Tory councillor faces disciplinary action over anti-Muslim email

Posted on May 2, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Councillor Walker A Tory councillor felt he had e-mailed a “jolly good joke” to all his council colleagues – but he now faces disciplinary action over claims it was racist and sexist.

Chris Walker, who represents Eastwood Park ward, has caused quite a storm among his peers over the pictures of naked women with anti-Islamic text.

The e-mail said Islamic men would have to commit suicide if they saw a woman, other than their wife, naked, and that all British women should walk the streets naked on Sunday afternoons to weed out terrorists.

It was accompanied by a number of pictures of naked women, and ended with the words Land of Hope and Glory and a picture of the Union Flag.

Funeral director Mr Walker, who is known in the council for his forthright comments, said: “I sent it in good faith, because it just seemed a jolly good joke to me.”

Southend Echo, 30 April 2009

The Muslim cleric who blames British mosques for the 7/7 bombings and says multiculturalism is a disaster

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Yes, it’s Taj Hargey – just the sort of “Muslim cleric” who finds favour with the Daily Mail, which devotes a major puff-piece to him. Regarding representative Muslim organisations, Hargey assures his interviewer: “These people are religious fascists. The view that Islam is incompatible with British society is something that the Muslim Council of Britain and their hangers-on have promulgated.”

No doubt Hazel Blears will approve of this too. Surely it can only be a matter of time before Hargey finds himself the recipient of the sort of government largesse presently enjoyed by the Quilliam Foundation.

Speaking of whom, the latest witch-hunting “media alert” from Ed Husain and Maajid Nawaz is directed against the Islam Channel, which the Quilliam Foundation accuses of promoting extremism. Among the “extremists” Quilliam objects to this popular TV station giving a platform to is Inayat Bunglawala! Perhaps the next Quilliam press release will be headed “Comment is Free and the promotion of extremism”.

It really is a disgrace that this unpleasant sect, headed by a couple of embittered and and malicious ex-HTers, is supplied with large sums of taxpayers’ money – £1 million according to one estimate – to pursue its vindictive, divisive campaign against mainstream Muslim organisations and individuals.

Update: See also “Quilliam stooges target the Islam Channel” at Engage, 30 April 2009

CAIR denounces Wilders’ hate speech at Florida synagogue

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Bob Pitt

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today call on members of the Jewish community to condemn the anti-Islam hate of a speaker who was recently given a standing ovation at a Florida synagogue.

CAIR said the speech by Dutch anti-Islam extremist politician Geert Wilders took place at a “large synagogue in Palm Beach.” In the speech, Wilders went through his usual laundry list of hate-filled views, including his claim that “Islam is not a religion” and “the right to religious freedom should not apply to this totalitarian ideology called Islam,” all to the applause of the audience. Wilders also called for stopping immigration from Muslim countries and urged “voluntary repatriation” to those countries.

“A synagogue should be the last place that Geert Wilders’ Nazi-like propaganda would find a warm reception,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “Members of the Jewish community know all too well what happens when a religious minority is demonized by demagogues. Wilders uses the same scurrilous attacks on Muslims and Islam that the Nazis used against German Jews and Judaism in the 1930s.”

CAIR press release, 28 April 2009

Update: See “ADL condemns anti-Islam remarks made by Dutch parliamentarian during appearances in S. Florida”, ADL Florida press release, 28 April 2009

Further update: See “CAIR Commends Fla. Jewish group for condemning hate speech”, CAIR press release, 30 April 2009

For an alternative view, by the inimitable Pamela Geller, see “ADL stabs Israel’s staunchest ally, Geert Wilders, and Jews along with him again“, Atlas Shrugs, 30 April 2009

Thankfully, the ADL are a lot more representative of the US Jewish community than the lunatic Geller.

‘Islamified Labour Party becomes anti-Jewish’, claim fascists

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Bob Pitt

“The Islamification of Britain which is the direct result of mass Third World immigration has now started to directly affect the Labour Party as well, after a Jewish would-be councillor was told by a senior party official that she was ‘too Jewish and too white’ to stand in a Birmingham ward dominated by Afro-Caribbean and Muslim residents.

