‘Target Harry – British fanatics threaten him’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Inayat_Bunglawala“Sneering Muslim fanatics labelled Prince Harry a target for assassins last night after his heroics against the Taliban.

“Harry’s perilous Army mission in Afghanistan was dismissed by British extremists as a mere publicity stunt. But they also claimed that by participating in an ‘illegal war’, the brave young Prince had made himself fair game for a terrorist attack.

“Tory MPs last night condemned the outpourings by three influential Islamic radicals as ‘highly irresponsible’. Andrew Rosindell, who represents Romford in Essex, said: ‘This is an appalling thing for them to say’.”

Daily Express, 1 March 2008

Who are these three “sneering Muslim fanatics”, I hear you ask. They’re Anjem Choudary, Omar Bakri … and Inayat Bunglawala! Along with a statement by Choudary, it’s a truncated quote from Inayat – “I am sure many Afghans opposed to the British presence will see him as a high-value target” – that provides the basis for the scaremongering headline.

The actual quotation, as reported in the Daily Telegraph, reads: “If he is still there I am sure many Afghans opposed to the British presence in Afghanistan will see him as a high-value target. We wish both him and his colleagues in the Army are brought back from Afghanistan out of harm’s way. The presence of foreign troops appears to be counter-productive, galvanising opposition.”

If I were Inayat, I’d sue.

It’s no slur to be called a Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ObamaTurbanNaomi Klein on Barack Obama’s response to the “Muslim smear” campaign:

“What is disturbing about the campaign’s response is that it leaves unchallenged the disgraceful and racist premise behind the entire ‘Muslim smear’: that being Muslim is de facto a source of shame. Obama’s supporters often say they are being ‘Swift-boated’ (a pejorative term derived from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against the 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry), casually accepting the idea that being accused of Muslimhood is tantamount to being accused of treason.

“Substitute another faith or ethnicity, and you’d expect a very different response. Consider a report from the archives of the Nation. Thirteen years ago Daniel Singer, the magazine’s late Europe correspondent, went to Poland to cover a presidential election. He reported that the race had descended into an ugly debate over whether one of the candidates, Aleksander Kwasniewski, was a closet Jew. The press claimed his mother was buried in a Jewish cemetery (she was still alive), and a popular TV show aired a skit featuring the Christian candidate dressed as a Hassidic Jew. ‘What perturbed me,’ Singer said, ‘was that Kwasniewski’s lawyers threatened to sue for slander rather than press for an indictment under the law condemning racist propaganda’.

“We should expect no less of the Obama campaign. When asked during the Ohio debate about Louis Farrakhan’s support for his candidacy, Obama did not hesitate to call Farrakhan’s antisemitic comments ‘unacceptable and reprehensible’. When the turban photo flap came up in the same debate, he used the occasion to say nothing at all.”

Guardian, 1 March 2008

Muslim ejected from Louisiana mall over hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on local, state and national law enforcement authorities to investigate a recent incident in which a Muslim woman was allegedly ejected from a Louisiana shopping mall for refusing a security guard’s demand to remove her religiously-mandated headscarf, or hijab.

CAIR said the 54-year-old woman and her daughter-in-law were leaving the food court of the Oakwood Mall in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna, La., on February 22 when a security guard approached them and allegedly told the older woman that she had two options: remove her headscarf or leave the mall. (The woman’s daughter-in-law was not wearing a headscarf.) The guard did not offer an explanation for his demand.

During the long walk out of the mall, the guard reportedly followed the women and even called for back-up. The daughter-in-law told CAIR that the two women felt “humiliated” by the stares of other shoppers as the guard followed them out of the mall. When two more guards came to the scene, they did not offer assistance to the women, but they did confirm the reason for the first guard’s ejection order. The family, all of whom are American citizens of Palestinian heritage, has retained an attorney and is exploring their legal options.

“It is unbelievable that an American of any faith would be denied access to a public area merely because she wished to carry out the requirements of her faith,” said CAIR National Legal Counsel Nadhira Al-Khalili. “We call on local law enforcement authorities and the FBI to determine whether any civil rights or criminal laws were violated during this disturbing incident.”

CAIR press release, 29 February 2008

Islamophobia, Obamaphobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Barack Obama“Some of the dirtiest attacks against Barack Obama are being carried out by Jewish bigots in the US and Israel, and if Obama is the Democrats’ candidate for president, which looks very likely, these smears are going to get a lot worse.

“It’s not a whispering campaign, it’s not anonymous; Marc Zell, co-chairman of Republicans Abroad in Israel, put his name to an article in The Jerusalem Post’s Web edition last week that brands Obama as a Muslim anti-Semite. ‘Obama and the Jews‘ begins: ‘Less than two weeks before the critical primary elections in Ohio and Texas, Democratic voters have made it very clear: Barack Hussein Obama is for real.’

