Bloggerheads exposes Glen Jenvey

Glen_JenveyLet’s begin by going back to the Sun non-story that prompted this initial post:

The Sun – Islamic fanatics name Alan Sugar, Mark Ronson and Lord Levy in a hit list of Britain’s leading Jews: British anti-terror expert Glen Jenvey is convinced online forum Ummah is being used to prepare a deadly backlash against UK Jews. His warning came as Europe was hit by anti-Semitic attacks over Israel’s push into the Gaza Strip…. Mr Jenvey, 43, said: “The Ummah website has been used by extremists. Those listed should treat it very seriously. Expect a hate campaign and intimidation by 20 or 30 thugs.”

It would now appear that this entire non-story actually began with Glen Jenvey feeding an unknown quantity of information to the Sun ‘news’ paper. Glen Jenvey bills himself in this bio as a ‘freelance terror investigator’, is described in this article as a ‘freelance intelligence agent’, and is described in his Wikipedia entry (that heregularly edits himself) as a former spy who now “uses the internet to infiltrate terrorist organisations.”

Search for his name in Google News and poke around ‘all years’, and you’ll see his name attached to quite a few terror-alert stories, with highlights including this one, which has a lovely Christmas theme throughout, and this ‘New Year’ warning in the Sun that is very recent indeed.

I would go into more detail (there is lots!) but for now, all you need is this and possibly the knowledge that some of Glen’s past exploits have – according to reports from his supporters – resulted in warnings and “threats of arrest” from the authorities.

Now, the Sun have in this article based their claim of militant Muslims targeting “Britain’s leading Jews” on comments made by ‘abuislam’, specifically in this passage:

“Abuislam” asks: “Have we got a list of top Jews we can target? Can someone post names and addresses?”

Though the Sun suggests otherwise, the only forum contributor pushing for anything other than a polite letter-writing campaign (details here) is posting under the name ‘abuislam’…. and I’m looking at evidence right now that strongly indicates that Glen Jenvey and ‘abislam’ are one and the same person.

In other words, he has created the very ‘militant’ content that the Sun has based their story on.

Further, in his quote he warns those listed to take the threat very seriously and to “expect a hate campaign and intimidation by 20 or 30 thugs”… when he was the one who listed them, and was the only person talking about doing anything other than writing letters!

Bloggerheads, 8 January 2009

See also “Bloggers expose Sun’s anti-Muslim propaganda” by Tom Griffin.

Sun invents ‘hate hit list’

Extremist threat to UK JewsFears grew last night that hate-filled Islamic extremists are drawing up a “hit list” of Britain’s leading Jews – bringing the Middle East conflict terrifyingly close to home.

TV’s The Apprentice boss Sir Alan Sugar and Amy Winehouse record producer Mark Ronson are among prominent names discussed on a fanatics’ website. Labour Peer and pal of Tony Blair Lord Levy, Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Princess Diana’s divorce lawyer Anthony Julius are also understood to be potential targets.

British anti-terror expert Glen Jenvey is convinced online forum Ummah is being used to prepare a deadly backlash against UK Jews.

On the Ummah site, “Saladin1970” asks for help compiling “a list of those who support Israel”. “Abuislam” asks: “Have we got a list of top Jews we can target? Can someone post names and addresses?” Saladin1970 gives a link to the Power 100 list of top British Jews.

Mr Jenvey, 43, said: “The Ummah website has been used by extremists. Those listed should treat it very seriously. Expect a hate campaign and intimidation by 20 or 30 thugs.”

Sun, 7 January 2009

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Muslim bank manager to sue HBOS

A Muslim bank manager who claims she was accused of trying to sleep her way to the top is suing Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) for damages of £16.7m for sex, race and religious discrimination.

Mona Awad, a married 29-year-old corporate manager, says that two of her bosses falsely accused her of having sex with a client, mocked her religion and made sexist remarks.

