Ignorance and fear in Sheepshead Bay

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Racial and religious tensions are flaring in Sheepshead Bay over plans to build a mosque on a residential street. Opponents say the mosque will lead to traffic and noise problems – but their complaints are littered with anti-Islamic attacks, like one letter to elected officials that said “mosques and Muslim schools preach hatred.”

“There’s a safety issue here. I don’t want my kids walking past it,” said Kathy Cash, 38, a mother of three children who attend Public School 52 around the corner on E. 29th St. “It’s disgusting,” said Cash, “they [Muslims] have no respect.”

“My children are scared and I am too,” said Victor Benari, 56, trying to rally neighbors against the mosque during a civic group meeting on Monday. “This is a security issue.”

New York Daily News, 8 January 2010

Via Loon Watch

Via ENGAGE

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mohammed PatelMuslim and Sikh groups are challenging a ruling which bans amateur boxers from the ring if they have a beard.

The Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) recently ruled that all fighters had to be clean shaven to allow cuts to the face to be seen. It came after Mohammed Patel, a 25-year-old bearded Muslim boxer from Bolton, was stopped from competing last January. At the time, ABAE rules stated only Sikh fighters were exempt, so the Bolton Council of Mosques challenged the ABAE on Mr Patel’s behalf.

But the ABAE then ruled all competitors had to be clean shaven, a decision both Muslim and Sikh groups want reversed, particularly as professional fighters have been allowed facial hair for more than 20 years.

BBC News, 13 January 2010

CCTV cameras and security lights installed to beat racist grave yobs

Posted on by Bob Pitt

GraveCCTV cameras and security lights have been installed at a cemetery in a bid to stop attacks on Muslim graves.

The move comes after racists were blamed for vandalising headstones four times over the spaces of three months. The camera and light have now been installed on a pole overlooking the Muslim section of Southern Cemetery on Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton.

The move was welcomed by relatives of those whose graves were damaged. “I’m delighted – this is the best new year’s present I could have hoped for,” said Habib Dar. His father Abdul Rehman Dar’s grave was toppled in one of the attacks. “Hopefully this will stop any more vandalism. I would like to thank the police for this because now something is being done about the vandalism which has taken place.”

Mark Krantz, a campaigner for Chorlton Unite Against Fascism, who have organised peace vigils at the cemetery, said: “It’s a sad indication that we have to have CCTV cameras to protect our graves, but after four attacks it’s probably necessary. If it does help deter people from more vandalism that’s a good thing. Sadly what CCTV can’t do is address a wider climate of hatred against Muslims by a small minority in our community.”

South Manchester Reporter, 7 January 2010

Evening Standard says don’t give publicity to Choudary

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anjem Choudary 2“The decision by the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, to ban the group Islam4UK will achieve little.

“As with some previous bans on extremist organisations, the group will simply reorganise under a new name, as it already has on at least one occasion. Worse, though, the Home Secretary appears to have fallen into the trap set him by the group’s notorious but media-savvy leader, Anjem Choudary.

“Mr Choudary has proven himself adept at grabbing publicity for what is apparently an almost entirely paper organisation. His announcement earlier this month that it planned to hold a protest march in Wootton Basset against the war in Afghanistan appears to have had no basis in fact: no application to hold a demonstration was ever made. This did not prevent much of the media from covering it at length, however; now the Home Secretary has simply given Choudary new victim status.

“There are real terrorist organisations that deserve to be banned. But Mr Choudary is telling the truth when he denies that his is a terrorist group: rather, it is a benefit claimants’ exercise in macho fantasy and a prop for his own ego. Most people find Choudary’s views repellent but he should be allowed to express them, if only to remind us just how silly and narcissistic is this armchair warrior from Welling. He will be delighted that Mr Johnson has instead taken the bait as intended.”

Evening Standard, 12 January 2010

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‘Jew-hating, Islamophobia incomparable’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Germany’s largest Jewish community has sharply criticized the parallel drawn between anti-Semitism and Islamophobia by historian Wolfgang Benz. Maya Zehden, a spokeswoman for the 12,000-member Berlin Jewish community, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that “Benz’s position has not changed. It is not beneficial when one compares anti-Semitism with Islamophobia.”

Benz, the first non-Jewish head of the Berlin Center for Anti-Semitism Research, has been embroiled in an international controversy since he introduced his thesis that “the fury of the new enemies of Islam parallels the older rage of anti-Semites against the Jews.” In last Monday’s edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which reaches more than 1.1 million readers each day, Benz wrote an article equating anti-Semitism with hatred of Islam.

Jerusalem Post, 10 January 2010

Surprise, surprise – Choudary cancels Wootton Bassett demonstration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anjem Choudary (1)A radical Islamic group has cancelled plans to hold an anti-war march through a town famous for honouring the UK’s servicemen and women killed abroad.

Members of Islam4UK had planned to march through Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, to honour Muslims killed in the Afghanistan conflict. On Sunday, a statement from Islam4UK’s leader, Anjem Choudary, said it had “successfully highlighted the plight of Muslims in Afghanistan”.

“We at Islam4UK have decided, after consultation with others including our Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, that no more could be achieved even if a procession were to take place in Wootton Bassett,” he said.

BBC News, 10 January 2010

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