Hate crimes soar after bombings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Religious hate crimes, mostly against Muslims, have risen six-fold in London since the bombings, new figures show.

There were 269 religious hate crimes in the three weeks after 7 July, compared with 40 in the same period of 2004. Most were verbal abuse and minor assaults, but damage to mosques and property with a great “emotional impact” also occurred, police said.

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said he had never seen so much anger among young Muslims.

Communities were particularly frustrated by the increased use of stop-and-search and the new “shoot-to-kill to protect” policy of dealing with suicide bombers, he said. “There is no doubt that incidents impacting on the Muslim community have increased.”

BBC News, 3 August 2005

See also here and here.

London bombers lacked sense of British identity – Guardian

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jonathan Freedland“July stands as proof that our model of integration, the way we absorb difference, has somehow failed.” Jonathan Freedland joins the anti-multiculturalist Right in arguing that the London bombings were caused by the state’s failure to inculcate a sense of “Britishness” in Muslims.

Guardian, 3 August 2005

Freedland’s piece gets a recommendation from warmongering ex-leftist Norman Geras, the apologist for state terrorism and darling of the US neocons: Normblog, 3 August 2005  I rest my case.

Political correctness betrays all of us – Torygraph

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“All over the world, people must be baffled by the obsession of British politicians – government and opposition alike – with the question of whether or not the police should be concentrating their searches on members of ethnic minorities. What a ludicrous debate, at a time when there are Muslim fanatics on the loose who want to blow up men, women and children of all races on buses and trains…. In this emergency, we are all being betrayed by abject politicians of all parties who put political correctness before protecting the public.”

Editorial in Daily Telegraph, 3 August 2005

Britons tortured as bomb suspects in Dubai

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two British businessmen, Mohammed Rafiq Siddique and Alam Ghafoor, allege they suffered torture and death threats from secret police in Dubai after British intelligence passed on information that they were suspects in the July 7 London bombings. The two British Muslims from west Yorkshire told the Guardian they were repeatedly threatened with torture, deprived of sleep, subjected to stress positions and told they would be killed and fed to the dogs.

The men believe part of the reason they came under suspicion is because one of them comes from Dewsbury, like one of the suicide bombers, and has a name similar to him. Mr Ghafoor said: “I said I want to phone the British embassy. They said you are here because we were given information by British intelligence, they told us to pick you up.”

Guardian, 3 August 2005

MCB and MAB defend multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Muslim Council of Britain said today there was “no contradiction” between having a multicultural society and achieving integration. Responding to a call for a rethink on multiculturalism by shadow home secretary David Davis, the MCB said it fully supported integration but being a good Muslim necessarily meant being a good British citizen. Spokesman Inayat Bunglawala told politics.co.uk the Conservative party should first look at itself and “consider the lack of Muslims in the parliamentary party”.

The Muslim Association of Britain attacked the suggestion by David Davis that multiculturalism should be rethought in the wake of the London terror attacks. Spokesman Anas Altikriti told politics.co.uk that people in the UK should be proud of the country’s diversity. “The Tory party seems to believe that we should rid ourselves of something we take great pride in, but our multi-layered identity makes us richer, better and stronger as a nation,” he said.

See here and here.

Muslim leaders hit back at terror cell claims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Representatives of Melbourne’s Muslim community have hit back at Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty’s claims of terrorist cells operating in Australia, saying they know nothing of them.

The secretary of Melbourne’s Board of Imams, Sheikh Fehmi el-Naji said he was shocked by Mr Keelty’s estimate that up to 60 suspected Islamic extremists were operating in Australia. “It’s shocking, it’s quite the opposite to what they have been saying,” he said.

After recent ASIO raids in Melbourne and Sydney resulted in no arrests or charges, Sheikh Fehmi said he felt reassured there were no terrorists in Melbourne’s Muslim community. “The raids that have been done on Muslims involved no charges and the police said everything was under control and that they have no fear,” he said.

The Age, 3 August 2005

See also here and here.

