NZZ am Sonntag reports that the Administrative Court in the Swiss canton of Thurgau recently lifted a headscarf ban imposed by a school in Bürglen.
Another French mosque desecrated with racist and fascist graffiti
To their bewilderment and bitterness, on the morning of Saturday, November 24, Muslim worshippers at Villefontaine in northern Isère discovered racist graffiti on the walls of their mosque.
Lord Ashcroft is worried that people might see Lynton Crosby’s anti-Muslim rant as racist – because they ‘will not appreciate that Muslim is a religion not a race’
David Cameron’s controversial new campaign chief, Lynton Crosby, was in a fresh row last night after a leading Tory peer said his foul-mouthed rant against Muslims could be seen as “racist”.
Former Conservative deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft told friends that outspoken Australian Mr Crosby’s remark about “f****** Muslims” was a major error of judgment.
“The danger is that other people will see it as racist,” Lord Ashcroft was heard to comment at the Spectator magazine parliamentary awards lunch at The Savoy in London. “Some people may assume he means effing Muslims, effing blacks and all effing immigrants and will not appreciate that Muslim is a religion not a race.”
Mail on Sunday, 25 November 2012
Dutch minister dismisses ‘halal homes’ fears
Home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk told a television programme on Sunday he has no problem with housing corporations renovating homes and taking the wishes of Muslim tenants into account.
Plasterk was responding to a report in Parool newspaper on Saturday which said 188 apartments in western Amsterdam had been adapted to meet the wishes of Muslims, with a special cupboard for storing shoes and an extra tap for “ritual cleansing”.
The Economist and ex-Muslims
As’ad AbuKhalil of The Angry Arab demolishes The Economist‘s crude piece on atheism in the Muslim world, accusing it of resorting to “lazy clichés”.
Via Loonwatch
Anti-Islamic film up for discussion at Muslim conference in Southampton
A film that provoked a storm of violent protests among Muslims across the world will be discussed in Southampton next week.
The Muslim Council of Southampton (MCS) is holding a conference about the anti-Islamic video that was posted on Youtube by a US citizen. The clip led to protests that have caused more than 75 deaths and hundreds of injuries across the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
English Defence League demo a washout
The English Defence League had high expectations of their demonstration outside Wandworth prison in support of their jailed leader.
“We want to make it a big event,” the EDL wrote last week, “we want the authorities to sit up and take note. We want them to know that we know that Tommy’s arrest and remand is motivated not by a desire to uphold the law but for political reasons.”
Alas, the troops failed to rally to the cause. Hope Not Hate and EDL News report that a mere 100 protestors turned out in the rain.
Sweden Democrats send corpse pics to student
A 15-year-old boy mailed the Sweden Democrats seeking the party’s view on Islam for a school project and received a link to a website showing close up photos of mutilated, decapitated and burned bodies.
“I was shocked. I had no idea how I was supposed to respond to his mail. I can’t describe the feeling, the photos were so horrible,” the student, named as Johan, told the Svenska Dagbladet daily.
Far-right campaign fails – Skegness halal abattoir application granted
A Skegness abattoir which has sparked controversy over its plans to reopen as a halal slaughterhouse, has had an application to run granted.
Premier Halal Ltd, which appears to be a Yorkshire based meat wholesalers, had its documents approved on November 16. A spokesperson for the Food Standards Agency said: “This approval allows the company to operate both as a slaughterhouse and cutting plant, in relation to cattle, calves, sheep and goats.”
CAIR challenges use of anti-Muslim textbook at Toronto school
A Canadian Islamic organization is accusing a Toronto-area Jewish day school of using a textbook that vilifies Muslims.
In a Nov. 19 letter to Jewish groups, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-CAN, charges that a textbook used at the Joe Dwek Ohr HaEmet Sephardic School employs “inflammatory and hateful terms in describing Muslims.”
CAIR-CAN alleges that the book, “2000 Years of Jewish History,” describes Muslims as “rabid fanatics” with “savage beginnings.”