“Why would a Republican activist mention Obama’s middle name, especially in the first sentence, especially to readers of The Jerusalem Post? Everyone knows the reason, but I’ll spell it out anyway: To reinforce the false impression that Obama is a Muslim, knowing that many readers, Jewish and Christian, will hate and fear him for that reason alone….

“The record on Obama as an anti-Semite or enemy of Israel is utterly blank. He’s not a Muslim, either. (Although it doesn’t speak well for America that he can’t publicly say, ‘And what if I was?’ without killing his chances for election.) But it doesn’t matter – he’s caused legions of Jewish crazies to come crawling out of the woodwork….

“Yes, there is a problem of black anti-Semitism in America, but Obama isn’t part of it. There’s a problem of bigotry among American Jews, but Joseph Lieberman isn’t part of that. If American blacks or Muslims were running an ethnic/religious smear campaign against Lieberman like Jewish extremists are running against Obama, what would Jews call it? We’d call it anti-Semitic. The one against Obama is Islamophobic, with an undercurrent of white racism. It’s the exact same sort of bigotry.”

Larry Derfner in the Jerusalem Post, 27 February 2008

Men admit to varied roles in mosque fire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic Center of ColumbiaIt’s too early to tell if the case of three men charged with setting a Columbia mosque on fire will be tried solely in federal court, said Mike Bottoms, Maury County district attorney.

Michael Golden, 23, Eric Baker, 32, and Jonathan Stone, 19, are accused of spray painting swastikas and throwing Molotov cocktails at the Islamic Center of Columbia, 1317 South Main St., on Feb. 9. The men are being held on $250,000 bond in Nashville, Bottoms said.

In a preliminary hearing on Monday, agents testified that the men incriminated themselves by admitting to various levels of participation in the crime, Bottoms said. Two of the three men facing federal charges in connection with the mosque firebombing told federal authorities that they are members of the Christian Identity movement, widely considered a white separatist movement.

The men had planned in early February to “burn” the Islamic Center, according to a federal affidavit. The men purchased black spray paint and gasoline, the affidavit alleges. The Islamic Center was set on fire shortly before 5:20 a.m. on Feb. 9.

Stone told special agents that brick was used to break the window of the door and that they threw two Molotov cocktails on the floor. Stone nearly set himself on fire, according to the affidavit. Baker told agents he was the driver, according to the court document. Baker admitted to spray-painting swastikas and white pride slogans on the building, the document states. Baker added, “what goes on in that building is illegal according to the Bible,” the affidavit states.

The case will go to a Maury County grand jury within 30 days, Bottoms said.

The state has charged the men with arson of a religious building, and the judge refused to reduce the charge to arson. At Monday’s hearing, the president of the Islamic Center testified that the building is used entirely for church and prayer services, Bottoms said.

The Tenesseean, 28 February 2008

Police to implement sharia law, claims Tory MP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

PhilipDaviesPolice will be trained on the importance of Sharia law and the Koran to Muslim communities, under new plans to fight extremism.

The lessons in Islamic faith and culture will become part of the formal training of constables working in towns and cities across the country. Chief constables say that – by understanding the community they are policing – officers will build better relationships.

These could prove crucial in rooting out extremism and preventing a terrorist attack, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers.

But critics have described the plan as “politically correct thinking”. Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley, said: “Police officers are not there to implement Sharia law. They are there to implement British law. This idea is misguided. We will only get community cohesion when everybody signs up to being British and following British law.”

Daily Mail, 28 February 2008

‘Respect brings people together’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim leader has opposed comments by Tory leader David Cameron in a speech in which he said the introduction of Sharia law would undermine British society. Speaking on the issue for the first time since the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, made his controversial comments, Mr Cameron said adopting elements of Sharia law would lead to a “legal apartheid” and “state multiculturalism”. Ishtiaq Ahmed also criticised Mr Cameron’s understanding of multiculturalism.

Mr Ahmed, of the Bradford Council of Mosques, said: “In a country where people feel free to be able to live according to their ways of life while sharing certain basic values, then I think that enables people to contribute to – and take ownership of – their community. If society respects people’s cultural identities, values and heritage, it brings people together and creates an atmosphere of co-operation and support.”

Councillor Martin Smith, Bradford Council’s executive member for community safety, said: “Mr Cameron may feel like that if he is not in day-to-day contact with the situation, but those of us in Bradford who are in day-to-day contact with the Asian community feel there is a great understanding of where the situation needs to go. It’s not possible to say multiculturalism is not working in Bradford.”

Bradford Telegraph & Argus, 27 February 2008