Shahid Malik backs Blair, blames Muslim communities

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shahid MalikIn today’s Daily Mail, Labour MP Shahid Malik expresses his concerns about “those Muslim leaders, many of whom, I am sorry to say, have lost the stomach for the fight. I am fed up with their constant sniping about the Government’s failure to follow up on all the recommendations of the Task Force, set up in the aftermath of the bombing .. it is easier for organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain to criticise the Government, the police or the media, rather than take a long hard look at our own communities. It is easier for them to encourage a victim culture that sees Islamophobia around every corner, rather than challenge within. But that is not leadership. It is abdication. That is why I almost wept when I saw the results of a poll showing that 13 per cent of British Muslims think that the July 7 terrorists should be regarded as ‘martyrs’. How sick and deluded can you get?”

Yes, thanks Shahid. That’s really helpful.

Update:  See Osama Saeed’s comments at Rolled Up Trousers, 8 July 2006

Muslims with grievances against the West are wrong – Blair

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The government cannot alone root out extremism in Muslim communities and defeat the terrorism it creates, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said. He hit back at claims ministers had done little to win Muslim “hearts and minds” since the 7 July London bombs. He said he was “probably not the person to go into the Muslim community”. It was down to moderate Muslims to stand up to extremism and tell those with “grievances” against the West they were wrong, Mr Blair told MPs. He was speaking after Muslim Labour MP Sadiq Khan said he was disappointed with the government’s engagement with the Muslim community in the year since the London bombings.

BBC News, 4 July 2006

Read Sadiq Khan’s Fabian Society lecture here.

Posted in UK

The Times and Omar Deghayes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Correspondents in Brighton have sent us the following report on the Omar Deghayes case:

The Sunday Times on 18th June published an article attacking the brother of the British-resident Guantánamo detainee Omar Deghayes. The Save Omar campaign has widespread support in Sussex, where Omar lived for many years and where his family still live. He came to live near Brighton as a child refugee, after his father had been assassinated in Libya. The campaign to secure Omar’s release is backed by the Argus newspaper in Brighton and by all six of the Sussex MPs – Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative. The Sunday Times article seems to be deliberately aimed at undermining this broad support.

At no time were campaign members consulted about any of the allegations made, so any reporting that the “revelation surprised supporters of the campaign” is untrue. They heard nothing of the allegations until the paper appeared, and they gradually realised that a man who introduced himself at a campaign meeting as a visitor to Brighton who had come to look after a sick relative for a fortnight, and asked if he could join the meeting, was in fact an undercover reporter.

The article presents a highly confused account of two separate issues: the history of the mosque, of which Abu Baker Deghayes is not the imam; and the campaign for justice for his brother, which is entirely separate from the mosque, and emerged from a local anti-war movement and Amnesty International. As a campaign for due process which grew out of concern for the preservation of civil liberties in the troubled waters of the war on terror, we support the family of Omar Deghayes and their quest for justice. Omar has been detained without charge or trial for four years. Nothing is known of his guilt or innocence, because he has been denied due process. Omar is in the legal vacuum created by the war on terror.

The campaigners point out that an hour of clandestine note-taking is not enough to come to anything like a real understanding of the long and painful history of the Deghayes family, and the making of allegations as to the character of Abu Baker Deghayes is shabby and tendentious.

Anger and suspicion against Muslims in Scotland

Posted on by Bob Pitt

It has been a difficult year for young Muslim men in Britain since four of their co-religionists – Hasib Hussain, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Germaine Lindsay – carried out the bombings that killed 52 people in London. As the anniversary of the 7/7 attacks approaches, there is a nervous feeling among those living in Scotland. Some argue that their repeated condemnations of the bombings are forgotten; others feel they have been forced to condemn too much while receiving little in return. Many react with annoyance to the suggestion that they are linked to the actions of men they view as misguided extremists and undeserving of the term Muslim. There is the frequent reminder that Muslims, too, were victims of the London bombers, while others are critical of the media for “drumming up” an Islam versus the West conflict.

