Category Archives: Right wing

Boris Johnson on Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“What makes modern Islam so politically troublesome is that some Muslims can be induced to take offence not just at an insult to Islam, but at any injustice suffered by one of their co-religionists, and it is this deep personal sense of outrage – scarcely explicable to our post-enlightenment souls – that helps the whacko imams to warp the alienated young men into becoming suicide bombers….”

Boris Johnson outlines his – sorry, “our” – attitude to Islam. He adds: “The proposed ban on incitement to ‘religious hatred’ makes no sense unless it involves a ban on the Koran itself…”

Daily Telegraph, 21 July 2005

Banned (so the Express claims)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Banned“Daily Express crusade [sic] forces Muslim cleric to call off his visit to Britain. Now we want all other preachers of hate thrown out.”

So the Express announces on its front page today.

It seems to have escaped the attention of the paper’s intrepid reporters that Dr al-Qaradawi’s office stated that he never had any plans to come to Britain for a conference in Manchester next month and had no idea that he had even been invited.

But the Express has no hesitation in headlining its piece “BANNED”.

Inside, a double-page spread features pictures of Dr al-Qaradawi alongside Omar Bakri and his sidekick Anjem Choudary.

Where would we be without a free press?

Qaradawi – advocate of democracy and women’s rights

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Qaradawi2“Al-Qaradawi has written at least 50 books attempting to reconcile Islam with democracy and human rights and he is one of the most important proponents of women’s rights in contemporary Islam. All this is utterly at odds with the teachings of fundamentalist imams, who see democracy and women’s rights as alien concepts imported from the infidel West. He practises what he preaches: his three daughters are highly educated. Each one holds a doctoral degree in the natural sciences, drives and works.”

Hugh Miles, author of the excellent Al-Jazeera: How Arab TV News Challenged the World, provides an accurate assessment of Dr al-Qaradawi in, of all places, the Daily Telegraph. This message is obviously not to the liking of the Telegraph‘s editorial staff, who head the article “Two faces of one of Islam’s most important clerics” and append a number of quotes from Qaradawi, drawn from MEMRI and other sources, which are designed to portray him as an extremist.

Daily Telegraph, 20 July 2005

‘It’s time we accepted the difficult truth: many of the Muslims we invite to live in Australia want to destroy us’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Isn’t it becoming terribly clear that Islam – at least the Islam of Australia’s Arab sheiks and imams – is hostile to our society? … Isn’t the evidence that some cultures – Muslim Arab ones – pose more problems than their importation at this rate is worth? Isn’t multiculturalism making these problems worse? … the London bombings, perpetrated by home-grown Muslims, makes our silence on such issues not a sign of civility, but suicide.”

Andrew Bolt in the Herald Sun, 20 July 2005

‘Outrage as Ken justifies suicide nuts’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Mayor Ken Livingstone faced calls to quit last night after trying to justify suicide bombing. He said: ‘Given that the Palestinians don’t have jet fighters and don’t have tanks, they have only their bodies to use as weapons. In that unfair balance, that is what people use.’

“Last night Lord Janner of the World Jewish Congress said: ‘His sad attempt to justify Middle Eastern suicide bombers is a betrayal of the hundreds of innocent people who suffered from this terrorist barbarism in London.’ The Board of Deputies of British Jews added: ‘It is absurd he should parrot this apology for indiscriminate mass murder.’ Ann Widdecombe demanded Mr Livingstone resign.”

Sun, 20 July 2005

Mayor is ‘lackey of the Muslim agenda in this country’ – Jon Benjamin

Posted on by Bob Pitt

U.K. Jewish leaders reacted with outrage to the latest comments of London mayor Ken Livingstone, and called him “a lackey of the Muslim agenda” in Great Britain and said he has “always had this extremist hatred of Jews and Israelis.”

Their reactions came in response to comments by Livingstone Tuesday where he seemed to suggest he backs Palestinian terrorists. “He is a lackey of the Muslim agenda in this country,” Jon Benjamin, director general of The Board of Deputies, elected leadership of the U.K. Jewish community, told Ynetnews Wednesday. “Livingstone is prepared to say anything for his support base.”

Ynetnews, 19 July 2005

You can just imagine what the response of the BoD would be if someone were accused of being “a lackey of the Jewish agenda in this country”.

‘Ban this preacher of hate from our shores’, Express demands

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Qaradawi ban“Now the truth is out. After days of tough talking from the Prime Minister, assurances that strict measures will be put in place against future terrorist attacks and a vow to crack down on the extremists in our midst, the Egyptian-born scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi is to be allowed in to this country.

“He is due to speak at a conference in Manchester: it has yet to be seen whether he repeats his view that suicide bombing in Palestine is ‘martyrdom in the name of God’.

“Just what are we doing letting in a man like that? The United States has barred him: we should be doing exactly the same. For far too long, we have allowed preachers of hate to visit these shores, spouting their evil rhetoric, and what happened in London two weeks ago is a direct result of that.

“It is time to understand once and for all that there are many people throughout the world and some – thanks to a misguided policy of tolerance – living in our very midst who want to destroy the West. And they believe that only by supporting violence and terror will they be able to do so.

“The British tradition of free speech is a fine thing but it has been abused far too far. We should ban this man al-Qaradawi at once.”

Daily Express, 19 July 2005

‘The real suicide bomb is multiculturalism’ says Mark Steyn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It was the Prime Minister’s wife, you’ll recall, who last year won a famous court victory for Shabina Begum, as a result of which schools across the land must now permit students to wear the full ‘jilbab’ – ie, Muslim garb that covers the entire body except the eyes and hands. Ms Booth hailed this as ‘a victory for all Muslims who wish to preserve their identity and values despite prejudice and bigotry’. It seems almost too banal to observe that such an extreme preservation of Miss Begum’s Muslim identity must perforce be at the expense of any British identity…. Is it ‘bigoted’ to argue that the jilbab is a barrier to acquiring the common culture necessary to any functioning society?”

Mark Steyn takes up the apparently endless right-wing refrain that the London bombings were due to multiculturalism and the failure to impose a uniform “British” (read: white majority) culture on all citizens.

Daily Telegraph, 19 July 2005

Congressman threatens Islamic holy sites

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Colorado congressman told a radio show host that the U.S. could “take out” Islamic holy sites if Muslim fundamentalist terrorists attacked the country with nuclear weapons.

Rep. Tom Tancredo made his remarks Friday on WFLA-AM in Orlando, Fla. Talk show host Pat Campbell asked the Littleton Republican how the country should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons.

“Well, what if you said something like – if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites,” Tancredo answered.

“You’re talking about bombing Mecca,” Campbell said.

“Yeah,” Tancredo responded.

Associated Press, 18 July 2005