On terrorism, Blair joins Bush fantasyland

"One can't think of a worst way to find Muslim terrorists than to demonize all Muslims, especially those in Europe, already alienated because of flagrant discrimination. Criminalizing an entire community is what was done in America, post-9/11. The same is being done in Britain, post-7/7."

Haroon Siddiqui in the Toronto Star, 18 August 2005

Iqbal Sacranie and Inayat Bunglawala, 'Jew-haters' – Rod Liddle

"Sometimes things are altogether more simple than we wish them to be. Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the eminent chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain, recently refused to attend the Holocaust memorial day. When asked why this was so, he muttered something about how lots of people had been killed all over the place, not least the poor Palestinians and why shouldn't we remember them, etc., etc. In the liberal press, extravagant excuses were made for Sacranie and his ludicrous chef de cabinet, Inayat Bunglawala. But I suspect that the simple answer, the one we didn't want to hear, is the most accurate: Sacranie and Mr Bunglawala don't like Jews. They are both unequivocal anti-Semites."

Rod Liddle in the Spectator, 20 August 2005

So who wrote the following, then?

"The Nazi Holocaust was a truly evil and abhorrent crime and we stand together with our fellow British Jews in their sense of pain and anguish. None of us must ever forget how the Holocaust began. We must remember it began with a hatred that dehumanised an entire people, that fostered state brutality, made second class citizens of honest, innocent people because of their religion and ethnic identity. Those who were vilified and seen as a threat could be subjected to group punishment, dispossession and impoverishment while the rest of the world stood idly by, washing its hands of despair and suffering that kept getting worse."

Yup, it was the "Jew-hating" MCB. See the MCB's statement on this year's Holocaust Memorial Day, 24 January 2005.

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All religious texts face both ways

"The bombings (or attempts) of 7 and 21 July seem to have thrown commentators and politicians back yet again to endless ponderings on what it means to be British. Into this steaming pot are thrown various statements about religion, culture, nationhood and patriotism. And since these particular terrorists happen to be Muslims, at first glance it would seem completely appropriate to examine the Koran for any possible link to what happened.

"But there are problems with this. We can quite reasonably ask the question of why Islam should be probed for its links to terrorism, when Christianity isn't probed for its links to IRA bombings and Judaism isn't probed for its links to the Zionist terror of 1946-48 in Palestine? It rather looks as if something selective is going on here."

Michael Rosen in Socialist Worker, 20 August 2005

Islamists = Nazis

In the latest issue of Searchlight, Nick Lowles and Steve Silver offer us another example of the increasingly prevalent Islamism = fascism line.

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Mawdudi: 'the man behind the bombings'

"His followers were exhorted to extreme behaviour. 'Your puritanic behaviour should become repugnant to your wives. You should become a stranger in your own country.' Maududi is indeed winning his ideological war when Londoners read in their Evening Standard that it was the very families of the bombers who rang the bomb helpline to find out where their own sons were. Maududi's thinking lives on in Britain in the minds of the young, through small study groups up and down the country. The Islamic Foundation was led, after its founding, by a man who had been the Vice President of the organization Maududi founded in Pakistan."

Jenny Taylor in the Church of England Newspaper, 19 August 2005

Another attempt to implicate Britain's mainstream Muslim organisations in the London bombings, on the basis of a supposed link through the ideas of Mawlana Mawdudi.

Media targets the Muslim mainstream

"The government and liberal media insist they have no problem with 'moderate' Muslims and that they are only targeting 'extremists'. The Observer's attack on the MCB demonstrates what a sham this position is."

Anindya Bhattacharyya in Socialist Worker, 20 August 2005

Newcomers must adopt the British way of life – Daily Express

"Michael Howard is absolutely right to call upon immigrants to adopt the British way of life and spend less time clinging to the culture they once had", the Daily Express insists. After all, "Britain has a far superior culture than [sic] those very many immigrants leave behind".

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Cultures aren't equal

"Anyone who has been keeping up with British opinion since the July 7 bombings will have noticed that 'multiculturalism' is under sharp attack. Multiculturalism preaches that we should allow and encourage immigrants and their children to maintain and celebrate their own culture apart from the national culture. Society should be not a melting pot but, in the phrase of former New York Mayor David Dinkins, 'a gorgeous mosaic'. That mosaic, of course, looked less gorgeous as people surveyed the work of the British-born-and-raised bombers."

Michael Barone at USNews.com, 15 August 2005

Stone the gays, says Ken's friend

The Alliance for Workers' Liberty takes up the now entirely discredited story (originating at Harry's Place, and then publicised by GALHA and Outrage!) about Yusuf al-Qaradawi calling for the Crown Prince of Qatar to be stoned to death.

AWL website, 16 August 2005

For the background to this slander, see here here and here

Plus the AWL informs us that Dr al-Qaradawi is "even worse" than Ariel Sharon! See here

Mayor is 'lackey of the Muslims'

The Zionist lobby in Britain Tuesday renewed its campaign of vilification against London Mayor Ken Livingstone Tuesday after he defended the plight of the Palestinians resorting to suicide bombings. "He is a lackey of the Muslim agenda in this country," Jon Benjamin, director general of the British Board of Jewish Deputies, said.

IRNA news report, 16 August 2005