Category Archives: UK

Griffin denounces proposed C of E ban on BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It is ridiculous that the Church of England is concerned with persecuting Christian BNP members while church buildings are being turned into mosques as Britain is colonised by Islam,” said BNP leader Nick Griffin in his reaction to the CoE decision to bar clergy from joining the party.

“Up and down the country, CoE churches are being turned into mosques,” he said. “Instead of concerning themselves with their empty pews, the leftist clergymen worry about a party which is dedicated to preventing the displacement of Christianity by Islam in this country.”

BNP news article, 10 February 2009

Update:  Tough luck, Nick. The Guardian reports: “The governing body of the Church of England, the General Synod, voted overwhelmingly to follow the lead of the police and bar ordained priests, trainees and lay staff from becoming members of racist political parties, specifically including the BNP.”

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.

More revelations about Hassan Butt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Hassan Butt is a member of a group you are going to be hearing a lot more from: Muslims who come out of jihadism and find an almost patriotic belief in the best values of Britain. They cajole and they warn. They help steer British Muslims away from violence while teaching wider society that radical Islam is not a rational reaction to Western provocation, but a totalitarian ideology with a life of its own.

“‘How we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy,’ Butt recalled in an outburst that stuck in my mind. ‘By blaming the government for our actions, those who pushed the “Blair’s bombs” line did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamist theology.’ … Needless to add, he has been stabbed by his (and our) sworn enemies and lives with the knowledge that there are people out there who want him dead.”

Nick Cohen in the Observer, 23 March 2008

A British man who fooled the media into believing he was an al-Qaida insider has admitted in court that he made up the claims. Hassan Butt received significant media attention for his claims to have helped send scores of Britons to terrorist training camps overseas and to have met Mohammad Sidique Khan, the ringleader of the 7 July 2005 attacks on London.

However at a trial of another man accused of terrorist offences, Butt said he had told journalists stories “the media wanted to hear”, admitting that he was “a professional liar”. He also admitted faking his own injuries to make it appear that he had been attacked by extremist Muslims.

Guardian, 9 February 2009

See also ENGAGE, 9 February 2009

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”.

NSS defends Muslim scouts

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It’s nice to know that even devout Christians don’t allow facts to alter a good story. The Christian Institute recently got its woggles warped over ‘boy’ Scouts adopting an ‘Islamic’ pledge in Scotland. Clearly outraged, the Institute reported on ‘plans’ to replace the ‘god and queen’ oath made by UK Scouts as a condition of joining the movement, with one made to ‘Allah, the most Beneficent and Merciful’ in which The Queen is omitted.

“Unable to find anyone weighty to support their cause, the Institute wheeled out Richard Cox from the obscure ‘campaign against political correctness’ to rage against the ‘plan’. They also managed to quote a Scout Association official who stated that ‘The Scouts may have been a Christian organisation originally’.

“This (non) story is so old it really ought to be on The Antiques Roadshow. For starters, ‘boy’ Scouts stopped existing in Britain in 1967. In 1992, Scouting was opened up to girls. Today, UK Scouting is fully co-ed.

“Furthermore, the UK Scout Association has always been open to Muslims. They used to take the ‘Outlander’ promise, which according to tradition, was written by Baden Powell for ‘Scouts that had to omit the reference to God or a monarch for reasons of conscience’. This was later replaced by a Promise option that refers to ‘Allah’.

“The UK’s Muslim Scout Fellowship website reports that over a third of the world’s 28 million Scouts are Muslims. This rather flies in the face of the idea that Scouting may have originated as a Christian organisation, particularly as Baden-Powell said ‘Scouting holds no brief for one set of beliefs over another’.”

National Secular Society, 30 January 2009

Now, let’s be frank, we’ve had our differences with Terry Sanderson and his friends in the past. But credit where it’s due, here they’ve got it right.

UKIP activist responsible for anti-Muslim advert

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Trago

ENGAGE has reproduced the above from an advert placed by the shopping and leisure organisation Trago Mills in the Falmouth Packet newspaper. The author, David Challice, is chairman of the Exeter Branch of UKIP.

ENGAGE urges its supporters to write to the Falmouth Packet at packet@packetseries.co.uk and to the Advertising Standards Authority via its online complaint form here.

‘Free speech is never absolute’ – Ian Buruma on the Wilders prosecution

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ian Buruma“If it were not for his hatred of Islam, Geert Wilders would have remained a provincial Dutch parliamentarian of little note. He is now world-famous, mainly for wanting the Koran to be banned in his country, ‘like Mein Kampf is banned’, and for making a crude short film that depicted Islam as a terrorist faith – or, as he puts it, ‘that sick ideology of Allah and Muhammad’.

“Last year the Dutch government decided that such views, though coarse, were an acceptable contribution to political debate. Yet last week an Amsterdam court decided that Wilders should be prosecuted for ‘insulting’ and ‘spreading hatred’ against Muslims. Dutch criminal law can be invoked against anyone who ‘deliberately insults people on the grounds of their race, religion, beliefs or sexual orientation’.

“Whether Wilders has deliberately insulted Muslim people is for the judges to decide. But for a man who calls for a ban on the Koran to act as the champion of free speech is a bit rich.

“When the British Parliament refused to screen Wilders’s film at Westminster this week, he cited this as ‘yet more proof that Europe is losing its freedom’. His defenders, by no means all right-wingers, also claim to be standing up for freedom. A Dutch law professor said he found it ‘strange’ that a man should be prosecuted for ‘criticizing a book’.

“This seems a trifle obtuse. Comparing a book that billions hold sacred to Hitler’s murderous tract is more than an exercise in literary criticism; it suggests that those who believe in the Koran are like Nazis, and an all-out war against them would be justified. This kind of thinking, presumably, is what the Dutch law court is seeking to check.”

New York Times, 29 January 2009