Orthodox Jews back scarf-wearing Muslim in Abercrombie & Fitch case

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Abercrombie-Fitch & Samantha Elauf

Seven Orthodox Jewish groups, a Muslim civil rights organization and a public interest law firm supporting religious freedom filed briefs this week with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting a Muslim teenager who was denied a job at Abercrombie & Fitch because she wore a head scarf.

Samantha Elauf was 17 when she was rejected by a Tulsa, Okla., branch of the clothing store.

Employees acknowledged that she was turned down because her scarf didn’t meet the company’s “look policy” that requires its sales staff to be in keeping with its “classic East Coast collegiate style of clothing,” according to court filings.

The company said its employees did not know she wore the hijab for religious reasons.

Nathan Lewin, who filed a friend of the court brief for the Orthodox Jewish groups, said: “This is a common experience that a lot of other Sabbath observers or people wearing yarmulkes have had in terms of applying for a position and being turned down because it is just a nuisance to employers.”

“It is important that these Orthodox Jewish groups express support for this Muslim woman who has had a similar experience,” he said.

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Merkel condemns racism as Dresden anti-Islam marches grow

Posted on by Bob Pitt

PEGIDA placardChancellor Angela Merkel on Friday condemned anti-Muslim demonstrations centered on the eastern city of Dresden, saying there was “no place in Germany” for hatred of Muslims or any other minority.

In a speech at a party congress of her Bavarian allies in Nuremberg, Merkel also denounced an attack on buildings in a nearby town being turned into refuge for asylum-seekers. The structures were set on fire and daubed with swastikas.

“It is unbearable when homes of asylum-seekers are defiled, when people try to make radical slogans,” Merkel said, adding that everyone coming to Germany had the right to be treated decently.

Earlier on Friday, Merkel’s spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said: “In the name of the government and the chancellor I can say quite clearly that there is no place in Germany for religious hatred, no matter which religion people belong to.”

“There is no place for Islamophobia, anti-Semitism or any form of xenophobia or racism,” Wirtz said of the growing Monday evening marches in Dresden under the motto PEGIDA, standing for “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West”.

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Parents protest about Islam lessons in California school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Manhattan Beach Middle SchoolDespite brewing discontent over lessons related to Islam at Manhattan Beach Middle School and claims of indoctrination, the school district insists its curriculum follows state teaching standards that require students to learn about the major world religions.

Middle-school parents and others spoke out before the Manhattan Beach Unified School District board again this week, urging it to pull a middle-school social science textbook on medieval and early history and immediately discontinue any teaching about Islam.

The issue first arose in October, when Keith Johnson and his wife were approached by their middle-school son, who was concerned about an assignment for his history class.

“‘There is only one God – Allah.’ ‘People should submit to Allah.’ These are all phrases one would expect to hear uttered in a mosque, but, unfortunately, that’s not the case here,” Johnson told the school board Wednesday night. “These were all phrases our son was asked to write down in his seventh-grade social-science class.”

Johnson said the teacher and principal told him the lesson was part of learning about the history of the world. But what does presentation of the five pillars of Islam or testimony that Muhammad is the one true god have to do with history?” Johnson said. “The answer is absolutely nothing. It has more to do with religious dogma, which is strictly forbidden from being taught in public schools.”

Federal law does prohibit public schools from teaching religion to students – thus ensuring a separation of church and state – but the U.S. Supreme Court also has made clear that students can be taught about religion, especially its role in the development or progression of certain countries, district officials noted.

“Religion is essential in modern American history,” Superintendent Mike Matthews said. “You can’t teach about the settlement of America without knowing about the pilgrims and the Puritans. You can’t know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. without knowing that he was a Christian minister. … We have an obligation to let our kids know about the various religions out there so they can better understand the world today.”

More importantly, the school district’s hands are tied by the state Department of Education in terms of what is taught in public schools, district officials said. And the district uses state-approved textbooks that are aligned with California teaching standards, Matthews said.

“We are completely following the state framework,” he said. “The five pillars of Islam, the Quran, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, quotes from Matthew and Luke are all in the textbook approved by the state.”

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EDL thug who hurled fire extinguisher at police jailed for 31 months

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ashley Rowland, James Cocks, Melvyn Parker and Jason Harris
Clockwise from top left: Ashley Rowland, James Cocks, Melvyn Parker and Jason Harris

An English Defence League supporter who hurled a fire extinguisher at police officers at “almost point blank range” as violence flared in Birmingham has been jailed.

Ashley Rowland was among up to 300 people involved in bloody clashes with police during a demonstration in the city centre on July 20 last year. Thirty officers were injured with one needing hospital treatment.

Judge Richard Bond said Rowland was the most heavily-involved of more than 50 defendants due to be sentenced over the violence and had moved between various pockets of trouble.

He chanted racial and anti-religious slogans with others and aggressively confronted officers in Centenary Square.

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Islamic boarding school in Mareeba under cloud after anti-Muslim threats

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Plans for an Islamic boarding school on the Tableland appear to have stalled, with the proposed school site at Mareeba back on the market. It comes as some opposing the $70 million development threaten to “destroy the place” if the project goes ahead.

A development application for the school, which was to be Australia’s first Standard Bearer’s Academy, is yet to be assessed by the Mareeba Shire Council. However the 40ha block of land at Tinaroo Creek Rd, where the academy was to be located, has this week been relisted for sale.

