Category Archives: Right wing

Geert Wilders banned from entering UK – right wing not happy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert WildersA far-right Dutch MP whose film linking Islamic texts with the terror attacks on New York sparked protests around the Muslim world was last night banned from entering Britain.

Geert Wilders, who leads the small Dutch Freedom Party, was due to show his controversial 17-minute film at an event in the House of Lords tomorrow, but was informed yesterday by British officials that he would not be allowed to enter the country. The decision sparked an immediate diplomatic row after the Dutch Government pressed Britain to reverse the ban.

The film Fitna, which criticises the Koran as a “fascist book”, sparked violent protests around the Muslim world last year. The film, which has been posted on the internet, juxtaposes images of the Koran with footage of the 9/11 twin tower attacks and other terrorist atrocities. Mr Wilders had been invited to show the film at an event in Westminster hosted by Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the former Conservative, who is now a UK Independence Party member of the House of Lords.

Independent, 11 February 2009

See also BBC News, 11 February 2009

Over at the Spectator, under the headline “Britain capitulates to terror”, Melanie Phillips denounces this as “another fateful and defining issue for Britain’s governing class as it continues to sleepwalk into cultural suicide”. On his Telegraph blog, Daniel Hannan demands: “Can this really be true? An elected representative, the leader of a legitimate political party, banned from entering the United Kingdom? On what possible grounds?”

The fascists of the BNP join in the condemnation of the ban on “the courageous Dutch MP Geert Wilders”. And Wilders has his supporters at the Nazi Stormfront forum. Sample comments: “This man is a true hero”; “This is outright tyranny”; “Since when did ‘public order’ equate with or to protecting precious muslim feelings?”; “Geert is an absolute hero to many westerners who feel helpless at the snuffing out of their very civilisation”; “What on earth is happening to our once great land, where muslim evil dictators now rule?” etc, etc.

Ban Qaradawi but not Wilders, says Ed Husain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Quilliam Foundation has announced its opposition to the decision by the Home Office to ban Geert Wilders, the Dutch MP, from the UK. The Quilliam Foundation believes that although many of Wilders’ public statements are bigoted, ill-informed and offensive to people of all faiths, this is not an adequate reason to prevent him from coming to the UK.

Ed Husain, the co-Director of the Quilliam Foundation, says: “Geert Wilders is undoubtedly an ill-informed, hate-driven bigot with many unpleasant views but he is not directly inciting violence. As a result, unlike in the case of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, I do not support the decision to ban him from the UK. By threatening parliament with a mob, Lord Ahmed is contributing to the negative portrayal of Muslims and their religion.”

Qulliam Foundation press release, 11 February 2009

Wilders to attend London showing of Fitna

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Parliament has ordered extra security for a House of Lords event with the controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders. The private screening of Wilders’ film Fitna was initially postponed to allow time for clarification on issues concerning freedom of speech. Despite threats of demonstration from a British Peer and Muslim community leaders, the meeting will go ahead Thursday 12th February.

Wilders’ film Fitna features verses from the Quran alongside images of the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, Madrid in March 2004 and London in July 2005. The film equates Islam’s holy text with violence and ends with a call to Muslims to remove “hate-preaching” verses from the Quran.

Wilders currently faces prosecution in Holland for incitement to hatred and discrimination. The charges are based on his film Fitna and comments in the Dutch press last year in which he argued that as Mein Kampf has been banned in Holland, the Quran should similarly be banned under Dutch incitement laws.

PR Newswire, 10 February 2009

‘Another Muslim ghetto takes shape’ – another paranoid rant by Damian Thompson

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The resignation of a Sheffield head teacher after she tried to scrap all-Muslim assemblies is a sign of things to come….

“Julia Robinson, head teacher of Meersbrook Primary School, wanted to end the divisive Islamic assembles for Muslim pupils, who make up about a quarter of her 240 pupils. Staff and many parents backed her; Muslim parents accused her of being – you’ve guessed it – ‘racist’.

“Those Christians who think that it’s better to have separate Christian and Muslim assemblies rather than the ‘inclusive’ services Mrs Robinson planned are missing the point. They think ‘faith’ is good, irrespective of what faith it is. Myopic idiots….

“Muslim ghettos are being constructed across the North of England, and among their building blocks are school-sanctioned meetings for children from ethnic minorities designed to turn them into strictly observant Muslims – whether they like it or not. The Muslim indoctrination of primary school children is designed to produce young adults who reject and despise the tolerant, liberal society in which they live.”

Catholic Herald editor Damian Thompson at Holy Smoke, 10 February 2009

The Daily Telegraph chimes in with “Muslim parents should accept the law of the land”.

