CAIR video calls out Fox News’ faux ‘condemn Islamic extremism’ challenge to Muslim leaders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today issued a public video response to Fox News for demanding that an American Muslim leader come on the network to condemn “Islamic Extremism” and then failing to interview a leader who accepted that challenge.

On October 6, Fox News Host Greta Van Susteren issued an on-air challenge, stating:

“So here’s my offer. I will give any Muslim leader of national or international stature the platform right here ‘On the Record’ to condemn Islamic extremism and to make a call to arms of every Muslim leader of every mosque to do the same. Condemn Islamic extremism.”

Despite CAIR’s immediate agreement to have its National Executive Director Nihad Awad appear on her program to repeat the American Muslim community’s consistent condemnation of religious extremism and terrorism, Van Susteren’s producers changed the terms of the challenge and ultimately dropped Awad’s appearance.

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In St. Paul anti-Islam graffiti, FBI investigation sought

Posted on by Bob Pitt

St Paul anti-Islam graffiti

Someone used motor oil to paint an anti-Islam message in St. Paul’s West Seventh neighborhood, leading a civil liberties group Thursday to call on the FBI to investigate it as a hate crime.

The case led to strong condemnation from the neighborhood, including a resident contacting the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Minnesota (CAIR-MN).

The man reported someone had written “(Expletive) Islam” using motor oil near the driveway of a home, and said several Muslim families live in the neighborhood, according to Lori Saroya, CAIR-MN executive director.

St. Paul police received an anonymous call Oct. 28 at 3:26 a.m. about graffiti at Milton and Juno avenues. CAIR-MN contacted the FBI on Thursday.

The federal agency is aware of the incident, has been in consultation with the St. Paul Police Department and will continue to be, said Kyle Loven, a local FBI spokesman. “We’ll examine the situation to see it meets the threshold of a federal hate crime,” Loven said.

It’s not known whether the people who live in the house where the graffiti was scrawled outside in large letters are Muslim, Saroya said, though she noted that the message wasn’t necessarily targeting them. It was written to be facing out to the street and other homes. “That’s sending a message outwards into the neighborhood,” Saroya said. “It’s very concerning.”

A post on a neighborhood Facebook page about the case drew many comments, most saying the graffiti was unwelcome in the neighborhood. Residents tried to contact the people who live at the house where the graffiti had been left outside, and someone dropped off flowers.

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Organisers of counter EDL march insist event will be a ‘celebration of Luton’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

We are Luton

The organisers of a counter EDL march say that they are mobilising to stop the far right group from “rampaging” through the streets of Bury Park.

For the first time since the departure of the group’s former leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon the English Defence League has organised a demonstration in the town, which is set to take place from 2pm on Saturday November 22. At the time of writing a Facebook page for the demo shows more than 380 are due to attend, with a further 1,300 invited.

In retaliation community group We Are Luton have organised a counter march in conjunction with Unite Against Fascism, which will gather in front of Bury Park Community Centre, Dunstable Road, from noon. An advert for the event, which has been named ‘Stop the EDL’, states the intention to form a “strong and united” opposition to prevent the possibility of rioting.

Organiser Dawood Masood, of the Al Hira Educational and Cultural Centre, told the Herald & Post that the march will be peaceful.

He said: “Whenever the EDL come to Luton they are made up of people from outside the town, so we want the people of Luton to stand up and be united no matter which community you come from. This will be a family event, there will be speeches and the shops in Bury Park will remain open.

“We are in contact with the police and it may end up as a static demonstration, we’re not sure yet. On previous occasions the EDL have targeted mosques and committed Islamophobic attacks, we don’t want anything like this to happen again.”

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, added that the counter demonstration will be a “celebration of Luton”.

He said: “The alternative is to do nothing, it is much better to stand shoulder to shoulder. These people say they speak for Luton but I do not believe the majority agree with this. Our firm belief is that the EDL are a racist organisation which seeks to divide the people of Luton.”

The EDL has stated that their demo has been organised to “speak out against modern slavery and human trafficking”.

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Livingstone and Galloway rail against ongoing ‘witch hunt’ of Lutfur Rahman

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lutfur with Ken and GeorgeSenior political figures George Galloway MP and former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone last night spoke out in defence of controversial Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman.

Around 1,000 people attended a rally arranged by Organisation for Democracy and Freedom at The Waterlily in Whitechapel.

The event involved a number of speakers from groups including Left Unity who defended the Mayor against what they said was “nothing short of a political attack on a council that has done so well”.

Rahman was criticised earlier this month in a PricewaterhouseCoopers report commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The report stated he had failed to provide taxpayers with “value for money” after giving grants to Bangladeshi and Somali-led organisations, also finding he had created a “culture of cronyism” that allegedly undermined the democratic process.

Despite the report finding no evidence of illegality, secretary of state Erick Pickles told the House of Commons he would send in commissioners to oversee three aspects of governance in Tower Hamlets Council involving grant-making.

Galloway told ELL: “There is absolutely nothing substantial in the report. It’s a political set-up. The report found that there are weaknesses, just like there are weaknesses in any big administration that employs a large number of people…you only need to look at the British Parliament with MPs fiddling their expenses. But dishonesty and impropriety – absolutely not.”

Addressing the meeting Ken Livingstone said: “Lutfur’s record is outstanding, and it is a record any Labour authority in Britain should be proud of. It’s a lot better than many Labour councils up and down the country.”

