Islamophobia Watch

The Lesbian and Gay Coalition Against Racism has rejected Outrage's claim that Sir Iqbal Sacranie of the Muslim Council of Britain was dropped from the Unite Against Fascism conference on 18 February.

Pink News, 28 February 2006

"Make no mistake. Jyllands-Posten is not in the business of promoting the freedom of speech. Nor are the European governments that rallied to its defense. What they claim is the license to injure the oppressed and marginalized."

Lila Rajiva in MRZine, 28 February 2006

Under the heading "Militants invited to Commons by Short", the Daily Mail (1 March) condemns the former minister's decision to host a meeting with Hizb ut-Tahrir. Predictably, the campaign in the right-wing press is aided and abetted by Peter Tatchell.

Click to read more ...

Yes, another attempt by the Middle East Media Research Institute to stitch up Yusuf al-Qaradawi as an anti-semite. It's the usual cut and paste job, with paragraphs and even individual sentences taken out of a much longer speech and amalgamated. At least in this case MEMRI has actually provided ellipses which allow the reader to see how the thing has been chopped up and put back together, which is more than they did on a previous occasion. Even from MEMRI's butchered version of Qaradawi's speech it's quite clear that his remarks – "Our war with the Jews is over land, brothers. We must understand this. If they had not plundered our land, there wouldn't be a war between us" – are directed against Israelis, not against the world Jewish community. Just over a year ago, at a time when it was under pressure over its misrepresentation of Qaradawi, MEMRI published a much longer transcript of an interview in which he outlined his real views on Jews and Judaism.

Of course, this hasn't prevented the warmongers at Harry's Place from uncritically endorsing MEMRI's latest stitch-up of Dr Q. Yet, only a few weeks ago, when MEMRI published an equally dishonest hatchet job on Tariq Ramadan, David T and his friends ignored this. The reason is rather obvious. Even Harry's Place readers have posted favourable comments on Professor Ramadan during the Danish cartoons controversy, and a discussion of MEMRI's distortion of his role would have exposed that organisation as the bunch of lying propagandists that they are, thus making it a bit difficult to present MEMRI as a reliable source of information on Qaradawi's views.

But what can you expect from Harry's Place? David T recently launched a witch-hunt against Christian CND treasurer Neil Berry, whom he falsely accused of writing anti-semitic articles. They were in fact written by an entirely different Neil Berry. But, what the heck, it was the same name, and that was good enough for David T. And this from a blog that claims to uphold Enlightenment values. You know, respecting scientific evidence rather than relying on irrational prejudice, that sort of thing.

I note that David Aaronovitch, who repeated David T's slurs on Neil Berry in an article in the Jewish Chronicle, has also retracted and apologised.

Robert Spencer gives his seal of approval to CRE chair Trevor Phillips' suggestion, following that of Australian deputy PM Peter Costello, to the effect that Muslims who want sharia law should go back where they came from. Under the heading "Anti-dhimmitude in the UK: Muslims who want sharia law 'should leave'", Spencer applauds "A welcome statement in the UK, echoing one that has already been made in Australia. Other non-Muslim states should follow suit."

Dhimmi Watch, 27 February 2006

"British Muslim leaders from all sections of the community across Britain led a march on 25th Feb in London. Speakers at Trafalgar Square included Sayyid Musawi (AhlulBayt Islamic Mission), a representative of the office of Ayatullah Sistani, Shaykh Abdul Qayyum, Imam of East London Mosque and the MCB Secretary General Iqbal Sacranie. The senseless bombing of one of the holiest Muslim shrines, the Mosque of Imam Ali al Hadi in Samarra was condemned and unity was urged in the face of provocations: 'What hurts Iraq and Iraqi people hurts the entire Ummah'."

MCB news report, 27 February 2006

This hasn't prevented Sunny over at Pickled Politics from using the demonstration to have a go at the MCB.

Most Australians found the full traditional garb of Muslim women confronting, Australian prime minister John Howard said today. "I don't mind the headscarf but it's really the whole outfit, I think most Australians would find it confronting. I don't believe that you should ban wearing headscarfs but I do think the full garb is confronting and that is how most people feel. Now, that is not meant disrespectfully to Muslims because most Muslim women, a great majority of them in Australia, don't even wear headscarfs and very few of them wear the full garb."

News.com, 27 February 2006

Note that while Howard is reported as ruling out a change in the law regarding any form of Islamic dress, in the actual quotes he only rules out a ban on the headscarf.

Haroon Siddiqui on the violence provoked by the Danish cartoons crisis: "As tragic as all this is, it pales in comparison to the million innocent Muslims killed, and millions more maimed, in the name of fighting terrorism or finding non-existent weapons of mass destruction or other excuses. Those who in recent days have been lecturing Muslims about violence seem strangely out of touch with reality, or to be riding the high horse of hypocrisy. They would have had greater credibility had they not been the cheerleaders of, or silent partners in, the creation of the killing fields whose dust now drifts our way every once in a while."

Toronto Star, 26 February 2006

The Danish publisher Bookwright has circulated an appeal in response to Patrick Sookhdeo's interview in last week's Sunday Telegraph.

Click to read more ...

Ha'aretz reports that the family of French murder victim, Ilan Halimi, are refusing to attend a demonstration against the murder because of the participation of the racist right. According to Ha'aretz:

"The rally – which is due to be attended by over 100,000 people and numerous public figures, including government ministers – has become controversial due to the planned participation of representatives of two right-wing political movements, the National Front and the Movement for France (known by its French initials MPF).

"On Friday, the anti-racism organization MARP announced that it would refuse to attend the rally for this reason, charging that both movements were using Halimi's murder to whip up anti-Muslim sentiment and thereby encouraging racism. The National Front, for instance, described the murder as 'the result of 40 years of uncontrolled immigration', while the MPF denounced 'the Islamization of France'."

Jews sans frontieres, 26 February 2006