Man who firebombed community centre escapes jail

A man who admitted firebombing a former Methodist chapel as it was undergoing conversion to an Asian community centre walked free from court yesterday.

Anthony Foster, 38, from Falmouth, and another unknown man threw bottles filled with flammable liquid through a window at the building at Quenchwell, Carnon Downs, near Truro. Magistrates in Truro yesterday gave Foster an eight-week suspended sentence for arson, which met with “disappointment” from the police officer in charge of the case who said he believed the incidents were racially motivated.

Speaking after the hearing, Insp Mark Richards from Truro police said he did not think the Asian community would be reassured by the magistrates’ actions. He added: “I’m disappointed with an eight-week suspended sentence. We were treating this series of offences as religiously or racially motivated. Foster has made limited admissions to the court. I don’t think the community are under any misapprehensions about the motivation for some of the attacks that have taken place at Quenchwell.”

The targeted building was being renovated and Foster was caught on CCTV set up by police after the site was previously attacked and racist graffiti painted on the walls. At a previous hearing, Foster’s defence barrister Michael Gregson said Foster was helping a friend who said he had a grievance with a builder working on the site. Foster was unaware of the building’s former status as a chapel or of its conversion to an Asian community centre.

The court was told the site was subjected to a number of vandalism attacks in June and July of this year. [See here, here and here.]

Insp Richards said he did not think the Asian community would be reassured: “At the end of the day, we are talking about someone who has thrown two petrol bombs into a premises without checking who or what is in there.” The inspector sought to reassure people in the Asian community that the police were continuing to do everything they could to investigate and prevent other offences.

Western Morning News, 12 November 2008

Anti-Semitism is ’embedded in many of the political manifestations of Islam’

Alasdair Palmer reviews Denis MacShane’s new book Globalising Hatred: The New Antisemitism:

“Anti-Semitism – virulent, violent anti-Semitism – is flourishing, principally because it is embedded in many of the political manifestations of Islam….

“If we are going to defend liberal values in Britain – if we are not to allow the ‘Endarkenment’, as MacShane calls the encroachment of fundamentalism – to erode the existence of a tolerant, secular society, then we have to fight bigotry, dogma and lies wherever they manifest themselves.

“Bigotry, dogma and lies are three of the essential planks of anti-Semitism in all its forms, and so long as radical Islam has anti-Semitism at its heart, it will be incompatible with any decent social order. That’s the message of MacShane’s book. I hope it is one that we all take to heart.”

Daily Telegraph, 13 November 2008

Plans for small Islamic centre threaten ‘traffic chaos’

Plans for an Islamic educational centre near Ardenham Street in Aylesbury have been welcomed by a district councillor despite fears the scheme will lead to traffic chaos.

Under the proposals, the currently disused industrial building at Friarage Works in Middle Lane would be turned into a religious centre which will teach up to 20 children in Islamic Studies, as well as help them with their English and maths skills.

Objections to the scheme focus on fears over increased traffic and parking problems in the area. Aylesbury Town Council’s planning committee said it felt the scheme would necessitate a residents’ parking scheme, and that during the winter months, parents dropping their children off at the centre would coincide with people coming home from work.

The Aylesbury Society also calls for the proposals to be rejected, claiming it would intrude on the amenity of residents living in homes backing onto the lane and causing access problems for emergency vehicles.

But Cllr Kevin Peters, district councillor for the Gatehouse ward, believes the scheme should be approved.

Bucks Herald, 13 November 2008

Posted in UK

Anti-Muslim bigot opposes … anti-Muslim bigotry

No doubt the Muslim community can scarcely believe their good luck. Hard on the heels of Douglas Murray rallying to the defence of European Muslims, we now have David Toube (“liar, racist, buffoon” – Jews Sans Frontieres) taking a stand against “anti-Muslim bigotry”!

As we observed some time ago: “Anyone who reads his posts at Harry’s Place will know that David T has two faces. He tries to maintain the appearance of being a sensible, rational and liberal sort of chap (after all, the bloggers at Harry’s Place are the self-proclaimed defenders of Enlightenment values) but sometimes he seems to lose control, and this frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Muslim bigot bursts out – a sort of Islamophobic version of the Incredible Hulk.”

In the three years since then, the frothing-at-the-mouth side of Toube’s character has come to dominate his posts at Harry’s Place – to the point where you feel it’s almost redundant to attack him, as he does such an effective a job of discrediting his views himself. So it’s a bit of a surprise to see him resurrect his Mr Reasonable persona. Trust us, it won’t last.

Update:  How right we were. See Toube’s characteristically stupid rant against this perfectly reasonable piece by Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, whom Toube denounces as “utter scum” – a term that could far more appropriately be applied to Toube himself.

Journalists speak out against Islamophobia

Peter Oborne of the Daily Mail is on Saturday (November 15th) joining a platform of journalists and Muslim leaders in London to discuss media coverage of Islam in the context of the “war on terror”.

Investigative reporter Nick Davies of The Guardian has also been added to the bill and will speak alongside the campaigning Irish journalist Eamonn McCann.