Scotland on Sunday, 2 July 2006

Daniel Pipes and ‘Islamist Watch’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“If Daniel Pipes is not diverting attention from Israeli murder of Palestinian schoolchildren, is not attacking Arabs and Muslims, or is not intimidating university professors in Middle Eastern studies, one would find him exercising his racism and extremism in his most recent project, Islamist Watch. The Middle East Forum website has been carrying a job announcement – the director for the forum’s new ‘Islamist Watch’ project. This project will add new weapons to Pipes’ long campaign against Islam and Islamists…. Given the years of campaigning against Islamists by Pipes, this suggests that Muslims in the US and the West are in for more hate campaigns and targeting. It is a recipe for increased paranoia, which may be what Pipes wants.”

Jihad Khazen in Dar Al-Hayat, 1 July 2006

The Sun and Nazis combine to incite anti-Muslim prejudice

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“BRITAIN’S biggest fun park has sparked a race row – with a MUSLIMS-ONLY day. Up to 28,000 are expected at Alton Towers on September 17 when there will be no music, booze or gambling. Instead there will be prayer areas, Muslim stalls and all food served will be HALAL. Organisers Islamic Leisure have billed it the First National Muslim Fun Day and tickets can only be bought through their website. Non-Muslims phoning the Staffordshire park have been refused tickets. One, George Hughes, 19, who rang up for 15 tickets for a pal’s birthday, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it. It’s the only day we can go, yet I can’t because I’m not Muslim. Can you imagine all the fuss if there was a Christians-only day?'”

The Sun, 1 July 2006

See also BNP news report, 28 June 2006  and Combat 18 discussion forum, 2 July 2006

‘Muslim Brotherly Hate’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Today, the radical Islamist community stands strong in Texas and Connecticut as one unified force, under the aegis and aura of the Muslim Brotherhood, ready to assist the coming generation in its future quest to become even stronger. Unfortunately, the unity that brings these groups together is also the same unity that will attempt to destroy us from within – all along, while America provides them with a platform to express their anger and assist in our demise.”

Joe Kaufman at Front Page Magazine, 30 June 2006

Substitute “London” for “Texas and Connecticut” and “Britain” for “America” and it could be David T of Harry’s Place writing, couldn’t it?

‘Islamophobia’ fears cited in Canada

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Smashed mosque windows and workers losing their jobs because of their ethnic background, are among signs that anti-Arab sentiment is on the rise in Ontario, the Ontario Human Rights Commission said yesterday.

Chief commissioner Barbara Hall expressed dismay at an increase in “Islamophobia” in Ontario, as she released the commission’s annual report at a news conference at the Ontario legislature. “We continue to hear … from Arab and Muslim communities on increasing incidents of discrimination,” Hall said. Chief among her concerns was an attack on a Toronto mosque just two days after police arrested 17 people earlier this month, who were allegedly planning to stage terrorist attacks in southern Ontario.

Hall also cited a group of cases in which complainants with dual citizenship from countries other than the United States, claimed they were discriminated against by employees at a company that makes defence equipment for several countries, including the U.S. The employees were reassigned and even fired in some cases, possibly because they were seen as a potential threat to the company’s security, Hall suggested.

“The allegations remind us that society must balance security measures in a manner that does not compromise human rights protections.”

The agency did not provide precise statistics, but Hall said there was “an enormous increase” in Ontario – even if people who are affected are at times hesitant to speak out publicly. Incidents of “Islamophobia” were among the 2,399 new complaints filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission during the past year, the report found.

London Free Press, 30 June 2006

See also the Muslim News, 30 June 2006

Murdoch warns on Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has sounded a warning by saying Muslims would always identify themselves by religion before nationality. Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Rahim Ghauri questioned the media mogul’s knowledge of Islam. “I don’t know how much experience Mr Murdoch has in dealing with Muslims, apart from the things that his reporters write about Muslims,” he said.

The Age, 27 June 2006