The facility aimed to cater for about 1200, Year 5 to Year 12 boys, from across Australia, along with a small contingent of international students.

The school was to have an Islamic focus but it was promoted as a multi-denominational campus, open to all faiths, including Christians and other religions, and students with no religious beliefs.

The Cairns Post understands developers have pulled the pin on the land deal due to a lack of support for the project from within the community. It is not known whether they plan to target another site.

It follows last weekend’s public meetings in Cairns and Mareeba where a group launched a campaign against the school, fearing it had potential to influence young people with “the Muslim agenda”.

A Facebook page administered by the convener of the meetings, contains comments from followers who have volunteered to “destroy this place if it go’s (sic) ahead”. A person has proposed to “bury a couple of pigs on the proposed site. They wont (sic) want it any more because its (sic) against their superstitions,’’ they wrote.

Estop Islamic School Mareeba chairman Alan Webb said if the school plan was axed, it was due to the “unbelievable and incredible co-operation of everybody in Mareeba”. He was surprised the threats on social media were published, saying they were “disappointing, yet understandable. That sort of anger, I can appreciate.’’

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Birkbeck College buckles to far right, cancels Islamophobia Conference booking

Posted on by Bob Pitt

IHRC logoAn academic conference tackling the alarming rise in Islamophobia in the UK has had to be relocated after the London University College hosting the event gave in to far right Islamophobes threatening to demonstrate outside the venue.

Birkbeck College has withdrawn the go-ahead it originally gave for the conference organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission citing its inability to arrange sufficient security in time for the event this Saturday. The conference will now be held at an alternative venue.

The turnaround came after calls were made on social media by Britain First, a xenophobic far right group which styles itself as the ‘British Resistance’, to demonstrate at the event. Britain First is being supported by another extreme right wing group, Casuals United, an alliance of football hooligans from various clubs, formed to tackle what they see as growing Muslim influence in Britain. In recent months the groups have adopted a policy of using bullying tactics to force venues to cancel Muslim-organised events and intimidate Muslim communities.

On Wednesday, IHRC staff who were on a routine site visit were dragged by college officials into an impromptu meeting to discuss the far right calls in which they were surprised to find local council PREVENT officer already in attendance. PREVENT is a key plank of the government’s CONTEST strategy which seeks to combat terrorism and is directed almost exclusively at Britain’s Muslim community. IHRC sees little reason for a council officer to be involved in a private matter between itself and the college. It seems odd that instead of tackling the immediate threats to a legitimate and peaceful event, the College appeared to be more interested in using the issue as an excuse to involve anti-extremism and radicalisation officials.

In fact during the meeting both parties seemed to be more worried about the prospect of a counter-demonstration by an anarchist and anti-fascist student group. The police involvement has also fallen a long way short of what is required. We find it hard to understand why local police were only in contact with the College about the event and did not see fit to discuss matters with IHRC until after Birkbeck College’s decision to cancel.

While IHRC believes that the safety of everyone is paramount it is not justifiable to allow threats and intimidation by a tiny minority to disrupt the normal flow of everyday life. The College has clearly bowed to Islamophobic pressure and may even have Islamophobic motives itself for cancelling the booking without sufficiently exploring other security options. The College even rejected IHRC’s offer to arrange its own security for the event.

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Man convicted over Islamophobic spitting incident in Bristol

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hasina KhanA Muslim woman who was spat at during a racist rant in Cabot Circus has spoken of her shock at the people who turned a blind eye.

Jack Hughes, 26, of Upton Road, Bristol, was fined £336 for assault at a court hearing this week for his attack on Hasina Khan.

As reported by the Bristol Post when it happened in July, Hughes spat on her hand and hijab head dress while launching into an Islamophobic rant.

Hasina issued an passionate plea for help to track down the perpetrator through this newspaper.

Following his conviction, which includes 120 hours of community service, she said: “It is my body and if I chose to cover it that’s my decision. There are lots of beautiful women who chose to cover their bodies and they should not live in fear of being attacked.

“What is frightening is that a small woman was attacked by a male in broad daylight in a public place, there were many onlookers who turned a blind eye and who did not even approach the woman to ask if she was okay. That is a very bad snapshot of society.

“I hope other women come forward and report the attacks they have experienced.”

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‘Pork or nothing’: Mayor makes Muslim kids to go meatless at French school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Marcel MortreauA secularism scandal is raging in France, after a mayor in a northwestern town introduced a “pork or nothing” principle at school, even for 27 students who will get no meat substitute.

The rule will apply starting from January 1 in the town of Sargé-lès-Le Mans, and may apply to Jewish pupils as well – though there aren’t any in this particular school.

Mayor Marcel Mortreau bases his decision on the “principle of Republican neutrality.” “The mayor is not required to provide meals that respond to religious requirements. This is the principle of secularism,” Mortreau told Europe1 radio.

The move was backed up by the Town Hall on the grounds that the food providers face extra work if they have to deliver meat substitutes, The Local reported.

The initiative has been supported by some public school officials. “We didn’t open school canteens for partisan, religious, philosophical, cultural reasons,” said Eric Le Moal, director of a public school in Lezignan-Corbieres in the Aude, which also passed the one-dish policy last year.

Muslim parents and pupils expressed their fury at the mayor’s decision, especially due to the fact that a second meal doesn’t cost any extra.

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