One of our readers has drawn our attention to an article by one Modi Kreitman that recently appeared in the Israeli online publication YNet News. It is headlined “England afraid to fly its own flag”, and Kreitman writes: “Following warnings by extremist Islamic group al-Muhajiroun, in which the group said that the red cross in the England flag symbolizes the ‘blood thirsty crusaders’ and the occupation of Muslims, some of the largest companies in England have ordered their workers not to wave the flags.”

The origin of the YNet News report is an article in the Sun newspaper which contains the following passage: “Anjem Choudary, a former leader of the Islamic extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, claimed the St George flag symbolised a bloodthirsty past. He said: ‘The cross does represent Christianity and for Muslims it also represents a crusader history of occupation and murder’.”

If you read the original piece, you can see how Kreitman has distorted it. In the Sun article, Choudary’s comment is given as an example of how some British Muslims refuse (for perfectly legitimate reasons, I would say) to wave the St George flag. There is no suggestion that Choudary issued any threats, nor does the Sun claim that the various companies that they say have banned the St George flag did so in response to threats from Choudary or anyone else. The Sun‘s argument is that the ban was motivated by the view that the flag is associated with racism and it blames “political correctness” for the decision.

So, basically, the YNet News article is a pack of lies.