Terry Jones arrested with thousands of kerosene-soaked Qur’ans

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terry Jones Islam is of the DevilControversial Gainesville Pastor Terry Jones, known for his plans to publicly burn copies of the Muslim holy book, was arrested Wednesday with thousands of kerosene-soaked Qurans, authorities said.

Jones, 61, was arrested on felony charges after a traffic stop near a pharmacy in Mulberry, a small town in Polk County, just before 5 p.m. He faces charges of unlawfully transporting fuel and openly carrying a firearm.

Deputies said Jones was riding in a pickup truck that was towing a smoker and trailer filled with kerosene-soaked Qurans. He also had extra bottles of kerosene inside the truck bed. According to Jones’ website, he planned to burn 2,998 Qurans in the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday.

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Palm Beach County public information officer says Qur’an is ‘a book that preaches hate’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

John JamasonAt around the same time the nation paused to remember those lost on 9/11, John Jamason, a Public Information Officer with Palm Beach County, posted on his personal Facebook page:

“Never forget. There is no such thing as radical Islam. All Islam is radical. There may be Muslims who don’t practice their religion, much like others. The Quran is a book that preaches hate.”

“It was just my opinion on this day about that specific event and that religion,” said Jamason. “There weren’t any fundamentalist Christians on planes, flying into buildings on this particular day. Have Christians committed atrocities? Of course.”

Jameson says his comments are OK because he didn’t post them to a public Facebook page. “The point is, the people that are attacking our embassy in Libya, and attacking our soldiers, and doing things to us all around the world, are Muslims,” said Jamason.

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‘Far too few dare criticize Islam’: Abba star

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Abba legend Björn Ulvaeus has made veiled criticisms of Islam in a wide-ranging interview with the Wall Street Journal saying “less religion in the world would be better”.

“Look at all the misery in the Middle East for example. All these countries have Islam in common, and far too few dare to criticize Islam as an ideology, and what it’s doing to these countries,” the 68-year-old told the paper.

The Local, 11 September 2013

The ‘counterjihad’ movement finds a new ally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dispatch International presents EDL

Two weeks ago the self-styled Free Press Society and its Danish/Swedish publication Dispatch International announced that they have invited Stephen Lennon and Kevin Carroll to visit Scandinavia for a speaking tour later this month. The English Defence League leaders are to address meetings in Malmö and Copenhagen where they will explain “why they oppose England’s Islamization and how they go about it”.

Dispatch International was launched in August 2012, with Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard as editors, to serve as an organ of the international “counterjihad” movement. The far-right Sweden Democrats party (which observed that it had “many connections … both personal and ideological” with the Free Press Society) was so impressed with the new publication that it sent a free copy to each of its six thousand members. Challenged at a press conference over whether he was happy distributing a newspaper that compares Islam to Nazism, Sweden Democrats spokesperson Richard Jomshof said he thought this was “a perfectly reasonable comparison”.

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Birmingham MP attacks city college veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shabana MahmoodA Birmingham MP has attacked a city college’s controversial decision to ban students from wearing Muslim veils.

Shabana Mahmood, MP for Ladywood, said she was “shocked” and “deeply concerned” at the policy introduced at Birmingham Metropolitan College. She spoke after the Mail revealed students had been banned from wearing all face coverings, including the niqab – which leaves only the eyes visible. Ms Mahmood is now demanding an urgent meeting with college leaders about the decision, which has sparked a furious backlash from some Muslim girls.

“For those that chose to wear the full veil, it is an important article of faith,” Ms Mahmood said. “I would like to know how many students are affected and a full explanation as to why the compromise suggested by students at the College, that the veil is removed for security staff to check and verify identity before being put back on, was not accepted by the College.

“I am deeply concerned that other colleges may follow suit, as a result of which increasing numbers of women will be locked out of education and skills training. We must not allow this to happen.”

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Canadian Muslims call for action against Geller and Spencer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geller Spencer JDL meeting

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer (recently banned from the UK because of their record of inciting hatred) are due to visit Toronto next week to address a meeting organised by the far-right Kahanists of the Jewish Defence League.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims has issued an action alert calling on concerned citizens to contact the federal Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney to urge him to review whether these anti-Muslim extremists should be allowed into the country.

Update:  See “Canadian Muslim leaders worried U.S. speakers will spread ‘hate’ about Islam”, Canadian Press, 13 September 2013

Halal slaughter ban invalid under EU law: Polish Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Poland’s Muslim community on Tuesday said a controversial nationwide ban on halal and kosher slaughter, which has spurred intense debate at home and abroad, was invalid under European law.

The EU directive “applies in Poland and in this case it supersedes national law,” Poland’s top Muslim leader, Mufti Tomasz Miskiewicz, said, quoting an expert legal analysis commissioned by the Muslim community and the meat industry.

Animal rights activists have hailed the ban, but Jewish and Muslim leaders in overwhelmingly Catholic Poland argue that it violates their religious freedom and Israel has called it “unacceptable”.

Farmers and exporters of meat to Israel and Muslim countries, who exported up to 350 million euros ($460 million) worth of kosher and halal meat a year before the ban, have also condemned it.

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