The Daily Star‘s dramatic turnaround over the English Defence League continues.
How the European far right abandoned antisemitism and embraced Zionism
“Only a few years ago, many of Europe’s far-right politicians were openly anti-Semitic. Now some of the same populist parties are embracing Israel to unite against what they perceive to be a common threat.” And the common threat is, of course, Muslims.
Why are we not challenging violent Islamism in our schools?
The question is posed by George Readings of the Quilliam Foundation in a piece for Comment is Free, the purpose of which is to defend Quilliam’s policy of uncritical support for state surveillance of Muslims.
Given the inflammatory character of his charges, you might have thought that Readings would feel it necessary to present some very convincing evidence to substantiate the claim that support for violent Islamism is indeed a serious problem in Britain’s schools and that teachers are refusing to counter it.
Yet Readings provides just three examples to back up these accusations. He refers to the report that Hasib Hussain, one of the 7/7 bombers, made “supportive references” to al-Qaida in his exercise books but was nevertheless regarded by his school as a model student. He also offers a personal anecdote: “When I was at school in Birmingham, one of my contemporaries – a boy of 11 – regularly stated his desire to blow himself up outside the Israeli embassy. Teachers largely stood by bemused.” The third example is that of the “Christmas Day bomber” Umar Abdulmutallab, whose youthful support for violent Islamism consisted in expressing sympathy for the Taliban – at a school in Togo, west Africa.
And that’s the sum total of Readings’ evidence in support of his thesis that sympathy for violent extremism is rife among Britain’s Muslim pupils and schools are standing by allowing it to happen. But this is par for the course with Quilliam, who have never allowed facts to stand in the way of anti-Muslim scaremongering.
Another example that comes to mind is Ed Husain’s baseless claim that Britain is threatened by the development of Islamic ghettos where Muslims are particularly liable to be drawn towards terrorism. However, Husain’s drivel appeared in the Daily Mail, a paper with a long record of anti-Muslim propaganda. Reading’s piece has been published by the Guardian, from whom we might have expected a greater sense of responsibility.
Muslim cabbies angry as Manchester Airport prayer room closes after arson attack
An islamic prayer room at Manchester Airport which was damaged in a suspected arson attack has been shut – for “health and safety” reasons. The cabin was used by taxi drivers and airport staff for worship but was closed suddenly by airport bosses earlier this week.
Two ceremonial garments inside the room were deliberately set ablaze on September 11 last year – the ninth anniversary of the attacks on New York’s Twin Towers.
Now the centre, on the airport’s taxi feeder park in Ringway Road, has been axed permanently – because chiefs say the building is dangerous and would cost too much to repair. But taxi drivers have reacted with anger – claiming around 500 people use the site every week and that it forms a crucial part of their daily routine.
One driver, a member of the Manchester Airport Taxi Drivers’ Association, said: “Everyone is furious that we were not consulted. We went to use it as normal and found it was locked up with a sign on the door saying it had been closed.
“Many Muslims go there five times a day to pray – we’ve used it for about a decade and are disgusted that it has shut without warning. We were all very upset when it was set on fire on September 11 and this feels like another kick in the teeth.”
Melbourne: anti-Islam campaigners claim Muslim prayer group will ‘strike terror into the hearts of local residents’
A row has broken out in a Jewish-dominated area of Melbourne over a Muslim prayer group that meets in a council-owned hall.
The St Kilda Islamic Society has held Friday prayers at the facility for years, but the council now wants to change the venue’s permit to formalise the arrangement. That council decision has given opponents of the prayer group the opportunity to get vocal.
The prayer group started in 2008 with a group of Melbourne taxi drivers who were looking for a place to worship. They began meeting at the Alma Road Community House in Melbourne’s inner south-east, an area recognised as a Jewish enclave and does not have a local mosque.
These days about 35 men attend Friday prayers, including Qaiser Mohammed. “They think that we are going to occupy this place. We are here for one hour [a week], just for the Friday prayer,” he said.
Southern Poverty Law Center lists anti-Islamic NYC blogger Pamela Geller, followers a hate group
Manhattan blogger Pamela Geller and her posse of anti-Islamic protesters have been branded a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Stop the Islamization of America was included in the civil rights organization’s annual roundup of extremist groups – a rogue’s gallery that includes everything from the Ku Klux Klan to white supremacists and Nazis.
Geller’s group was one of the most vocal opponents of the proposed Islamic Center near Ground Zero.The group was also behind ads that were placed on city buses urging Muslims to leave “the falsity of Islam.”
New York Daily News, 25 February 2011
Update: See “Pam Geller on ‘hate group’ label: ‘A badge of honor'”, TPM, 1 March 2011
EDL leadership finally dissociates itself from English Nationalist Alliance
Bill Baker with the EDL at an ENA protest in Brighton, August 2010
The English Defence League has finally broken links with Bill Baker and his organisation. According to an EDL statement released yesterday: “The English Nationalist Alliance, and their leader ‘Bill Baker’, have, in no uncertain terms, been told to take their party politics elsewhere. Bill Baker is not welcome at any EDL event.”
