CAIR asks FBI to investigate Geller’s call to destroy Florida mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The South Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFL) today called on the FBI to investigate a call by Pamela Geller, the leader of an anti-Muslim hate group, to demolish a mosque in that state.

Geller, who appears as a regular guest on FOX News, posted an article on her blog, titled “Obama’s DOJ secretly drops terrorism charges in Taliban Case,” calling for a Florida Mosque to be demolished. This comes after the Department of Justice dropped charges against Irfan Khan, one of the defendants that was recently arrested and indicted on terrorism support charges.

“Calling for the destruction of a mosque may incite people to commit acts of violence against ordinary Muslims,” says CAIR-SFL Executive Director Nezar Hamze. “We are taking this call for the destruction of an American house of worship very seriously and have reported it to the FBI for review.”

CAIR press release, 20 June 2012

One Direction’s Zayn Malik branded a ‘pimp’ for Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

One Direction with puppies
One Direction: don’t be fooled by the cute puppies – it’s all an Islamist plot

One Direction star Zayn Malik has been accused of “enticing jihad” and “pimping Islam” to young female fans in an outrageous online attack. Right wing blogger Debbie Schlussel warned parents to “keep their daughters away” from the British boyband, currently on a sell-out US tour.

The American claimed Zayn, 19, had posted tweets for fans about Ramadan and Allah. She ranted: “The scary thing is that millions of girls in America and around the world are infatuated with the members of One Direction, including Malik. He knows the power he has over these mindless girls and is using that influence to preach the Islamic faith. It’s dangerous.”

 

She even blasted Zayn for wearing a keffiyeh – a cotton scarf – which she called “official garb of Islamic terrorism”.

Schlussel ended the blog with: “Keep your daughters away from Zayn Malik’s enticing jihad. With the boy band One Direction, it’s all about pimping Islam amid the deceptive visage of angelic, effeminate boys in a band. Yup, for them there is definitely One Direction: facing Mecca.”

Sun, 20 June 2012

See also Sheila Musaji, “Debbie Schlussel discovers ‘boy band jihad’?”, The American Muslim, 12 June 2012

Dutch upper house rejects ban on ritual slaughter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Dutch upper house, the Senate, on Tuesday rejected a bill that would have banned the ritual slaughter of animals and had been criticised by both Muslim and Jewish groups.

The bill, proposed by the small Party for the Animals, stipulates that livestock must be stunned before being slaughtered, contrary to Muslim halal and Jewish kosher laws, which require animals to be conscious.

The lower house of parliament passed the bill a year ago, leaving a loophole saying religious groups could continue ritual slaughter if they proved it was no more painful than other methods of slaughter. But the Senate rejected the bill on Tuesday by 51 votes to 21, meaning it cannot become law.

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Is anti-Muslim bias an issue in rejection of Minnesota Islamic center plan?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eight months ago, the St. Anthony City Council denied a Christian congregation’s proposal to move to a building in an area zoned for light-industrial use. Last week, the council struck down an attempt to locate an Islamic center in a similarly zoned area. City leaders say their actions were consistent, based on land-use issues and not religious discrimination.

But supporters of the center wonder whether discrimination was a factor in the council’s rejection, and they point to the hateful comments directed at the Muslims by a few residents at a recent council meeting.

In addition, both religious groups are made up primarily of dark-skinned, native Africans. Census data show that only about 400 of St. Anthony’s 8,000 residents are black, and none sits on the City Council. Would a white Lutheran congregation’s petition have been approved?

The answers aren’t clear-cut, which was why it was prudent for the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.

Editorial in Star Tribune, 19 June 2012

‘My testimony to Peter King’s hearing on American Muslim radicalization’ – an astroturf Muslim writes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Asra Nomani explains why she decided to testify at the latest in Republican Congressman Peter King’s series of hearings on the supposed radicalisation of American Muslims: “To me, the hearings do not represent a witchhunt and Congressman King is no Joe McCarthy.”

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Kelvin MacKenzie advocates UK veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ENGAGE has the details. In a short piece for the Daily Mail MacKenzie hailed the French veil ban as a “great success”. He described the report that three veiled women were turned back at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport and refused entry into France as “excellent news”. He urged David Cameron to include a proposal for a veil ban in the UK in the 2015 Tory Party manifesto.

Marseille ‘mega-mosque’ gets go-ahead

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Marseille mosque modelA French appeals court granted permission Tuesday for the building of a mega-mosque in the southern city of Marseille that has been touted as a symbol of Islam’s growing place in France.

The court overturned an October ruling by Marseille’s administrative tribunal that cancelled the project’s construction permit for supposed failures to meet urban-planning requirements.

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Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman accuses Daily Mail of telling porkies

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lutfur Rahman banner

Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman has refuted allegations that the borough has banned pork sausages from being served in schools.

Mayor Rahman responded on his blog to an article in the Daily Mail which claimed the council has banned sausages due to “religious reasons.” The article stated that 85 out of 90 schools in Tower Hamlets do not offer pupils a pork option, a figure which Mayor Rahman attributed to a lack of demand.

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