Michigan Supreme Court rejects appeal by mosque opponents

Posted on by Bob Pitt

WEST BLOOMFIELD — The Michigan Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal over the sale of a Detroit-area school for a mosque and Islamic community center.

In an order released Saturday, the court said a September decision by the appeals court in favor of the Farmington school district will stand.

The Islamic Cultural Association bought the vacant Eagle Elementary School in West Bloomfield Township in 2011. Some residents sued, claiming the deal was somehow corrupt and hidden from the public. An Oakland County judge and the appeals court have said critics have no standing to sue.

The Islamic association has said opponents are unfairly targeting people over their Muslim faith. The West Bloomfield Planning Commission has not taken action on the proposed mosque.

Associated Press, 2 February 2013

See also “State Supreme Court rejects appeal of West Bloomfield mosque opponents”, West Bloomfield Patch, 2 Febuary 2013

Report: U.S. Muslim terrorism was practically nil in 2012

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim-American Terrorism reportTry as al-Qaida might to encourage them, American Muslims still aren’t committing acts of terrorism. Only 14 people out of a population of millions were indicted for their involvement in violent terrorist plots in 2012, a decline from 2011’s 21. The plots themselves hit the single digits last year.

So much for a widespread stereotype. According to data tracked by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security in North Carolina and released Friday (.PDF), there were nine terrorist plots involving American Muslims in 2012. Only one of them, the attempted bombing of a Social Security office in Arizona, actually led to any violence. There were no casualties in that or any other incident. And the Triangle study tracksindictments, not convictions.

Terrorist incidents from American Muslims is on the decline for the third straight year. After an uptick in 2009, there were 18 plots in 2011 involving 21 U.S. Muslims. And it’s not just violent plots: Fewer Muslim-Americans are getting indicted for money laundering, material support for terrorism, and lying to investigators. There were 27 people indicted on those terror-support charges in 2010, eight in 2011 and six in 2012.

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Muslims feel targeted after Philadelphia school kidnapping

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Muslim community in Philadelphia held a meeting venting frustrations over people committing crimes dressed in traditional Muslim garb.

“We have a right to wear a face veil if we choose to, that’s our right, our God-given right,” said Alia Walker.

Muslim women in West Philadelphia are becoming increasingly fearful.

This as the pressure mounts for the capture of the woman dressed in Muslim garb and her accomplice, who kidnapped a 5-year-old girl from her classroom and brutally assaulted her.

“Right now, a lot of the Muslim sisters are saying, ‘People are walking around looking at them cross-eyed.’ They haven’t done anything wrong,” said Rep. Ron Waters.

At a standing room only meeting to discuss the matter, Muslims expressed outrage that it’s happening again and again.

Criminals have been committing crimes disguised as Muslim women – robbing banks, stores and now kidnapping. Violent crimes they fear put Muslim women in danger.

“We consider anyone dressing up like a Muslim woman perpetrating a hate crime,” said Iman Asim Abdul Rashid.

WPVI Philadelphia, 2 February 2013

US radio show host: ‘The Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our government – it’s called Barack Obama’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mark LevinOn his radio show last night, Mark Levin went offon President Obama’s decision to send F-16 planes and tanks to assist President Mohamed Morsi’s Egyptian government, calling the president a Muslim Brotherhood “sympathizer.”

“What the hell’s happening? Now we back the Muslim Brotherhood?” Levin said of the administration’s decision to aid Morsi.

The conservative radio host defended his “dear friends” Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) over their concerns that the administration has been “infiltrated” by the Muslim Brotherhood.

“[They] ask questions about the Muslim Brotherhood’s infiltration of our own government, and they’re treated like pariahs,” an agitated Levin shouted. “Well, the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our government – it’s called Barack Obama! No, he’s not a formal member; he’s a sympathizer. There, I said it! Prove otherwise.”

Mediaite, 1 February 2013

Police seek help to find vandals who targeted a Westcliff mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police want to hear from anyone who knows who may have vandalised a Westcliff mosque.

Two men are believed to be responsible for smashing three windows at the UK Islamic Mission in West Road, on December 15. The incident is believed to have happened at about 11pm.

Any witnesses or anyone with information about the offenders should contact Pc Phil Collie at Leigh police station on 101.

Southend Standard, 1 February 2013

Conservative councillor suspended for alleged racism against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Chris JoannidesA Conservative councillor has been suspended and is under investigation after allegedly making anti-Muslim comments and sectarian remarks on a social media website, The Guardian has learned.

Chris Joannides’s Facebook page contained material comparing Muslim women who wear the burqa to rubbish bags. Another post included sexual remarks in a discussion about a flasher, and a comment that his work as a councillor was getting in the way of his social life.

Joannides is a councillor in Enfield, north London.

News of the incident comes as the Conservative party leader, David Cameron, considers measures to try and increase the low levels of support the party receives from ethnic minority voters. The Conservatives are trying to shed their “nasty” party image and appear more inclusive.

His fellow Conservative councillors decided to suspend Joannides over the comments, which are being investigated.

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New street protest movement to hold demo against Abu Qatada?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

English National Resistance protest

You may recall that Britain First, a far-right groupuscule headed by former BNPers Jim Dowson and Paul Golding, organised a unity meeting in Dartford last month to discuss plans for a new anti-Islam street protest movement to replace the declining and fragmenting English Defence League.

The protest movement has now been formally launched. It’s called the English National Resistance and describes itself as a “new disciplined organisation that will mobilise patriotic activists against any attack on our English culture, rights and heritage”.

As is the way with such things, the English National Resistance presents itself as a far-right unity initiative, claiming to have brought together “a multitude of different existing patriotic groups”. So far, however, it would appear to be little more than a Britain First front organisation.

The ENR’s first event is scheduled for tomorrow, 2 February, with a planned march through Stanmore to the house of Abu Qatada. Whether it will in fact take place is as yet unclear, as Qatada’s lawyers have applied to the High Court for an injunction to prevent the demonstration going ahead.

Given that the protest is likely to attract a derisory number of participants, the BF/ENR leaders are probably hoping that the injunction is granted. That way they can milk the situation for the maximum publicity – High Court sides with Muslim terrorist and deprives decent British patriots of right to free speech, you know the sort of thing – while avoiding the public exposure of the minuscule forces they actually represent.

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Times reveals High Court’s shock sharia decision

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Times sharia divorces headlineYesterday the Jewish Chronicle carried a report (“Jewish divorce ruled OK in landmark High Court decision”) of a decision by a High Court judge to refer a Jewish divorce case to a Beth Din (rabbinical court) for arbitration, at the request of the couple involved in the divorce.

Here, you might think, would be an opportunity for some responsible reporting in the mainstream press on the subject of religious courts, showing how they can play a legitimate role in civil cases and countering the ignorant bigotry commonly displayed over the issue of sharia councils.

Of course, a responsible press is precisely what the UK lacks. Instead, we have newspapers ever eager to promote an “Islamification of Britain” narrative. So it’s no surprise that the story has made the front page of today’s Times under the headline “High Court opens way to Sharia divorces”.

The actual report, by the paper’s legal editor Frances Gibb, is in fact reasonably balanced, and avoids the sharia hysteria suggested by the headline. Many people, however, won’t see past that headline – or will take their cue from the version of the Times report published by the Mail, which has provoked the usual spate of Islamophobic raving from readers.

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