You might wonder why it has taken the EDL so long to get round to this. The ENA and EDL have held a number of anti-Muslim protests together – in London last July, in Brighton in August and in Dagenham earlier this month – without any complaint from the EDL leadership. The sudden announcement that Bill Baker is persona non grata in the EDL would appear to be a panic reaction to a detailed exposé of Baker posted on the Exposing the English Defence League blog – and to Baker’s response, which has been to threaten violence against the authors.
Dutch broadcaster removes anti-Wilders cartoon after threats to staff
The website of a left-leaning public broadcaster has removed a cartoon depicting a plan by the far-right PVV party as a Nazi death camp following serious threats to its staff.
The cartoon, by Adriaan Soeterbroek and posted on the VARA’s Joop.nl site, ridiculed a PVV plan to create “hooligan villages”, likening them to a Nazi concentration camp with PVV leader Geert Wilders showing the inmates into a shower. Millions of people, mostly Jews and Roma gypsies, were killed in Nazi gas chambers masquerading as showers.
The VARA says it removed the cartoon after careful consideration, saying that while freedom of expression is a key right some of its staff felt too threatened to continue working. The broadcaster has reported the incident to the police.
EDL threatens to break with Jewish division over ‘terrorist’ links – JTF leader blames ‘elements in the EDL who desperately want to be accepted by the leftwing establishment’
The leadership of the English Defence League has distanced itself from the group’s Jewish Division, because of its partnership with the far-right American group Jewish Task Force.
The head of the EDL’s Jewish division, Roberta Moore [pictured, with Jonathan Hoffman], previously announced that the group was working with the JTF, whose leader Victor Vancier has been imprisoned for terrorism offences.
This week the EDL’s leadership issued a statement saying that if the Jewish Division continued relations with the JTF, they would sever ties with her. It said: “A member of the Jewish Division this week decided to link herself with terrorist organisation JTF. This was the decision and wishes of one single individual within the EDL, and does not mean that the EDL is linked with this movement.
“If they [the Jewish EDL] continue with their plans to forge links with the terrorist JTF, the EDL will have no option but to sever its links with the Jewish division as we cannot support terrorist sympathisers.”
But Ms Moore said she was determined to continue the affiliation. She said the EDL leadership who had released the statement were “complete idiots,” adding: “I have put my foot down; I am the one in contact with the JTF. If some people don’t like it, then screw them. There are lots of Jewish people very upset that the EDL put out that statement – and I haven’t received any personal messages telling me to cut off contact with Victor.”
However, the EDL made it clear that they and Ms Moore were at odds on the matter. A spokesman said: “The EDL never has and never will have any affiliations with the Jewish Task Force. Unfortunately Ms Moore has caused a great deal of trouble and unrest within the EDL because of her gung-ho attitude.”
Victor Vancier spent five years in prison from 1987 for 18 bomb attacks against Soviet targets in the US to protest against the treatment of Soviet Jews.
He posted on the JTF forum: “There are elements in the EDL who desperately want to be accepted by the leftwing establishment and the media. These elements have no principles or courage. Roberta Moore and the Jewish Division represent courageous and noble elements. If the EDL is not willing to work with JTF, then they are rejecting all rightwing Jews, evangelical Christians and others who believe in the right of the Jewish people to the entire land of Israel.”
Jewish Chronicle, 25 February 2011
So, the EDL leadership announced a week ago that the organisation “will have no option but to sever its links with the Jewish division” if the latter continues its connection with the JTF – and Roberta Moore says “screw them”. Well, has the EDL severed its links with its Jewish division, or even with Moore as an individual? No sign of it so far.
See also Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, 19 February 2011
And Exposing the English Defence League, 17 February 2011
Update: The EDL leadership has issued a further statement in which they directly address Roberta Moore: “we don’t approve of your discussions with the JTF. We hope that this was just an error in judgement”. Well, that’s cracking down hard on Moore, isn’t it? Clearly we can rely on the EDL leadership to take a firm stand against any of their members who are found to have links with terrorists.
Murfreesboro Islamic Center opponent backs anti-sharia bill
Kevin Fisher, one of the plaintiffs suing Rutherford County for approving the future Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, issued the following statement in support of Murfreesboro Republican state Sen. Bill Ketron’s bill to make following Shariah Law a felony in Tennessee:
“I believe the legislation banning Shariah law, sponsored by Sen. Bill Ketron and Rep.Womack (Rockvale community Republican Rep. Rick Womick), is a wonderful example of putting the needs and best interests of the community above divisive politics.”