Even FPÖ draws line at member who compared Norway killings with abortion on demand

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Freedom Party (FPÖ) has decided to expel a member for his disputed statements regarding a recent massacre in Norway.

Werner Königshofer, who represented the right-wing party in the federal parliament in Vienna, compared the acts of Anders Behring Breivik with abortion on demand. The Tyrolean politician deplored the “death of millions of unborn children all over Europe.” Breivik killed at least 76 people by placing a car bomb in the city centre of Oslo last week before going on a shooting spree on a nearby lake island.

Königshofer did not only cause outcry with his theories about abortion on demand. Shortly after first details about the deranged mind of Breivik emerged, he claimed on his profile on social networking site Facebook: “The Islamic threat has struck Europe a thousand times more often.”

FPÖ Tyrol chief Gerald Hauser welcomed the decision to kick Königshofer out as a “correct and necessary step.” However, the expelled member of the federal parliament (MP) said he would appeal the decision of Strache and Hofer which still needs the green light by the party board.

Königshofer said he heard about the decision of the FPÖ leaders only in the media. The right-winger – whose Facebook profile has been taken offline in the meantime – was member of a far-right party which was officially prohibited for spreading neo-Nazi propaganda before he joined the FPÖ in 1987. Before publishing his statements regarding the tragedy in Norway, the Innsbruck-based politician was criticised over his Facebook page’s links with alleged neo-Nazis.

Austrian Independent, 29 July 2011

Settler MKs welcome Russian neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers to Knesset, Yad Vashem

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Russian neo-Nazis

The close links that have been established between a section of the Israeli right and European far-right Islamophobes on the common ground of support for Zionism are well known (see for example here and here). But it is still difficult to credit the report that representatives of a Russian group of Hitler-admiring, Holocaust-denying neo-Nazis recently visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem and were welcomed to the Knesset by two of the most notorious anti-Muslim MKs, Aryeh Eldad and Ayoob Kara. Richard Silverstein has the details:

Under the auspices of Tuvia Lerner, editor of the Russian edition of Arutz 7, the media voice of the settler movement, they inveigled themselves an invitation to meet with far-right MKs Aryeh Eldad and Ayoob Kara. They also toured Yad VaShem without telling anyone there that they were Holocaust deniers. Like I told you, this story has to be read to be believed. The two Russians have been photographed giving Nazi salutes, celebrating Der Führer’s birthday, and they published songs of praise to Adolf Hitler on their website.

Naturally, when they met with the MKs the ideas they espoused were quite different.  One of the neo-Nazis told Israeli TV that the concept of Israel “excites me,” because it involves “an ancient people who took upon itself a pioneer project to revive a modern state and nation.” The TV reporter tartly asked how the neo-Nazi of yesterday suddenly became a Zionist. How they did it, is by finding a common enemy: Islam (sound familiar?). The second neo-Nazi tells the interviewer: “We’re talking about radical Islam which is the enemy of humanity, enemy of democracy, enemy of progress and of any sane society.”

Tikun Olam, 28 July 2011

Suspended prison sentence for EDL supporter who spray-painted graffiti at mosque site

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Hucknall man who spray-painted racist graffiti at a site earmarked for a Muslim mosque has avoided being sent straight to prison.

Christopher Payne (25), of Beardsmore Grove, was with a gang who also placed a severed pig’s head on a pole at the spot. He admitted daubing the slogan “No Mosque Here, EDL Notts” on the pavement at the site near Collington Way, off Derby Road, West Bridgford. EDL is a reference to the English Defence League, of which Payne was a member. The vandalism and head were discovered by a member of the public on Thursday June 23.

Payne appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court for sentencing after admitted racially-aggravated public order offences. He also confessed to causing racially or religiously-aggravated harassment, alarm or distress and racially or religiously-aggravated criminal damage.

At the time of a previous court hearing in June, Payne had been an events organiser for the EDL. But at the sentencing hearing, the court heard he had since left the group.

Payne was sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for a year. He was also told to pay a £250 fine and £85 costs and complete 100 hours of community service. He was also banned from West Bridgford for 12 months.

Hucknall Dispatch, 30 July 2011

Norwegian government’s naive attitude to immigration is to blame for Breivik killings, says Le Pen

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Le Pen and FN anti-Islam posterThe founder of the National Front party in France criticized Norway for its “naivety” in the face of immigration and terrorism and called government inaction more serious than the massacre of 77 people by an anti-Islam extremist.

Jean-Marie Le Pen said the July 22 gun and bomb attack by Anders Behring Breivik – once a member of Norway’s populist right-wing Progress Party – appeared to be the work of a “sick” man, but pointed a finger at Norwegian authorities and society.

“What strikes me as more serious … is the naivety and inaction of the Norwegian government,” said Le Pen, 82, the former party head in a weekly video blog published on the party’s website on Friday.

“The most serious responsibility, it seems to me, is that of the Norwegian government and society which has fallen asleep … which has not taken into account the global danger of massive immigration which is the main reason in this deadly crazy man’s thinking, but also terrorism, which is a global phenomenon.”

Reuters, 30 July 2011

Following as it does the news that a Front National member hailed Breivik as a “defender of the west”, her father’s intervention shows that Marine Le Pen has her work cut out in rebranding the FN as a party that has renounced political extremism.

