Category Archives: Right wing

James Foley photo removed from anti-Islamic bus ads in New York

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A photo of American journalist James Foley shortly before his beheading by the Islamic state militant group is being removed from anti-Islam advertisements appearing on Monday on 100 New York City buses and two subway stations.

In response to a complaint from the Foley family, the advertisement is being altered to include an unidentifiable severed head held by the masked militant seen wielding a knife in the video of Foley’s beheading, said David Yerushalmi, lawyer for Pamela Geller, whose group is sponsoring the ads.

“The use of Mr. Foley’s photo in your advertisement will cause profound distress to the Foley family,” family lawyer J. Patrick Rowan said in a letter to Geller.

Geller writes a blog criticizing Islam. Her group, American Freedom Defense Initiative, paid for a six-ad series scheduled to run for a month on the city’s mass transit system.

The ads, including one showing Foley in the video of his beheading released in August, suggest that Islam is inherently violent and extremist, and call for the end of American aid to Islamic countries.

“Having lived in and reported from communities in which nearly everyone was of Muslim faith, he had great respect for the religion and those who practiced it,” the Foley family lawyer wrote, referring to the journalist.

“The advertisement you are preparing to run seems to convey the message that ordinary practitioners of Islam are a dangerous threat. This message is entirely inconsistent with Mr. Foley’s reporting and his beliefs.”

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Sunday Times discovers ‘Trojan Horse 2’ in Tower Hamlets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Today’s Sunday Times features an article entitled “‘Trojan Horse 2’ in London” which attempts to extend the Birmingham “Trojan Horse” witch-hunt to Tower Hamlets, where “Islamic fundamentalists” are supposedly engaged in a takeover of the borough’s schools. No actual evidence is offered to justify this claim – just unsubstantiated assertions by a single anonymous “Whitehall source”.

The authors of the article, Sian Griffiths and Richard Kerbaj, have the nerve refer to “the original plot, first revealed by The Sunday Times”. It was Griffiths and Kerbaj themselves who were responsible for that initial report, published under the shock-horror headline “Islamist plot to take over schools”. Their article was based on a transparently fraudulent document, the so-called “Trojan Horse” letter, which Griffiths and Kerbaj reported as if it was a genuine outline of a plot to seize control of Birmingham schools. The Times, whose reporters – unlike Griffiths and Kerbaj – made some effort to check the authenticity of the letter, quickly concluded that it was crude forgery.

You’d have thought Griffiths and Kerbaj would be embarrassed by their earlier exhibition of journalistic incompetence. But no, they’re evidently proud of their work.

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Anti-Islam hate mail pamphlets fire up Sunshine Coast community

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Maroochydore anti-mosque protest (2)Anti-Islam campaigners have begun a hate mail offensive targeting Maroochydore residents.

An eight-page booklet detailing “the unpalatable truth” about Islam and Muslims has been left in letterboxes in an apparent bid to spread fear among residents.

Jacquie Dubois-Stanton, of Maroochydore, was left “shaking” and “disgusted” by the contents of the pamphlet, which includes claims that Muslims will “capture the Western world” in the next 50 years.

The letterbox drop follows a protest on Saturday by anti-mosque protesters [pictured]. Tempers flared as about 500 people, most of them opposed to mosque plans, faced off outside the proposed site on Church St, Maroochydore.

Mrs Dubois-Stanton said she had no doubts the booklet was not about informing the community, but encouraging people to revolt and become violent.

“I thought I was going to learn something about Islam when I saw it,” the 80-year-old said. “But instead it turned out to be hate mail. This is trying to make people do something bad. They are trying to scare people. I felt like burning it when I saw it – but I decided I should stick my neck out and fight for what I believe in.”

Ms Dubois-Stanton said she had seen a lot in her lifetime but opposition to the proposed mosque was one of the worst.

“I believe people need to be more tolerant and open-minded,” she said. “People need to understand it’s okay for people to believe different things. There are already two churches on Church St. What harm will it (the mosque) do?”

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Latest anti-Muslim article from the Mail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daily Mail British man tortured by Muslim gang

This is the Daily Mail‘s latest attempt to fraudulently introduce a “Muslim” angle into a story.

We are told that the criminal gang who recently kidnapped a British citizen and held him to ransom are “believed to be Muslim”. This belief appears to be based exclusively on the reported countries of origin of some of the kidnappers (and ignores the fact that one of them is described as Ukrainian).

Needless to say, no evidence is offered to substantiate the claim that the presumed religious affiliation of these individuals had anything to do with the crime.

Quite the contrary, in fact. Right at the end of the article a Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesman is quoted as saying: “We do not think there was any Islamic or political motive here. They were just criminals who wanted money.”

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Australia: Liberal MP backs call for ban on veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

George Christensen and tweet

The federal MP for the Queensland seat of Dawson, George Christensen, echoed contentious statements by Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie. “We shouldn’t tolerate sharia law in Aust and the burqa/niqab shouldn’t be worn in public,” Mr Christensen posted on Twitter this afternoon.

In an interview with ABC Online, Mr Christensen said people had a “right to be safe”.

“People get worried when someone walks in and they can’t see exactly who it is,” he said. “And just like you can’t wear a helmet into a bank or a post office and other public places well you shouldn’t be able to wear this thing that covers your face under the guise that it’s some requirement of your religion. Because quite clearly it’s not – there are many Muslim scholars and many Muslims in predominantly Muslim countries that do not wear this.”

He said his concerns were shared “across the nation”.