Entitled “Under Siege: Islam, War and the Media“, the conference will bring together practising journalists from print and broadcast media to address concerns over standards of coverage.

David Crouch, chair of conference hosts Media Workers Against the War, said: “We’re delighted Peter Oborne and Nick Davies have agreed to join us on Saturday – it shows just how important the event is viewed in journalistic circles.

“A proper debate about reporting Islam is long overdue. Many leading journalists now acknowledge that too often our industry has resorted to crude stereotypes of Muslims that fuel racism and extremism.

“The election of Barack Obama as US president is a result of the rejection of war and racism on the part of millions of Americans. We need a full debate in Britain about how the “war on terror” has fuelled racism against Muslims.

“Amid all the current agonising about the BBC insulting individuals and sections of its audience, can there be any area more worthy of scrutiny than reporting Islam?

“This conference will set out the issues and debate how best to campaign to improve standards. It will seek to identify the main sources of Islamophobic bias as a first step to providing media workers with tools and resources for combating it.”

Writing recently, Peter Oborne said: “We think we should all feel a little bit ashamed about the way we treat Muslims in the media, in our politics, and on our streets. They are our fellow citizens, yet often we barely acknowledge them. We misrepresent them and in certain cases we persecute them. We do not treat Muslims with the tolerance, decency and fairness that we so often like to boast is the British way.”

MWAW press release, 12 November 2008

Engage writes to the Press Complaints Commission

Poppies bannedENGAGE has sent a letter to the Press Complaints Commission concerning the headline in the Daily Star on 6 November, Poppies banned in terror hotspots. The letter states:

“The use of the term ‘banned’ in the headline is clearly inaccurate and misleading given that there is clearly no ban in operation at all. The headline obviously contravenes Clause 1 of the PCC’s Code of Practice.

“In addition, we would argue that the headline was designed deliberately to incite anti-Muslim prejudice – a practice that Richard Desmond’s papers seem to indulge in day in and day out, sadly without any censure from the Press Complaints Commission.”

The full letter can be read here.

ENGAGE, 12 November 2008

Muslim twins win discrimination claim against City bosses

Fariad sistersMuslim twin sisters have won a record multi-million pound payout on the eve of a sensational tribunal involving claims of racism and drug abuse in the City.

Moroccan-born Samira and Hanan Fariad, 31, made more than 200 allegations against brokers Tradition Securities and Futures in a 150-page dossier due to be unveiled out at the Central London Employment Tribunal this week.

They included claims the French company stood by as top brokers used cocaine and subjected them to race and religious discrimination. In one case, the firm allegedly transferred the sisters’ Jewish clients to non-Muslim colleagues.

The pair – who were on six-figure salaries – worked as brokers in the company’s London office for two years until they resigned in 2006. They were due to begin giving evidence this week. But last night the case was halted when the twins agreed to accept an out-of-court settlement believed to total £10m. A spokesman for the sisters said: “The parties are pleased to confirm that the matter has now been settled on confidential terms.”

The London Paper, 12 November 2008

Muslim Fifth Column seeks to ‘advance the seditious program they call Sharia’

Stealth Jihad“In Stealth Jihad, Robert Spencer has performed an invaluable public service. He has ‘connected the dots’ on the enemy within, the Fifth Column that the Muslim Brotherhood and its foreign enablers have established in America – and other nations of the West – to advance the seditious program they call Sharia. This book should be required reading for every government official – and everyone else committed to the survival of our country in the face of this ominous threat.”

Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, gives his enthusiastic approval to the latest exercise in Islamophobic paranoia from Robert Spencer.

Jihad Watch, 10 November 2008

Protests against mosque in Great Barr

Scores of protesters gathered to object to suggestions that part of an historic West Midlands house could be used as a mosque. It was standing-room only during a meeting.

Over 60 people squeezed into the Horticultural Training Centre off Hill Lane in Great Barr last night to have their say about the future of Red House, based in Red House Park.

Residents revealed hundreds of people had signed petitions against any future plans to use the Grade II listed 19th century house for religious purposes.

Express & Star, 11 November 2008

Posted in UK

Mad Mel on the Islamisation of Manchester City Football Club

“A week ago Gordon Brown, accompanied by his new best friend the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, went cap in hand to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to ask them to help bail out the stricken economies of the West by pumping billions into the International Monetary Fund.

“It is more than a little strange that the British Prime Minister should have apparently taken it upon himself to speak on behalf of the IMF. But the real concern is that asking for help from Saudi Arabia is not like tapping your friendly neighbourhood bank manager for a bigger overdraft. No, this loan comes with a devastating IOU – nothing less than a big slice of control over Britain and the West by a regime at the heart of the attempt to bring about the Islamisation of the free world….

“Lord Mandelson blurted out the truth when he acknowledged that the Saudis and other Gulf states would expect a bigger role in global institutions in return. This should be enough to chill the British marrow. Islamic influence is already spreading in Britain and the West, way beyond Muslim communities themselves. The Islamic world is buying a financial stake in increasing numbers of Western institutions. Among its latest acquisitions are Manchester City Football Club….”

Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail, 10 November 2008

We can only give thanks that Manchester United still remains free from the clutches of the stealth jihadists.