Mad Mel says left-wing Jews are assisting Muslim extremists who ‘want to destroy our way of life’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

You would have thought that the revelations about her role in inspiring Anders Breivik’s hatred of Labour traitors, who he believed had conspired to destroy national identity by flooding their countries with immigrants in pursuit of the warped ideology of multiculturalism, might have prompted a period of quiet reflection on the part of Melanie Phillips. Not a bit of it. Phillips has a piece in this week’s Jewish Chronicle belligerently defending the paper’s political editor Martin Bright against his critics. According to Phillips, Bright is “a fine and principled journalist” who “exposes both Islamists who want to destroy our way of life and the useful idiots whom they manipulate”. (Presumably she has in mind inaccurate, ill-researched exercises in witch-hunting like this.) Continue reading →

East End declares unity against the EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UEE logoHundreds of protesters stood in silence at a rally in East London last night with raised flowers to remember the 76 people killed in the Norway massacre by the self-confessed bomber Anders Behring.

The rally, calling for the Home Secretary to ban a proposed march by the English Defence League through Whitechapel, came at the end of a day when a delegation led by the Mayor of Tower Hamlets and the new Bishop of Stepney met the Norwegian ambassador and signed the Book of Condolence.

“I know the dangers of extremism has been in your minds in the aftermath of the horrors committed in Norway,” Mayor Lutfur Rahman told the 300-strong rally. “I know your heart will have been moved by the grieving of the Norwegian people. So I was proud and saddened to go to the Norwegian embassy with faith and community leaders to offer condolences and solidarity from the people of Tower Hamlets.”

He has written to Theresa May urging police to use their powers to stop the EDL coming to Whitechapel, adding yet more weight to calls for a ban from MPs, councillors, London Assembly figures and church leaders.

Norwegian trade unionists flew to London from Oslo to speak at the rally staged at London Muslim Centre along the Whitechapel Road – where the EDL plan to march on September 3.

The Bishop of Stepney, the Rt Rev Adrian Newman, in his first public engagement since his inauguration last Friday – ironically on the day of the Oslo massacre – was cheered when he told the rally: “I’ve already been criticised for standing shoulder to shoulder against fascism. But I stand with the people of the East End – this is no place for hate.”

East End Advertiser, 30 July 2011

See also Robert Lambert, “Londoners United Against the EDL”, Huffington Post, 30 July 2011

Update:  See “Hundreds pack East End rally in run-up to 3 Sept demo against EDL”, UAF news report, 30 June 2011

UEE rally July 2011

Pamela Geller edits post to conceal violent rhetoric in ’email from Norway’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Little green footballs has the details.

Update:  Geller has posted a “clarification” on her blog. She explains:

Back in June 2007 I received an email from a disheartened reader in Norway who was bereft at the deterioration of the society and the lawlessness of life in Norway. It was a heartbreaking email, and I published it at the time: “Email from Norway.” After the massacre in Norway last week, I removed the following sentence from the email, as I found it insenstive and inappropriate: “We are stockpiling and caching weapons, ammunition and equipment. This is going to happen fast.” The sentence I edited is not an incitement to anything. It refers to self-defense, but I removed it in the light of recent horrific events in Norway. I thought it insensitive. Nothing more.

Over at Antiwar.com Justin Raimondo points out that in the comments which follow the original post one of Geller’s readers warns that the author of the email could be prosecuted in Norway. Geller replies that this is “why I ran it anonymously”.

Raimondo observes:

So here is some nut stockpiling “weapons, ammunition, and equipment,” because “this is going to happen fast” – with Geller’s enthusiastic encouragement. Indeed, she’s so concerned her correspondent might be arrested that she’s protecting his identity.

Who is Geller’s mystery correspondent – is it the same Norwegian nut-case who ruthlessly cut down dozens of children, or a different one waiting in the wings to do the same? Come on, Pamela – clear up the mystery. Or would you rather continue to shield your fellow “counter-jihadist”?

Telford council leader wants EDL march banned

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kuldip SahotaThe Muslim community in Telford must be listened to and a controversial march by the far-right English Defence League banned, the leader of Telford & Wrekin Council said today.

Councillor Kuldip Sahota has come out fighting against a plan by the EDL to march in Wellington next month and said residents’ security was now a top priority.

The group plans to demonstrate on August 13, the same day as the opening fixture of AFC Telford United’s Blue Square Bet Premier bid against Luton.

Councillor Sahota told a full council meeting last night a working group had already been set up in a bid to scupper any plans by the EDL to cause trouble.

He said: “The security of everyone in Telford and Wrekin is of great importance to us all. It’s very important we listen to our Muslim community and what they are saying. They are going to be directly affected. The council does not want the English Defence League in Telford and wants the march banned.”

Shropshire Star, 29 July 2011

Update: See also the follow-up report in the Shropshire Star which quotes chief inspector Keith Gee of West Mercia Police as saying:

“I would ask people to remember that although there is legislation in place that could potentially ban a march we simply cannot stop EDL members from coming to Wellington to hold a peaceful protest that day. Everyone has the right to protest peacefully and therefore it would be irresponsible of us not to prepare for a large scale protest, involving anywhere between 500 and 2,000 people, and ensure we have resources and plans in place to cover every likely eventuality.”

There is indeed legislation in place, under Section 13 of the Public Order Act, to ban the EDL march. It is necessary for the police to apply to the local council for a banning order, which must then be confirmed by the Home Secretary. The police should be urged to do so.

It is true that the EDL cannot be prevented from holding a static protest, but Section 14 of the Public Order Act gives the police considerable powers over the conditions under which the protest can be held. These include the power to determine the location of the protest. In Dewsbury in June the police refused to allow the EDL to demonstrate outside Dewsbury Town Hall and penned them in a station car park well away from the town centre. It is entirely within the powers of the police to do that in Telford.