“Many people hold this view, not just me, my constituents regularly raise the issue with me and it’s a legitimate concern,” he said. “It’s not something that’s just to be sneered at as something that’s not politically correct and we shouldn’t be talking about it. The entire nation of France has a ban on the burka – I mean, is the entire nation of France a nation of racists?”

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New York: Coalition denounces Geller ads as Islamophobic

Posted on by Bob Pitt

New York press conference condemns Geller adsElected officials, community groups and faith leaders – including Christian ministers, Jewish rabbis, and Muslim imams – gathered today at City Hall to denounce ads on MTA buses and subway stations that they say promote Islamophobia.

City Controller Scott Stringer, U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Public Advocate Letitia James, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and over half a dozen Councilmembers all attended the rally to speak out against the ads, one of which features an image of journalist James Foley right before he was beheaded.

“I’m here today as a parent, as a Jew, as someone who believes very strongly in the diversity of our city,” said Stringer. He said the world today was a “complicated place,” and to combat that we can “reject hatred, reject these subway ads.”

The ads are supposed to start going up today outside Columbus Circle and 59th Street/Lexington Ave stations. Next week they will go up on 100 buses.

The one that shows Foley also features a second image of his alleged executioner, a London-based Muslim, in western-style clothes under the words “Yesterday’s moderate is today’s headline.” A second ad shows a pro-Nazi Muslim leader sitting with Adolf Hitler.

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Anti-Muslim protest: Hundreds rally at proposed Sunshine Coast mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Maroochydore anti-mosque protestHundreds of people protesting against a mosque on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast have come to verbal blows with the building’s supporters, with about 20 police separating the emotionally charged groups.

More than 200 anti-Muslim demonstrators shook placards stating: “Islam is plotting our destruction” and “Australia we have a problem” at the site of the planned mosque, on Church Street in Maroochydore. The protesters said they were concerned the site could become a hub of radicalisation, threatening the local community.

“I’m not for it anywhere in Australia,” a man who called himself Aussie Ron told the ABC.

One Nation state president Jim Savage, who said he had two adopted Asian daughters, said he was not a religious bigot nor a racist.

“This is nothing to do with race,” he said. “What Muslim preaches violates the laws of my country. It is an ideological, political organisation wrapped up in a very thin skin of religion. I ask anybody to name any Western country in the world where there had been a large influx of Muslims where they have seen an improvement and have not seen social issues.”

Pakistani-born Justin Albert warned of experiences of oppression in his native country. “Chopping their heads, it is their Jihad,” he said. “I know their deeds. No more mosque in Australia. One day you will see they will kill you.”

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Gove’s former Spad reveals thinking behind ‘Trojan Horse’ witch-hunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Birmingham Mail jihadist plotFor anyone interested in the Islamophobic mind-set that inspired the “Trojan Horse” hysteria about an “Islamist takeover” of Birmingham schools, today’s Sunday Times is worth reading. It features a frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Islamist rant by one Jamie Martin, who worked as a special advisor to former education secretary Michael Gove during the period of the Birmingham witch-hunt.

Martin hails Gove’s “rare moral courage” in responding to the alleged Islamist threat there: “we acted to remove the individuals responsible from any involvement in education. We then moved to make sure Ofsted inspections took place without notice, and strengthened our powers to rapidly close schools that did not promote British values”. But then, it’s hardly surprising that Martin should take such a positive view of Gove’s actions – because, as he boastfully reveals, “it was my job to co-ordinate this response”.

Claiming that the UK is under threat from “an aggressive, anti-western belief system”, Martin enthusiastically endorses Tony Blair’s bonkers assertion that “the same ideology that drove the ‘Trojan Horse’ takeover of Birmingham’s schools, leaving children at risk of radicalisation, motivates Islamic extremists from Spain to Syria”. This ideology, Martin declares, “is Islamism, which rejects every tenet of our pluralistic society and will not compromise on its belief in a totalitarian theocracy”.

According to Martin, there has been an abject failure to confront this totalitarian Islamist threat: “Our governing elite, hamstrung by political correctness, has failed to understand or tackle it. Our Muslim communities have failed to confront it. Britain has been left as a weak link in the fight against global terror.”

As is usual in such diatribes, Martin makes no attempt to define Islamism, still less to analyse the very different tendencies that can be grouped under this broad heading. Organisations ranging from terrorists like ISIS to mass reformist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood – along with non-political groupings who adopt culturally conservative interpretations of Islam – are depicted as manifestations of a single ideology which aims at the imposition of a “totalitarian theocracy”.

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Photographer ‘horrified’ over claims Britain First used picture of first Afghan policewoman killed by Taliban for ‘ban the burka’ campaign

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain First misappropriates Lana Slezic's photoA photographer has described her horror after being alerted to a picture she said she took of Afghanistan’s first female police officer being used to promote banning the burka by Britain First.

Canadian Lana Slezic alleges that a picture she took of Lieutenant Colonel Malalai Kakar, who was shot dead by the Taliban in 2008, has been posted to Facebook without permission by Britain First.

She said she was alerted by various media outlets that the photo was being used in such a manner on Friday.

She claims that the image of Lt.Col Kakar in a burka and holding a gun has been edited with a caption that reads: “Terror attack level: severe – an attack is highly likely. For security reasons it’s now time to ban the burqa.”

Lt. Col. Kakar was a high profile policewoman who fought for women’s rights and against extremism and terrorism until she was assassinated on her way to work at a Kandahar police station.

Ms Slezic says her memory has been “desecrated” by Britain First and the Australian Palmer United senator Jacqui Lambie, who shared Britain First’s post on her Facebook wall.

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