Bloggers target Times writer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Bloggers have attacked a Times writer over an article comparing Islamic fundamentalism to Nazism and his links with a rightwing US website. Anthony Browne, the Times’ European editor and an outspoken critic of British immigration policy, has sparked furious online debate over his article ‘Fundamentally, we’re useful idiots’, published in the Times.”

Chris Tryhorn reports in the Guardian, 3 August 2005

In fact, it wasn’t just “Islamic fundamentalism” that Browne compared to Nazism but such mainstream organisations and figures as the Muslim Association of Britain and Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

For Browne’s links with US racists see Newshog, 1 August 2005

It’s worth noting that David T at Harry’s Place initially recommended Browne’s anti-Muslim rant as a useful “summary of the issues which we’ve been highlighting over the past few years” and had no problem at all with Browne’s characterisation of MAB and Dr al-Qaradawi as fascists. The objection David T eventually raised was not to “the argument which Browne makes about the fascist nature of radical Islamism” but to the fact that it was “part of a broader argument which he is making about ‘third world colonization’. The case for treating radical Islamism seriously can do without his support”. In short, David T finds little wrong with racist bigotry as long as it is directed exclusively against Muslims.

Nazis denounce ‘life in multi-cultural Britain’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Multi-culturalism might mean a variety of charming ethnic restaurants for the Islington ‘in-crowd’ but for the vast majority of the indigenous population the mass importation of people from all corners of the globe to act as cheap labour has been an unmitigated disaster. For some unfortunate families in housing schemes across the land, multi-culturalism has made their lives living hell.”

The BNP spews out more filth about “how terrible life can be on housing schemes where whites have to live cheek by jowl with young Muslim thugs who are clearly intent to carry out ethnic cleansing of the unbelievers from what they consider to be ‘their’ areas”.

BNP news article, 3 August 2005

Media and government blamed for rise in Islamophobic crimes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Responding to the announcement of a 500% increase in hate crimes against Muslims since the London bombings, the Muslim Association of Britain have blamed media hysteria for the reaction coupled with a lack of strength from the government in combating it.

The organisation have also said they believe the true figure of Islamophobic crime to be much higher as Muslims who have suffered abuse are not reporting it to the police.

Commenting, Anas Altikriti of MAB said:

“Blaming all Muslims for the heinous London bombings as some people have plainly done, is as stupid as blaming all white people for the extremism of the BNP.

“We don’t know the true backlash against Muslims as it is clear to us that many Muslims have not reported the crimes perpetrated on them to the police. We urge anyone who has suffered to come forward so we can truly grasp the scale of the problem and move to remedy it.

“We’re not surprised by the figures we’ve seen though as the media hysteria against the Muslim community, their beliefs, and their personalities has been beyond the pale. The government also has to take responsibility for this as they have been happy for Muslims to carry the can as it has meant a lack of focus on the role of foreign policy in the bombings.”

MAB news release, 3 August 2005

More Islamophobia from Harry’s Place

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Over at Harry’s Place, it’s back to the nonsense about Yusuf al-Qaradawi calling for the execution of gay men. Harry reproduces a report that Qatar’s Crown Prince Tameem Bin Hamad Al-Thani has been outed in a Dubai-based publication after being banned from the G.A.Y. nightclub in London for getting involved in a bar fight.

“Anyway, who cares?” Harry comments. “Well, London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s ‘moderate’ mate Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi does. He gave this quote to Al-jazeera magazine: ‘The scholars of Islam, such as Malik, Ash-Shafi’i, Ahmad and Ishaaq said that (the person guilty of this crime) should be stoned, whether he is married or unmarried’.”

Harry’s Place, 2 August 2005

In fact, the quotation isn’t from Qaradawi at all, but from a prominent Saudi Wahhabist, Mohammed Salih Al-Munajjid. “Aljazeera” magazine (which has no connection to the famous TV station of that name) obviously made a mistake and misattributed it.

Harry is apparently a journalist by profession, and it is of course a general principle that journalists should check their sources. However, this principle evidently ceases to apply when it’s a question of attacking Muslims.