarian possibility it is vital to do this. It is the reason why I debate.”

Yeah, right. This is the same Douglas Murray who in 2006 told the Pim Fortuyn Memorial Conference: “All immigration into Europe from Muslim countries must stop…. Conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board: Europe must look like a less attractive proposition.” Some defender of “actual diversity in society”!

Contrast Murray’s efforts at self-justification with Yayha Birt’s explanation of the CSC’s motives:

“the CSC says it acted in ‘good faith’ in accepting this invitation, an assertion that can’t be left unchallenged…. It seems probable that the CSC was more focused on highlighting their own campaign for a quick ban and burnishing their reputation as a scourge of radical Islam by playing up to al-Muhajiroun’s all-too-familiar tactics.”

Update:  See Yusuf Smith’s comments at Indigo Jo Blogs, 21 June 2009

Will France ban the veil?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Secularism is the religion of contemporary France. And the enforcers of that faith have a new target. ‘Today… we are confronted by certain Muslim women wearing the burqa, which covers and fully envelops the body and the head like a moving prison,’ said Andre Gérin, a Communist Party legislator who joined 57 others Wednesday in signing a motion for a parliamentary committee to study possible legislation to ban the wearing of the traditional costume in public….

“But what about the rights of Muslim women who honestly feel faith-bound to voluntarily don a burka? Or those prohibited by law from attending public school with the headscarfs they wear everywhere else? Why is no one ranting about nuns’ habits being ‘degrading’ (as Gerin called the burqa), just as no one lashed out at creeping extremism when then-First Lady Bernadette Chirac covered her head during Vatican visits?

“Probably because Catholicism has deep roots in French history and culture, and is not viewed as a foreign faith the way Islam is ….”

Bruce Crumley in Time, 19 June 2009

See also “Muslim council slams call for burqa inquiry”, AFP, 18 June 2009

Mel and Geert – spot the difference

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The enemies of reason sets a quiz.

You simply have to guess who said the following statements – Melanie Phillips or Geert Wilders.

1. “Socialists are the most inveterate cultural relativists in Europe. They regard the Islamic culture of backwardness and violence as equal to our Western culture of freedom, democracy and human rights. In fact, it is the socialists who are responsible for mass immigration, Islamization and general decay of our cities and societies.”

2. “The nation-wrecking ideology of multiculturalism and the Marxist redefinition of racial prejudice into racism – ‘prejudice plus power ‘– which have turned our society inside out are the product of the left.”

3. “Voters have been told in effect that there is nothing standing between national suicide on the one hand and racism on the other. If you don’t want the former, you are automatically branded with the latter.”

4. “And so, the voters have had enough. Because they of course realise that Europe is going in the wrong direction. They know that there are enormous problems with Islam in Europe. They are well aware of the identity of those who are taking them for a ride, namely, the Shariah socialists.”

5. “They are areas of very high immigration where the transformation of the ethnic, religious and cultural landscape has made indigenous inhabitants feel strangers in their own country — and yet they are told they are racist for saying so”

6. “Mass immigration, demographic developments and Islamization are certainly partly causes of Europe’s steadily increasing impoverishment and decay.”

7. “Above all else, we should absolutely refuse to countenance the spread of Sharia law, which is not only inimical to our own deepest principles but aims to supplant our own laws. Yet we are turning a blind eye to the steady Sharia-isation”

8. “Just like communism, fascism and nazism, Islam is a threat to everything we stand for. It is a threat to democracy, to the constitutional state, to equality for men and women, to freedom and civilisation. Wherever you look in the world, the more Islam you see, the less freedom you see.”

9. “The problem, however, is that it doesn’t understand what Muslim extremism is. Believing that Islamic terrorism is motivated by an ideology which has ‘hijacked’ and distorted Islam, it will not acknowledge the extremism within mainstream Islam itself.”

10. “Of course, there are many moderate Muslims. However, there is no such a thing as a moderate Islam. Islam’s heart lies in the Koran.”

11. “In the war being waged by radical Islamism against the west, such symbolism [as mosque-building] is of the utmost importance and significance. It is itself a strategic weapon of cultural and religious demoralisation.”

12. “We will have to close down all radical [mosques] and forbid the construction of any new mosques, there is enough Islam in Europe.”

Tricky, no? So there you have it – Geert Wilders and Melanie Phillips. One a dangerous extremist with vile views; the other a Dutchman with silly hair.

‘No, madam, it’s you who have offended MY values’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daily Mail pollWriting in today’s Daily Mail, Allison Pearson introduces us the the concept of “Burkha Rage”, defined as shorthand for anger directed against Muslim women “taking the mickey out of our country and its tolerant ways”.

According to Pearson, Muslim women continue to exploit “our” tolerance, “despite a growing acceptance that multi-culturalism has been deeply damaging to race relations”. That would be as distinct from the positive contribution to race relations made by the Daily Mail and its columnists, would it?

Speaking of which, arising out of Pearson’s column, the Mail is today running a poll on “Should immigrants be forced to respect British culture?”

See also ENGAGE.

What support does the Quilliam Foundation have among British Muslims?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The answer is: none. And yes, I realise this probably rates alongside revelations about the religious affiliation of the Pope or the excretory habits of bears, but it’s nevertheless useful to have some solid evidence to back up what any informed observer already knew.

So thanks to ENGAGE for drawing our attention to a report by the Redbridge Faith Forum entitled Conversations with Muslim Community leaders in Redbridge about the Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) Agenda. It found that “negative view[s] towards the Quilliam Foundation [were] held almost universally by all participants”.

Posted in UK

Muslim waitress awarded £3,000 for being made to wear low-cut dress

Posted on by Bob Pitt

5128243W009 FataLemes02.JPGA Muslim waitress has been awarded a £3,000 pay out for sexual harassment after being made to wear a revealing red dress for work. Fata Lemes, 33, quit her job after claiming that the low-cut dress was “disgusting” and made her look like a “prostitute”. Miss Lemes, a Bosnian Muslim, had told an employment tribunal that she “might as well have been naked” in the dress.

The Central London Employment Tribunal awarded Miss Lemes damages after pointing out that only women – and not male staff – were required to wear the summer uniform at the bar in Mayfair, London. The outfit was described as “brightly coloured, figure hugging garb”.

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