That’s how the Sunday Times reports the “Muslim patrol” story covered by the Mail last week. So far, nobody has produced any evidence that there are “Sharia patrols” operating in east London, suppressing the consumption of alcohol on the streets, as the Sunday Times claims. What we have is a video from Tower Hamlets of two individuals harassing non-Muslims. That’s all. There’s no indication yet that this was anything more than a couple of pillocks staging an offensive stunt.
Knesset candidate suggests Dome of the Rock should be ‘blown up’
Until Friday, Jeremy Gimpel was just a name on a list. To be precise, he was number 14 on the list of Knesset candidates for Habayit Hayehudi, the new incarnation of the National Religious Party headed by Israel’s new political rock star, Naftali Bennett.
But the spotlight began glaring on Gimpel over the weekend after video from a speech the Atlanta-born Gimpel made to the Fellowship Church in Winter Springs, Florida, was posted on Facebook by journalist Yehuda Nuriel. The video caught the eye of veteran commentator Amnon Abramovich, who broadcast the video on the widely-viewed Channel 2 newscast on Friday night.
Muslim, Jewish groups join Rebuild Joplin effort in demonstration of unity
Joplin mosque burns to the ground after suspected arson attack last August
Among those assisting the Rebuild Joplin effort starting Monday will be Muslim and Jewish volunteers.
The volunteers will be from ICNA Relief, part of the Islamic Circle of North America; the Jewish Disaster Relief Corps; and Bridges, a Muslim-Jewish interfaith dialogue composed of New York University students. Shahid Farooqi, outreach director for ICNA Relief USA, said the groups are joining forces in a show of unity.
Muslims, Christians to gather at Texas church
Hoping to nurture good will between two major faiths, Christians and Muslims will mingle Sunday at a Texas barbecue at a Keller church.
The Rev. Bob Roberts, pastor of the 3,000-member NorthWood Church, said the gathering is intended to create friendships and recruit Muslims and Christians who will work together on a series of community projects.
“We’ve got a big Muslim issue in America,” Roberts said. “There are 2 billion Christians in the world and 1.5 billion Muslims. If we don’t learn how to get along, we are going to have a very sick world.”
Hooded ‘Muslim Patrol’ vigilantes remove alcohol from drinkers and tell women to cover up as they stalk London suburb
That’s the headline to a report in the Daily Mail. Ever eager to alert its readers to the encroaching Muslim menace, the paper claims that “a gang claiming to be Islamic vigilantes have been confronting members of the public and demanding they give up alcohol and women cover their flesh in their ‘Muslim area'”. This is accompanied by a video, originally posted by its creators on YouTube, in which a self-styled “Muslim patrol” harasses passers-by over their un-Islamic behaviour. According to the Mail, the events took place in Waltham Forest.
The report is taken from a piece on The Commentator website, titled “‘Muslim Patrol’ vigilantes attempt to control London streets”, which states that the video is “likely to have come from East London, where ‘Shariah zones’ were set up last year”. It provides a link to a 2011 report in the Mail headlined “‘No porn or prostitution’: Islamic extremists set up Sharia law controlled zones in British cities”, which was illustrated with photographs of one of Anjem Choudary’s idiot supporters putting up stickers in Waltham Forest announcing that the borough was a “Shariah controlled zone”. The Commentator adds that the individuals featured in the “Muslim patrol” video “are thought to be a part of an extremist network in East London”, the implication being that they are members of Choudary’s group.
In reality, it is clear that the video was shot in Tower Hamlets, near to the East London Mosque (which has issued a statement condemning the actions of the “Muslim patrol” and calling on anyone with information on the individuals involved to contact the police). There have in any case never been any sharia zones “set up” in Waltham Forest or anywhere else in East London. One dickhead putting stickers on lampposts doesn’t bring a “Shariah controlled zone” into existence.
Nor is there a “gang” harassing the citizens of Tower Hamlets over their alcohol drinking or way of dressing. As Richard Bartholomew has pointed out, the “patrol” appears to consist of just two individuals, one of whom is holding the mobile phone with which the video is taken. There is moreover no evidence that they are connected to Choudary’s minuscule band of nutters or indeed that they are part of any “extremist network” at all. Their behaviour was no doubt upsetting for the people they targeted, and hopefully they will be identified and charged with harassment, but if a couple of prats pulling a single Candid Camera type stunt constitutes a serious attempt by Islamist extremists to “control London streets” then words have lost all meaning.
