The OIC Islamophobia Observatory released its Sixth Annual Report covering the period from October 2012 to September 2013 today at the commencement of the 40th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Conakry, Republic of Guinea. The Report dwells extensively on the worrying trend of Islamophobia as a clear and continuing danger to global peace and security and ends with a set of recommendations, outlining a strategy to combat Islamophobia and growing intolerance and prejudice against Muslims through concerted international action, which merits particular attention.
Vandals scrawl more offensive graffiti on planned Worcester Park mosque
Vandals have scrawled offensive graffiti on the door of a building a Muslim community wants to use as a mosque.
The graffiti was spotted on the front door of the Bank Chambers building in Green Lane, which is owned by a Muslim group that has had two applications to turn the building into a mosque for the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jama’at branch of Islam turned down, over the weekend.
The graffiti, which says “f*** off c****”, has been reported to police.
Reports and comment from Islamophobia Watch 2‑8 December
Reports and comment from Islamophobia Watch 2-8 December 2013
Mosque vandalized with anti-Muslim slogans in apparent price tag attack
Unknown assailants vandalized a mosque in the Arab Israeli village of Baka al-Gharbiyye in northern Israel on Sunday morning, in what police fear could be a so-called “price tag” attack.
On the walls of a local mosque, graffiti was sprayed reading “Muhammad is a pig” and “greetings from Boaz and David Hai”, the latter an apparent reference to Boaz Albert and David Hai, two West Bank settlers whose movement has been limited by police and army restrictions.
Locals also found a number of broken car windows in the village, and police are probing whether or not the two are linked. The damage was discovered around 5am Sunday morning, and the assumption is that the assailants caused the vandalism in the hours before.
Police said Sunday they view the incident as very grave, and vowed to find the perpetrators.
Patriots plan Lincoln return: ‘We don’t want you here’
An anti-mosque protest which is due to be held in Lincoln in the New Year has been labelled as “destructive” by a local politician.
The East Anglian Patriots group, which demonstrated in the city in June, has announced it will return on Saturday, January 18. The previous rally attracted several hundreds of protestors in City Square.
The group says it is protesting about the building of a mosque on the site of the Old Dairy in Boultham Park Road.
UKIP boss heaps praise on Islam-baiter
The interim chair of Ukip Scotland has been criticised over his support for a notorious far-right politician in the Netherlands who backs a ban on what he terms the “fascist” Koran. Misty Thackeray has described Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, who said Islam was the biggest threat to civilisation, as “great”.
As revealed by the Sunday Herald, Ukip in Scotland is imploding due to tensions between senior members. Of nine shortlisted candidates for the European election, at least six quit over the alleged tactics used by one candidate, Otto Inglis. Ukip chief Nigel Farage then sacked Monckton by email. That led to Scottish chair Mike Scott-Hayward and fundraiser Malcolm Macaskill quitting in protest. Local branch officials also resigned in a show of solidarity with Monckton, who said Ukip north of the Border had been “wiped out”.
Thackeray said he had been asked to act as Scottish chairman until the next annual general meeting, but his hardline right-wing views are causing alarm. The Glasgow-based 52-year-old, described as a security consultant on a business database, praised Wilders on Facebook last year. Wilders has argued the Koran, which he calls a “fascist book”, should be outlawed. He has called for a block on new mosques and claimed Islam was the “biggest threat to our freedom and our civilization”.
Student Rights director promotes ‘counterjihad’-style propaganda against Islam
Last month Observer columnist Nick Cohen posted a piece on his Spectator blog in which he attempted to distance himself from some of the more extreme elements in the Islamophobia industry.
Admitting that he had felt “irritable” when former English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) was presented as a guest of honour at an event where Cohen himself was speaking – it was to mark an award presented to the film Silent Conquest – Cohen even went so far as to state that he was “uneasy” about the message contained in the paranoid Islamophobic documentary he had been helping to publicise. He wrote: “Robinson’s appearance after a film that had made Muslims seem both an homogenous bloc and a conquering army summed up everything that was going wrong with the Right’s reaction to militant Islam.”
Muslim scholars pay tribute to Mandela
A leading international Muslim organization has paid tribute to late South African leader Nelson Mandela, sending Muslim scholars’ condolences to South Africa government and people, as well as supporters of freedom and dignity in Africa and worldwide.
“The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), chairman, secretary general and members, send their condolences to South Africa government and people in the departure of Nelson Mandela, an icon for struggle towards freedom, justice and human dignity,” IUMS said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net on Saturday, December 7.
Wilders lectures Pope on Islam
Dutch anti-Muslim racist Geert Wilders has published an open letter to the Pope, pulling him up on his statement that “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence”.
Instead, Wilders urges, Pope Francis should “defend the West’s Judeo-Christian and humanistic civilization” and “speak the truth about Islam – the largest threat to mankind in this present age”.
While Quebec plans ban, Edmonton adopts new hijab uniform for police officers
Edmonton Police Services has designed and approved a new hijab female police officers can wear as part of their uniform.
A hijab tailor worked with the police tactics training unit, as well as the police equity, diversity and human rights team, to design a head scarf that covers the head and neck of an officer without covering the face.
“After rigorous testing, it was determined that the head scarf did not pose any risk to the officer wearing it, or reduce officer effectiveness, nor interfere with police duties or public interactions,” reads a statement from Edmonton Police Services. Changes to the uniform policy for police have been approved by various police committees and people in the Muslim community.
“EPS respects a Muslim woman’s choice to wear the head scarf,” the statement reads. “The Edmonton Police Service continues to change with the times, as have a number of police, justice and military organizations in western nations that have already modified their uniforms to accommodate the hijab.”