Regarding the “inclusive” assemblies, if you check the Daily Mail report, when you get beyond the scaremongering “I was forced out for trying to axe Muslim-only assemblies, claims headmistress” headline you find the following:

“Fiyza Awan, 19, a Muslim whose younger sister is a pupil, said problems began when hymns were introduced to the all-pupil assemblies. ‘When Mrs Robinson took over she said she wanted one assembly for all the students,’ she said. ‘We didn’t have a problem with that but wanted a secular assembly where no hymns were sung and topics involving all the children could be discussed. But after a while hymns were introduced again and we objected. We told Mrs Robinson we wanted our children withdrawn and to have a separate assembly again. We felt we were being marginalised. We didn’t put any pressure on her, we want continuity at the school, it was her decision to leave’.”

See also ENGAGE, 10 February 2009

Mad Mel exposes ‘the sinister and dangerous implications’ of Islamic banking

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic Bank of Britain“Worried that Britain is going bankrupt? Cheer up – we’re about to be bought up by the Islamic world. A report by International Financial Services London reveals that Britain’s Islamic banking sector is now bigger than that of Pakistan. The study says that the UK has by far the largest number of banks for Muslims of any western country….

“What has to be understood is that sharia finance is simply a modern jihadi strategy to help Islamise Britain’s institutions and society. It was devised in the mid-20th century by the ideologues who promoted the radical Islamism that threatens us today. They advocated sharia finance as element of a separate, self-sustained Islamic order with its own Islamic ideology, Islamic politics and Islamic economics that taken together would guarantee an Islamic way of life and ultimately the Islamic state as the first step toward establishing Muslim rule worldwide.

“As Britain’s government and banks congratulate themselves on the stunning growth of sharia banking in the UK, do any of them have the slightest understanding of what they are doing?”

Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail, 10 February 2009

Australian wildfires could fuel ‘forest jihad’ terrorists, experts say

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Australian+bushfire

Firefighters and homeowners aren’t the only ones keenly watching Australia’s massive wildfires, responsible for killing at least 173 people in the southern part of the continent. Terrorism experts suspect Muslim extremists are watching closely, too – and taking note of the devastation.

While Australian authorities have revealed no evidence linking the wildfires to extremists, terrorism experts say the large death toll, the huge swath of destruction and the massive financial blow to the country are proving to Islamic terrorists that arson can be a highly effective – and simple – tool of holy war.

“Could [militants] do this? Yes,” said Steve Emerson, executive director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism. Perhaps more troubling, Emerson said, is that there is very little authorities can do to prevent terrorists from setting deadly wildfires. “It would be absolutely impossible to protect against,” he said. “Airport parameters are hard enough to protect. Imagine trying to protect something 100,000 times as big.”

If extremists did have had a hand in the wildfires, Emerson said, it would be “very disturbing”. “It would indicate a new area of jihadist attacks, that is, attacking natural resources,” he said. “And given the devastation of these fires, it certainly could instill new terror ideas in other areas like the food supply chain or in the environmental realm.”

Fox News, 9 February 2009

Yes, that would be the same Steve Emerson who told CBS News in 1995 that the Oklahoma City bombing showed “a Middle Eastern trait” because it “was done with the intent to inflict as many casualties as possible”.

Meanwhile, here in the UK, the fascists of the BNP pose the question: “Australian death fire: was it jihad?”

Update:  The Daily Mail has reproduced the Fox News article almost word for word, complete with Emerson’s idiotic remarks.

‘Muslim courts are here already’ shock

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Sharia law is operating in secret in many British towns and cities, the Daily Express can reveal. Muslim communities are being ruled with a rod of iron in clear defiance of the British legal system. Panels of Islamic scholars sit in mosques, converted living rooms and even a former pub to issue fatwas, or rulings.

“The revelation that they have decided thousands of cases over the last 25 years comes after the Archbishop of Canterbury provoked condemnation by calling for an ‘accommodation’ with the Islamic legal code. Dr Rowan Williams said parts of civil law could be dealt with under the sharia system – but some communities have already gone much further. The Daily Express has uncovered a catalogue of evidence that sharia courts are acting independently of British law.”

Daily Express, 9 February 2008

And over at the Daily Mail Amanda Platell writes: ” So has old Wispy Beard finally lost his marbles? Adopt Sharia law that so vilely oppresses women, subverting, in the process, hundreds of years of British justice? Yes, it’s nonsense. And dangerous nonsense, too. But by highlighting this issue, Dr Rowan Williams may have done us all a service by jolting us into realising just how far Britain has already gone towards integrating Sharia law. Did you realise, before his speech on Thursday, that Sharia courts already exist in this country to decide issues as fundamental to our society as divorce? … I certainly didn’t. So, ironically, perhaps Dr Williams should be applauded for highlighting this creeping Islamisation of parts of Britain.”