“Ms Elaina Cohen was told by Labour’s former Lord Mayor councillor Mahmood Hussain that he could not support her application for an inner-city ward because ‘my Muslim members don’t want you because you are Jewish’….

“The development is the inevitable result of the Islamification of Britain, and the resultant importation of Middle East conflicts to these shores. As increasing numbers of Muslims settle and take over Britain, anti-Jewish events will steadily increase.

“This has been the case in all European countries where Islamic immigration has been high. France in particular has seen dramatically increased anti-Jewish attacks which have all been Islamist in origin.”

BNP news article, 28 April 2009

The article is lifted without acknowledgement from the Daily Mail. The BNP of course omits to quote Mahmood Hussain’s statement: “I would not make those sort of comments. The allegations are not true.”

Given its long history of antisemitism, the spectacle of the BNP presenting itself as a friend of the Jewish community may appear bizarre, but its attempt to win Jewish support on an anti-Muslim programme is part of a general development on the European far right. However, while parties like Vlaams Belang in Belgium have met with some success in applying this tactic, the BNP’s efforts have so far attracted almost no support at all within the Jewish community.

While the BNP remains under the leadership of Nick Griffin, a convicted Holocaust denier and author of the Jewish conspiracy booklet Who Are the Mind-Benders?, this is unlikely to change any time soon.

Update: Over at Harry’s Place the story is reported under the headline “Jews are unwanted here”, and just in case you missed the parallel they’re drawing between Mahmood Hussain and the Nazis, a German sign from the ’30s is reproduced: Juden sind hier unerwünscht. And this despite Hussain’s denial of the accusation against him and before the Labour Party has investigated the matter. Still, he’s a Muslim isn’t he, so why bother with all that innocent-until-proven-guilty nonsense?

Further update: See also “Selective outrage over bigotry” by Sunny Hundal at Pickled Politics, 1 May 2009

EU wants to impose Sharia law on Britain shock

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Judges could be forced to bow to Sharia law in some divorce cases heard in Britain. An EU plan calls for family courts across Europe to hear cases using the laws of whichever country the couple involved have close links to. That could mean a court in England handling a case within the French legal framework, or even applying the laws of Saudi Arabia to a husband and wife living in Britain.

Daily Mail, 27 April 2009

An ideal story for the Mail, combining as it does an appeal to anti-Muslim prejudice with hostility to the European Union. And of course it provokes the predictable outpouring of bigotry in the comments:

“This is the UK, obey our laws or get out.”

“Stop giving in to minority groups, and get out of the EU while we still have a country.”

“If they want it to be heard there then they should gave stayed there! What are these unelected EU idiots on?”

“Try to understand: this is the United Kingdom, not the Middle East.”

“Those who wish to live under Sharia Law have no place in the United Kingdom. EU Judges should therefore keep their Continental noses out of Britains affairs.”

“And New Labour scratches its head, wondering why people are voting for the BNP in droves.”

Quilliam, New Labour and the witch-hunt of Osama Saeed

Posted on April 26, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Osama and Alex Craig Murray responds to the disgraceful attempt by Ed Husain and his mates to smear Osama Saeed:

“The party political nature of the Quilliam Foundation is shown in their astonishing and completely unbalanced attack on Osama Saeed, a prominent SNP candidate and a friend of mine. They try to portray him as an Islamic extremist. If Osama is an Islamic extremist, then I am a Blairite.

“For New Labour to have even the faintest hope of a respectable performance at the general election, they must protect their Scottish base against the SNP. This pathetic attempt to smear the SNP as connected to Islamic extremism is a blatant abuse of taxpayers’ money….

“The real scandal here is not Osama Saeed, who is a good man dedicated to freedom and to bringing Scotland’s Muslim community into its mainstream politics. The real story is the blatant misuse of taxpayer funds by New Labour.”