At an employment tribunal in Nottingham on Wednesday, she will claim one senior employee warned that he would only stop humiliating her in front of colleagues if she had sex with him. A second man allegedly hurled a string of lewd taunts, including a comment that she could not “handle two men”.

He allegedly searched for her in the ladies’ toilet when she took a break and suggested that cleaning was women’s work. She claims he slapped another female employee’s bottom at a horse racing event in front of clients.

She also alleges one of the men mocked her fasting during the month of Ramadan as “ridiculous” and said that he did not want to work with Asians.

Awad, who is British-born but of Egyptian origin, claims a third colleague asked her at a Christmas party whether she was an “active Muslim”. When she asked what he meant, he allegedly replied: “Do you carry bombs on trains?”

Guardian, 5 January 2008

‘Flying while Muslim’ – US airline pays compensation to passenger

JetBlueIn a victory for constitutional rights, two Transportation Security Authority (TSA) officials and JetBlue Airways have paid Raed Jarrar $240,000 to settle charges that they illegally discriminated against the U.S. resident based on his ethnicity and the Arabic writing on his t-shirt.

TSA and JetBlue officials prevented Jarrar from boarding his August 2006 flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport until he agreed to cover his shirt, which read “We Will Not Be Silent” in English and Arabic, and then forced him to sit at the back of the plane. The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Jarrar’s behalf in August 2007.

“The outcome of this case is a victory for free speech and a blow to the discriminatory practice of racial profiling,” said Aden Fine, senior staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group and lead attorney on the case. “This settlement should send a clear message to all TSA officials and airlines that they cannot discriminate against passengers based on their race or the ethnic content of their speech.”

On August 12, 2006, Jarrar was waiting to board a JetBlue flight from New York to his home in Oakland, California, when he was approached by two TSA officials. One of them told Jarrar that he needed to remove his shirt because other passengers were not comfortable with the Arabic script, telling him that wearing a shirt with Arabic writing on it to an airport was like “wearing a t-shirt at a bank stating, ‘I am a robber’.”

“As last week’s refusal by AirTran Airways to allow a Muslim family that posed no security risk to fly shows, what happened to Mr. Jarrar is not an isolated incident,” said Reggie Shuford, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Racial Justice Program. “Transportation officials have the important responsibility of ensuring that all flights are safe, but there is no reason that safety can’t be achieved while at the same time upholding the civil rights and liberties of all airline passengers. We hope this lawsuit and its successful result will serve as a powerful reminder that discrimination is against the law.”

ACLU press release, 5 January 2009

Don’t force Aussie Muslims into ghettos

Australian Muslim leaders are warning that repeated opposition by local councils and residents to the building of Muslim schools and worship places is pushing the sizable minority into ghettos, reported the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, December 27.

“When we’re not able to do that in some places, where the approach is unfairly delayed and unreasonably delayed, then it’s forcing people to go to one particular area, even though they don’t live in that particular area,” Keysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Society, said.

Proposals by Australian Muslims to build schools and worship places have repeatedly been met with strong opposition from local councils and residents. For example, it took three years and a half to get approval from the Sydney local council to open a prayer center in Penrith city in New South Wales. Earlier this year, the Camden local council rejected a proposal to build a Muslim school to serve 1200 students in the city and surrounding areas.

Islam Online, 27 December 2008

Italian priest puts mosque in nativity scene, Lega Nord reacts with fury

Mario BorghezioItaly’s Right-wing Northern League have reacted with fury after it emerged that a Roman Catholic priest added a model mosque to his church’s nativity scene. The League, which has campaigned against the building of new mosques, bitterly attacked Father Prospero Bonzani as an “imbecile”.

The miniature mosque, complete with a minaret, was included in the skyline of Bethlehem in the nativity scene at Father Bonzani’s Our Lady of Providence church in the northern port of Genova.