Update:  At the Independent on Sunday, Joan Smith weighs in with “British women are already suffering from Islamic law“.

Another MEMRI-inspired witch-hunt of Qaradawi

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Qaradawi and Neturei KartaThe television network al-Jazeera has been criticised by MPs for broadcasting the sermons of a Muslim cleric in which he celebrates the Holocaust and prays for the killing of all Jews.

John Whittingdale, chairman of the House of Commons Media Select Committee, urged al-Jazeera yesterday to apologise for broadcasting the messages of Yusuf al-Qaradawi and to ban the cleric, one of the network’s top hosts, from appearing on screen. “I would hope that anybody who watches it or is aware of it may change their attitude towards al-Jazeera,” he told The Times. “I would’ve thought it is very damaging. Al-Jazeera should apologise.”

Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, condemned al-Jazeera for associating itself with Sheikh al-Qaradawi – who hosts one of its most popular segments, Shariah and Life – saying the network should not use live coverage as a means of justifying the broadcast of the sheik’s comments. “If they put on somebody who has known racist views they should not be surprised what comes out at the other end,” he said.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “These sermons represent hatred in its purest form and epitomise the worst of Islamist anti-Semitism.” The complaints relate to a sermon and a lecture by Sheikh al-Qaradawi in which he described the Holocaust as a “divine punishment” and prayed to Allah to kill Jews “down to the very last one”.

Times, 7 February 2009

And what is the source for this latest attack on Qaradawi? Yes, you probably guessed, it’s another cut-and-paste job by the Middle East Media Research Institute. For Qaradawi’s actual views on the Jewish community, see for example here and here.

Update:  Needless to say, MEMRI’s attack on Qaradawi has been endorsed by Harry’s Place, a self-proclaimed “left-wing” blog with a close affinity for extreme right-wing Zionists. However, not all of Harry’s Place readers buy this. We reproduce the following post from the comments section:

I don’t think the issue is as clear-cut as you say, because Qaradawi has made many moderate, pluralistic statements that show a tremendous desire for peaceful coexistence of the three Abrahamic faiths.

For example, he has opposed the idea of Muslim supremacy over other religions:

“The Koran states that [religious] disagreement exists because God [himself] wills it … that people will have different religions. After all, if God had wanted everyone to have the same religion and the same path, he would have created Man differently … the [believing Muslim] does not try to pass judgment upon those who disagree [with his religion] in this world. God is the one who will pass judgment on the day of resurrection…”

He highlights the universalist and progressive message of Mohammed that all are equal in the eyes of God:

Islam honors Man as such, regardless of gender, religion, color, language, geographic region, or status … [People] said to God’s Messenger: ‘This is the funeral of a Jew. That coffin belongs to a Jew, not a Muslim.’ He answered: ‘Is this not a soul [too]? Is the Jew not a human soul?’

Perhaps what infuriates some Western opinion about Qaradawi is that he pins the blame for modern anti-Semitism where it belongs – on Europe’s long history of intolerance:

“We did not invent this hostility [towards the Jews]. Jews lived among Muslims for centuries, even when Europe persecuted them and expelled them… They found a safe haven in Muslim territory and Muslim homelands. This is because Islam considers the Jews to be People of the Book … This is how the Koran views the Jews, and this is how they lived in the countries of the Muslims. They have the protection [dhimma] of Allah, His Messenger, and of all the Muslims.”

Relationships between Muslims and Jews have been poisoned by Zionism and the criminal occupation of Muslim lands:

“The battle between us and the Jews began when they occupied the land of Palestine, expelled its residents, and perpetrated all their deeds. They are the ones who started the hostility, not us… There is a difference between Judaism as a religion and Zionism as a political movement with aspirations and goals.”

Qaradawi does something that Western Islamophobes often claim is never done amongst Islamic scholars – he historically contextualizes the controversial parts of the Koran which it is claimed make Islam a violent religion:

“This verse [Koran 5:82] talks about an historical position. Islam accepted the Jews with open arms and welcomed [the Muslims’] relations with them, since they are People of the Book … Here [in the verse], Islam is talking about those that did this [i.e. who violated the pact with Muhammad]. However, Islam welcomes those who believe in the [Jewish] religion. Moreover, the Jews are probably the closest to Muslims in terms of faith and law, even more than Christians.”