This irresponsible reporting has of course had the predictable result of inflaming the far right, as it plays directly to their paranoid racist fantasies about the Islamification of Britain and the imposition of sharia law on non-Muslims. The English Defence posted a link to the Mail report on their Facebook page, provoking the usual outpouring of anti-Muslim hatred, threats of violence and calls for civil war. Not to be outdone, the EDL breakaway group Combined Ex Forces has announced that “members of CxF and other Patriots/Nationalists will be descending on London in the very near future to reclaim our streets”.
Arson attack on Australian mosque
Whyalla’s Muslim community has been praying outside in stifling temperatures above 40C after fires damaged their mosque.
The fires, which started about 4am on Thursday, are being treated as suspicious. A spokesman for the community, Hasan Aziz, said he believes the attack was a “hate crime”.
“The way it’s been carried out tells us that it’s a targeted crime, a hate crime,” he said. “In a town like Whyalla, of all the places, it’s very unlikely for such an act to be carried out. There’s been no problems in the past.”
The blaze caused smoke damage inside the Morris Crescent mosque after fires were lit at the front and back door of the property. “The front and the back doors have been burnt totally,” Mr Aziz said. “They put petrol on both of them and they lit it on fire.”
Mr Aziz said that the community, which meets twice a day at the mosque, has been forced to pray outside in searing temperatures. “It’s pretty bad. We can’t carry out any of the prayers, so we’ve had to do it outside,” he said.
The building was insured. A police spokesman said the fire caused minimal damage but appeared to be suspicious. Local Crime Investigation Branch detectives are investigating.
Thurnby Lodge Scout hut dispute: Muslim charity can’t afford rental terms
A charity involved in a dispute over a Scout hut says it cannot afford the rental terms it is being offered for an alternative building.
Demonstrations have been taking place in Thurnby Lodge, Leicester, for several months against plans by As-Salaam to turn the hut into a community centre.
Earlier this month, city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby agreed protesters from the Forgotten Estates Committee would be given the lease on the hut for two years, rent-free.
The Muslim charity was offered another city council-owned building, the Raven Centre, next to Thurnby Lodge Community Centre, where the charity has met for prayers for the past three years. As-Saalam members said they had been offered two rental agreements, neither of which they could afford.
Harry’s Place contributor says rape isn’t that bad
Last year we ran a piece on former English Defence League activist Andy Hughes, proprietor of the Islamic Far-Right in Britain blog, whose articles denouncing the Islamist threat to western civilisation are regularly crossposted at the notorious Islamophobic blog Harry’s Place.
We pointed out that, in addition to declaring his admiration for convicted thug Joel Titus, the ex-leader of the EDL’s youth section, Hughes had made antisemitic comments on the Expose Facebook page under the pseudonym of Arry Bo. Expressing his dislike of “Yids” who “think they are superior beings and the rest of us are scum”, Hughes wrote that this explained “why Jews have been kicked out of so many countries” .
Given HP’s readiness to denounce opponents of the state of Israel as antisemites, you might have thought they would be quick to dissociate themselves from Hughes and his vile remarks. But no. Sarah Annes Brown, who presents herself as the voice of reason at Harry’s Place (competition isn’t exactly fierce), happily accepted Hughes’ laughable explanation that in posting these antisemitic comments he was simply trying to wind people up. She attributed this to the fact that Hughes is “a bit – skittish”!
Fears over Shotton Colliery Islamic centre after EDL protest
English Defence League protestors in Shotton Colliery last month
Police last night sought to reassure residents of a village where a far-right group protested against a planned Islamic education centre.
Around 200 members of the English Defence League gathered in the former pit village of Shotton Colliery, County Durham, on Saturday, December 1. Two people were arrested on suspicion of breach of bail and a woman was given a police warning.
It came after Durham County Council passed plans by businessman Kaiser Choudry to transform the Melrose Arms, a disused pub on Front Street, into an education centre.
Shotton Comrades Social Club was almost full for the special meeting last night attended by police, Stuart Timmiss, the council’s head of planning and assets and councillor Eunice Huntingdon, who represents the area, to discuss the plans. Several residents voiced fears about extremism at the meeting.
The iron pipe of Swedish neo-facism
Daniel Strand traces the rise of the Sweden Democrats.