Mario Borghezio [pictured], a Northern League MEP, called the priest an “imbecile” and said: “What on earth possessed him to put a mosque in a traditional Christmas nativity scene? I hope that the Church authorities in Genova will investigate this as a matter of urgency.” He added: “What will this priest do when he says Mass during Ramadan? Ask us to turn towards Mecca? He may as well have included a suicide bomber wearing dynamite.”

But Father Bonzani said that his nativity scene was designed to send a message of inter-faith harmony. “I included the mosque as a sign that we should have more dialogue with the Muslim faith. I do not have any regrets. At the end of the day the most important thing to focus on here is the Holy Family. I have only one had one complaint from within the parish and that’s it.”

Daily Telegraph, 25 December 2008

Police to get training after head-scarf wearer’s arrest

DOUGLASVILLE, Georgia — The Douglasville Police Department said Monday its officers will undergo “sensitivity and cultural diversity training” after a Muslim woman who refused to remove her head scarf at a courthouse was jailed. “We never want this to happen again. It’s not our intent to embarrass anybody,” Police Chief Joe Whisenant said at a news conference. The judge who had the woman jailed briefly for contempt of court will also take part in the training, Whisenant said.

CNN, 23 December 2008

Established Church needed to hold Islam at bay, says Mad Mel

Melanie Phillips Jihad in BritainMelanie Phillips warns against proposals to disestablish the Church of England:

“Christianity is not just any faith. It lies at the heart of British values and Western civilisation. Breaking the link would mean Christianity would be cast adrift, along with many of this country’s values. The Church might not be destroyed, but the country’s core identity would undoubtedly suffer.

“And the plain fact is that Britain is not multicultural. Parts of it are multi-ethnic, with large pockets of immigrants from other nations, but that is a very different matter. Britain remains a Protestant Christian country, and most Britons define themselves as such.

“… the undermining of Christianity from within is being exploited by militant Islamist fanatics who want to turn Britain into an Islamic state. This might seem an impossible notion, until you recall the way Dr Williams – followed by the senior judge Lord Phillips – said there was nothing to be feared from the encroachment within Britain of Islamic sharia law, regardless of the fact that such law is based on principles which are inimical to Christianity and liberal democracy.

“The only way to defend British and Western society from such cultural attack is to re-assert a confident Christianity. Yet Dr Williams spends all his time apologising for the faith he supposedly represents….

“Maybe we can’t any longer hold off the demand for ‘equality’ between Christianity and the other faiths that make up modern Britain. But in that case we have to accept that Britain and its values will be utterly changed, and not for the better.”

Daily Mail, 22 December 2008

Update:  See the response from ENGAGE to Phillips’ article.

Arson attack damages Lyon mosque

Saint Priest mosque arsonA mosque near the southeast city of Lyon was slightly damaged by fire early Saturday in an attack that the French interior ministry in Paris said was arson.

The fire broke out at the entrance to the mosque in the suburb of Saint Priest but did not spread and the only damage to the interior was caused by smoke, police said. However, an AFP photographer saw a number of burned books from a bookcase which had been standing next to the door.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had written to the president of the French council of Muslims, Mohammed Moussaoui, to convey her concern at the arson attack on the mosque, the ministry in Paris said.

The ministry added that police forensics experts were working to “find who was responsible for this intolerable and cowardly attack as soon as possible.”

The mosque rector, Kamal Kabtane, condemned “the rise in racism and Islamophobia” and called for a demonstration on Sunday outside the mosque when he visited the scene with the local mayor.

He referred to recent anti-Islamic incidents in France, including an attack on another mosque in the Lyon area in August and the desecration of 500 Muslim soldiers’ tombs in a war cemetery in the north of the country earlier this month.

Police said they had found a number of clues which were expected to aid them in their inquiries.

AFP, 22 December 2008

See also “Lyons: Arson at mosque”, Islam in Europe, 21 December 2008

And “Sarkozy condemns racist arson attack on mosque”, Expatica, 22 December 2008

Saint-Priest demonstration