A law to ban the burka from being worn in public was among proposed legislation consigned to the dustbin today.
Tory Philip Hollobone’s Face Coverings (Regulation) Bill failed to get a second reading on the last day for consideration of backbench MPs’ Bills this parliamentary session. Mr Hollobone (Kettering) has previously described the burka as “offensive” and “against the British way of life”.
The forces of counterjihad have apparently made another historically decisive advance with the launch of a new international organisation, Stop Islamization of Nations (SION).
To quote the characteristically pompous press release announcing this new development:
Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) are joining together to create a new global force determined to defend free societies globally: Stop Islamization of Nations (SION)….
SIOA and SIOE are the foremost organizations in America and Europe dedicated to defending human rights, religious liberty, freedom of conscience and the freedom of speech against Islamic supremacist intimidation and attempts to bring elements of Sharia to the West.
At the helm of SION as its founding President is the internationally renowned human rights activist and Executive Director of SIOA, Pamela Geller…. Vice President is the acclaimed bestselling author and Islam expert, Robert Spencer
Newt Gingrich told a South Carolina town hall audience on Tuesday that he would be open to seeing a Muslim-American run for president, as long as the candidate denounced Sharia law and didn’t seek to impose his or her views on others.
At a town hall meeting in West Columbia, S.C., a man asked Gingrich if he would ever “support a Muslim-American running for president.”
“Would you endorse…a Muslim-American, [who] could possibly be running for president, given that we had a woman running for president in Hillary Clinton, and we had a Jewish-American, in Joe Lieberman, running for vice president?” he asked.
“A truly modern person who happened to worship Allah would not be a threat,” Gingrich replied. “A person who belonged to any kind of belief in Sharia, any kind of effort to impose that on the rest of us, would be a mortal threat.”
Nannies and childcare assistants could soon be banned from wearing the Islamic veil in France, even when working at home, after a controversial law bill was adopted by the French Senate late last night.
During Fox News’ South Carolina debate, Texas Governor Rick Perry suggested it might be time for Turkey to be kicked out of NATO, saying the country was being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.
Perry’s response might surprise many, as Turkey is a longstanding US ally in NATO, and a critical diplomatic partner engaged in “a working relationship that is one of the most important but least discussed developments shaping (2011)’s change in the Arab world.”
Last week the Melbourne newspaper The Age ran a piece about a Christian convert of Iranian origin named Mandy Ahmadi (formerly Zahara Ramizadegan) who had been reported missing by her husband.
Readers were told of fears that Mrs Ahmadi had been “abducted by Muslim hardliners because of her attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity”. The notorious anti-Muslim bigot Danny Nalliah, head of the right-wing Christian fundamentalist Catch The Fire Ministries, was quoted as suggesting that “her zeal had come to the attention of militants, possibly in Iran itself”.
The author of The Age‘s report, the paper’s religious affairs correspondent Barney Zwartz [pictured], helpfully explained: “Islam, strictly interpreted, mandates death for adults who leave the religion, and there are many cases of Iranian converts being killed, both in Iran and in Europe. The same penalty may be applied to those who seek to persuade Muslims to leave their religion.”
“David Caton is a plague of boils on the community’s spiritual life. Enough.”
Daniel Ruth takes on the leader (and only known activist) of the Florida Family Association over his recent attempt to witch-hunt teacher Kelly Miliziano for inviting Hassan Shibly of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to address her pupils.
Foreign secretary William Hague has an interesting piece in today’s Times entitled “Freedom is still flowering in the Arab Spring”.
The article is hidden behind Rupert Murdoch’s paywall, but it has been reproduced on various UK embassy websites, so you can read it there for free.
Pamela Geller, who has been referred to as the “queen of the Muslim bashers,” is not doing anything to shed that title.
Geller, the executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) and Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), said she’s enamored with the Marines seen in a recent video that allegedly shows them urinating on corpses of Taliban soldiers.
“I love these Marines,” she wrote on her blog, Atlas Shrugs. “Perhaps this is the infidel interpretation of the Islamic ritual of washing and preparing the body for burial.”
The editor of the Daily Star endured a bruising encounter at the Leveson inquiry today, facing sustained questioning over her newspaper’s coverage of Muslims.
Counsel Robert Jay repeatedly showed Dawn Neesom front pages of her newspaper and asked if she considered them “ethical”. “A journalist might feel the headlines we’ve been looking at stray way over the line of what’s ethical,” he said.
Mr Jay showed one front page featuring the headline: “Muslim thugs aged just 12 in knife attack on Brit school boy.” He branded the language “tendentious”, pointing out that the victim was described as “British”, but the perpetrators, who were also British, were described as “Muslim”. He also pointed out that the ‘attack’ actually referred to a comment on Facebook.
“It’s not good,” Ms Neesom admitted. She promised to pursue the issue “back in the office”.