Qaradawi argues that minorities would have nothing to fear in a Muslim-majority state:

“Respect for the dictations of [other] religions and faiths is one of the most fundamental things for us. We don’t get involved in their affairs… Islam is at the top of the tolerance scale; it allows one to do what is forbidden to Muslims, if it is permitted [in one’s owns religion], such as eating pork and drinking wine… Protecting the ahl al-dhimma is a duty incumbent upon the Muslims. They must protect them before they protect Muslims. Muslim clerics have said that harming a dhimmi is worse than harming a Muslim. Slandering a dhimmi is worse than slandering a Muslim, since he is considered to be under the Muslims’ charge.”

Now, I understand that you may not like the man. Certainly he has said some pretty objectionable things about the Holocaust. But you must recognise him as a moderating influence with many good and progressive things to say about the possibility of peaceful coexistence between the West and the Muslim world. That is why he was invited to London by the far-seeing Ken Livingstone, and why we must listen to him today, with politeness and genuine good will, understanding that sometimes the kernel of truth that he states can be temporarily obscured, alas, by the shell of bitterness and resentment at the hideous oppression of his people by Israel and the West.

Lord Ahmed – proponent of ‘jihadi thuggery’ (according to Mad Mel)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Melanie Phillips Jihad in Britain“I have been travelling during the past few days and so have built up a bit of a backlog of events upon which I have not yet commented. One of these is the apparently gross abuse of Parliament by Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, which remarkably has not been covered at all in the mainstream British media. Another member of the House of Lords invited the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who is currently facing prosecution in the Netherlands for his outspoken analysis of the Islamist war on civilisation, to screen his controversial film ‘Fitna’ in the Lords on January 29 and discuss his views.

“But various representatives of the British Muslim community protested; and Lord Ahmed issued a threat that he would personally mobilise 10,000 Muslims to prevent Wilders from entering the Upper House and would take the peer organising the event to court. In the face of such threats, the meeting was cancelled. Lord Ahmed then boasted of his victory in the Pakistani media. The Associated Press of Pakistan reported him exulting in ‘a victory for the Muslim community’.

“It was of course a major defeat for Parliament’s sovereign right and duty to protect free speech, the right to issue an invitation to a democratically elected member of a European parliament, and the right of British citizens to live without intimidation. It was an appalling development.

“Now, however, it is fighting back. Wilders has been re-invited to speak and screen his film in the Lords later this month. Parliament now has a second chance to show that jihadi thuggery will not be allowed to prevail within the cradle of democracy. But if it is really to demonstrate this, it should also surely take action against Lord Ahmed, who abused his position as a peer of the realm to threaten mass intimidation of the House in which he sits. If it fails to do so, it will be another notch on the ratchet of Britain’s slide into submission.”

Melanie Phillips’s Spectator blog, 3 February 2009

Christian civilisation succumbs to Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mad Mel at JINSA“In our allegedly multicultural society, there is one religious group which is apparently not to be afforded equal respect, let alone treated for what it embodies – the foundational creed of this nation. That group is Britain’s Christians.

“Somerset community nurse and committed Christian Caroline Petrie has been suspended and faces being sacked and even struck off for offering to say a prayer for an elderly patient…. Would the same action be taken, one wonders, against a Muslim nurse offering to pray for a Muslim patient? It is but the latest in a growing line of incidents where people find themselves singled out for opprobrium for expressing their Christian faith….

“It was particularly telling to compare this incident with the astounding video footage featured in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday, showing police officers running away from chanting demonstrators who took part in a violent protest in London against Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip.

“The ten-minute amateur film shows 30 officers being chased by a crowd of up to 3,000 people who broke away from an official protest march last month. Absurdly, the police claim they were ‘going backwards’ but not running away. But the video clearly shows the police retreating under fire, being chased through central London by protesters chanting ‘Allahu akhbar’ as they pelted officers with traffic cones and screaming ‘cowards’ and ‘they’re going to get it’.

“It is hard not to reach the dismal conclusion that a society faced with violence in pursuit of the goal of overturning Christian values and conquering Britain for Islam turns tail and runs away – while at the same time coming down like a ton of bricks on any expression of those Christian values which underpin British society, in the interests of ‘equality and diversity’. This is the way a society dies.”

Melanie Phillips (who else?) in the Daily Mail, 2 February 2009

See also the discussion of Phillips by the fascists at the Stormfront UK forum. The comments, though not uncritical, are broadly supportive: “she seems to agree with many of our views”; “her book Londistan is a very good read”; “some of what she says is usefull to our cause so she has some merit”.