Continue reading →

Danish cartoons editor: There’s a problem with Muslims in Europe

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Jyllands-Posten editor Flemming Rose has been interviewed by an Israeli newspaper about the Danish cartoons controversy:

“There are even experts on Islam who didn’t see this coming,” he said. “I talked about it with the orientalist Bernard Lewis, who told me there was a long culture of insulting the prophet in Europe. He referred me to Dante, and the cathedral in Bologna where Muhammad is depicted in hell. Muslims didn’t respond to that, because they said it these were heretics that they shouldn’t be concerned with.”

When asked why he thought Muslims reacted so harshly this time, Rose said, “According to Lewis, this is the first time Muslims try to impose Islamic law on non-Muslim countries.”

According to Rose, the riots that broke out following the publications stemmed from “Muslim immigration to Europe and the fact that there are Muslims who don’t want to be integrated… There’s a problem with Muslims in Europe and it must be dealt with.”

YNet News, 22 April 2009

Ramadan fallout leads to political crisis in Rotterdam

Posted on April 24, 2009 by Bob Pitt

The right-wing liberal party VVD has quit the Rotterdam local authority over its refusal to sack theologist Tariq Ramadan as adviser.

Swiss-born Tariq Ramadan (46) was hired by Rotterdam in 2007 to help bridge the divide between the city’s Muslim and non-Muslim communities. He is also a guest lecturer at Rotterdam’s Erasmus university.

Last month, the Gay Krant, a newspaper for the homosexual community, accused Ramadan of making homophobic and mysogynistic statements in taped speeches. The VVD promptly demanded that Ramadan be dismissed as city adviser, but it backed down after consultations with coalition party GroenLinks (the Green party). The local authority meanwhile carried out its own investigation of Ramadan’s past statements and concluded that the Gay Krant’s accusations were baseless.

Now, the VVD has decided to quit the Rotterdam city authority over the Ramadan affair. Its two aldermen, Mark Harbers (economy) and Jeannette Baljeu (transportation) gave their resignations on Wednesday evening. Harbers said Ramandan’s views are at odds with “the freedom of its individual to choose his or her own lifestyle”.

NRC International, 23 April 2009

SNP urged to drop ‘sectarian and divisive’ Muslim candidate

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Bob Pitt

The Times takes up the witch-hunt against Osama Saeed initiated by the Quilliam Foundation.

An SNP spokesman is quoted as saying: “This disgraceful attack is untrue from start to finish, and shows that the politics of smear is not confined to websites. The Quilliam Foundation has zero credibility … this smear must be seen for what it is. We have strong community relations in Scotland, and when we are all working to build unity, the very last thing we need is people with no knowledge of Scotland spreading nastiness and smears.”

Australia: churches unite against Islamic school

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Camden_Islamic_school_protest Four Christian churches have joined in an unprecedented attack on the Islamic faith in an attempt to stop a Muslim school being built.

Calling the religion an ideology driven by world domination, a submission to the Land and Environment Court yesterday said a proposed school at Camden was a “beachhead” in Islamic takeover of southwestern Sydney, threatening the Australian way of life.

The attack, co-signed by local heads of Baptist, Anglican, Presbyterian and the Evangelical Sisters of Mary churches, formed the spearhead of Camden City Council’s defence to a court challenge over its rejection of a development application for the Muslim school.

“Islam is not simply a private religion. It is driven by a powerful political agenda, it is an ideology with a plan for world domination,” the letter said. “The Quranic Society application to establish an Islamic school in Camden is typical of a regularly repeated pattern to form a beachhead in an area for the development of a sub-culture which, for the most part, regards its own legal system as superior to the current Australian law.”

They said the Muslim community would seek to dominate public space in Camden “as we have seen in Auburn, Bankstown, Lakemba and more recently Liverpool”.

The provocative submission was penned by Camden’s Baptist Pastor Brian Stewart, St John’s Anglican Rector Tony Galea, Presbyterian minister Warren Hicks and Sisters of Mary’s sisters in charge Sister Simone and Sister Gideona.

Use of the letter is a turnaround from previous claims that the council’s ruling was on the grounds of traffic congestion.