“And yes there are problems. PricewaterhouseCoopers identified problems. But they didn’t identify any problems with the world’s banks. I say this to Lutfur: fight on all fronts, get a bloody good lawyer and take Eric Pickles to court.”

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New South Wales: worshipper attacked outside mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Newcastle MosqueNewcastle’s Muslim community says it is shocked to hear of a worshipper being assaulted in an unprovoked attack outside the city’s mosque overnight.

Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident at Wallsend, just before 10:00pm (AEDT).

A 47-year-old man had been at evening prayers, and was standing near the main gates with two small children, when a four-wheel drive pulled up outside the main gates and a man got out. Police say words were exchanged and the offender tried to punch the victim, and then grabbed his hair, before pushing him.

Diana Rah from the Newcastle Muslim Association said the offender hurled abuse at the man. “Basically things like, ‘leave Australia, go back to where you came from, that they weren’t welcome here’ and so on,” she said. “The man then proceeded to physically attack one of the worshippers.”

The man then got into a car with several other people and drove off. The 47-year-old was not injured, but police were called and interviewed him at the mosque.

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Four face prosecution over Facebook comments about Bridgwater mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Four people who posted comments in response to an article on the Bridgwater Mercury’s Facebook page could face prosecution.

A police investigation is underway into certain remarks made on September 24 soon after an article about the Bridgwater mosque obtaining a council grant appeared. Avon and Somerset Police say this is a rare course of action as the force has only made very few prosecutions for social media posts.

The four individuals have been traced from their Facebook accounts and been taken to Bridgwater police station for questioning. Police are now taking advice on whether to charge them.

A number of offenders in other areas have been jailed for racially abusive remarks made on social media.

The police told the Mercury: “As a result of enquiries, four suspects have been identified in relation to this incident. We are now in the process of seeking charging advice from the Crown Prosecution Service with regard to this matter. We have a zero tolerance approach to any incident of racial hatred, and we continue to support the mosque and the wider community.”

The article attracted more than 145 comments with many people reacting in shock at some of the criticism directed at the mosque. One such comment read: “I can’t believe this many ill informed and uneducated people are living just up the road from me. Churches got the grants as well, and the majority of Muslims in this country DO pay their taxes and so have every right to have a place where they can worship.”

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Livingstone and Galloway back Tower Hamlets mayor over fraud allegations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ken Livingstone and George Galloway will tonight ride to the rescue of a beleaguered mayor who faces being stripped of his powers by Eric Pickles.

Labour’s united front against Lutfur Rahman will be smashed as Mr Livingstone and a fellow member of the party’s national executive join a parade of left-wingers at a rally demanding an end to the “witch-hunt” of Britain’s first elected ethnic minority mayor.

Some insiders are dismayed that Labour figures will be sharing a platform with Mr Galloway, whose inflammatory anti-war rhetoric led to his expulsion from the party.

The rally will be in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets, where the mayor is due to have his powers transferred to commissioners sent in by Mr Pickles, the communities and local government secretary.

Mr Rahman’s election victory over Labour in May is being challenged in the High Court over concerns that it was fraudulent. Among the allegations are that voters were told they would be good Muslims if they voted for him but sinners if they backed John Biggs, Labour’s candidate.

Mr Livingstone will be joined by Christine Shawcroft, a fellow member of Labour’s national executive. Aaron Kiely, a Labour councillor from Thurrock in Essex and a member of the National Union of Students executive, will speak for the mayor.

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Israeli settlers burn mosque in West Bank

Posted on by Bob Pitt

al-Mughayir mosque arsonIsraeli settlers have torched a mosque in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said, amid growing tensions and violence in the territory and occupied East Jerusalem.

The attack on the mosque just before dawn on Wednesday, near the Jewish settlement of Shilo, came after separate Palestinian knife attacks on Monday killed a settler in the southern West Bank, and an Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv.

“The settlers set fire to the whole of the first floor of the mosque” in al-Mughayir village near the West Bank city of Ramallah, a security official said. Police confirmed the incident and opened an investigation.

Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from inside the destroyed mosque in Mughayir in Ramallah, described seeing religious books turned into ashes and windows being blown out. “There an awful lot of anger in the community,” he said.

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University of West London cancels Anne Marie Waters meeting

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Anne Marie Waters

A university has been accused of censorship after scrapping the launch of a report into alleged Islamic extremism in schools and campuses across the UK.

The University of West London was criticised following the decision to cancel the event staged by Sharia Watch UK – set up to monitor the radicalisation of young British Muslims – on safety and procedural grounds. It follows claims in the past that universities have failed to crackdown on extremist speakers and turned a blind eye to gender segregation for religious reasons.

The report was due to be launched at one of West London’s lecture theatres on Wednesday, detailing the number of speeches given by hard-line Islamists in schools, universities and even Scout groups.

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Defend Democracy in Tower Hamlets! Stop the witch-hunt of Mayor Lutfur Rahman!

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Defend Democracy in Tower Hamlets meeting

Defend Democracy in Tower Hamlets

Stop the witch-hunt of Mayor Lutfur Rahman

A community meeting on Wednesday 12th November at the Waterlily, 69-89 Mile End Road, London E1 4TT, at 6pm

Confirmed speakers:
Ken Livingstone, George Galloway, Christine Shawcroft Labour NEC, Alex Kenny (NUT) Kate Hudson (Left Unity) John Rees (People Assembly) Lindsey German (Stop the War Coalition) Sabby Dhalu (UAF), Aaron Kiely (NUS National Exec) and many more