French supermarket chain Auchan has apologised after its sales brochure featured a black plastic toy gun, resembling an AK47 assault rifle and featuring a crescent moon and star, symbols that are generally associate with Islam.
Spotted by French news magazine Nouvel Observateur, the toy features on a brochure of cut-price objects available at the stores in later September.
Reports and comment from Islamophobia Watch 22-28 September 2014
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.
Tesco has defended its policy on advertising Halal meat after an “appalled” Mickleover customer vowed never to shop there again. Sandra Hill, from Mickleover, wrote to the Derby Telegraph after going into a local store and finding Halal meat being advertised in “big letters”.
Halal is essentially meat that Muslims are allowed to eat according to Islamic law. It must be prepared in certain way – involving a cut to the jugular vein and the animals must be healthy at the time of slaughter. Some consider the process controversial as it can involve slaughtering animals that have not been stunned to prevent them from experiencing pain or suffering.
Ms Hill said she came out feeling “absolutely furious” after seeing the large advertisement. She said: “As I passed one aisle, there was a large sign over it, in big letters saying Halal meat. Do not think for one minute that I am racist or anti-religious – I am most definitely not – but I am anti-cruelty to animals, and, from my understanding, so are a large number of people.
“I am appalled that a large supermarket chain sees fit to promote a product which ensures that animals are not killed in a way that the average person approves of. I spoke to the manager and voiced my annoyance. I asked her if she would put up a sign over another aisle saying ‘non Halal meat’, and she said ‘No, it was company policy to do what the store was doing’.
“I am a non-meat eater, but I did not see a sign anywhere promoting vegetarian food in big letters, so Tesco is happy to promote cruel animal practices, but not healthy lifestyle choices. I for one will not be shopping in Tesco again.”
At the 2014 Value Voters Summit, Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann (R) claimed that there is no such thing as “moderate” Islam, and that President Barack Obama failed the American people by deciding not to declare war on it.
The mosque at Pontarlier in Franche-Comté in eastern France was subjected to an attack on Monday, when a dead pig was left outside the building.
Le Nouvel Observateur reported that Tahar Belhadj, president of the regional federation of the Great Mosque of Paris, had condemned this deliberate desecration of a place of worship and denounced the “chronic Islamophobia” at work in Franche-Comté.
Mosques in the Franche-Comté capital of Besançon were repeatedly targeted with racist, fascist and Zionist graffiti last year – in February, August and November – and in December a pig’s head and pig’s ears were left outside a mosque.
Mounting incidents of anti-Muslim violence in Sydney will ignite a Cronulla-style riot if authorities don’t step in to quell tensions, Muslim leaders have warned. Community members have begun keeping logs of Islamophobic incidents and say some people are resorting to vigilante-style justice in the wake of counter-terrorism raids in Sydney and the fatal shooting of a terror suspect in Melbourne.
On Friday, police released CCTV footage of a man who they believe stormed into an Islamic school in Sydney’s south-west and threatened children with a knife the length of his forearm. Parents at Al-Faisal College in Minto said police swarmed to the school on Thursday afternoon after the man walked in, waving the knife around and asking if it was a Muslim school.
The incident came as police dropped their investigation into a separate assault claim by an Australian Defence Force member. The 41-year-old naval officer claimed on Thursday he had been assaulted by two Middle Eastern men outside his Bella Vista home at 6.30am but police deemed the report to be false. Defence force chief Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin issued an apology for the incident, particularly to the Middle Eastern community, for “any angst this has caused”.
Mariam Veiszadeh, who has launched Islamophobia Register Australia, said there had been a “surge in Islamophobic incidents” in Sydney. She said she has been urging police to act on the incidents before one erupts into large-scale violence. Community activist Rebecca Kay has also been keeping a log of violence such as cars being vandalised and people being abused in the street.
Anti-Islamic messages stuck on lampposts in Astley Bridge have been condemned by police.
Stickers penned with “Islam barbaric” and “Evil Islam” were posted on traffic lights and lampposts in Blackburn Road yesterday morning.
An off-duty police officer spotted the labels on his way to work and had them removed immediately. Three messages were posted opposite the junction with Lawson Street and another in the small car park – behind the former Three Pigeons pub – in Blackburn Road.
Police said “robust action” would be taken against anyone caught posting racist or offensive messages in public or online.
Det Insp Charlotte Cadden, from Bolton North Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Because the content of the stickers was insulting, we have recorded a hate incident rather than a hate crime. We take robust action wherever possible and drive prosecutions, where the level of abuse or threats warrants it.”
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?”
The Qatar women’s basketball team has withdrawn from the Asian Games in South Korea after being denied permission to wear the hijab during games.
The players were asked to remove the Islamic head scarf before taking on Mongolia but refused and forfeited. World basketball regulations list headgear and hair accessories among the items that are prohibited on court. With no sign that the rule would be relaxed before their next match against Nepal, the team decided to pull out.
Other sports at the Asian Games allow athletes to wear the hijab; all four members of the Iranian lightweight women’s quadruple sculls team wore it as they rowed to a bronze medal on Wednesday.
Basketball remains one of the exceptions although the sport’s world governing body, Fiba, said earlier this month that it had held discussions on the issue and was introducing a two-year testing phase on what players can wear.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) issued a statement on Wednesday, saying: “The right of the athletes must be the highest priority.”
After forfeiting the Mongolian match, Qatari player Amal Mohamed A Mohamed said they had been assured before they travelled to the Games in Incheon that they would be able to wear the hijab.
“We were told that we would be able to participate in matches by wearing a hijab,” she said. “We will not attend any games in this Asian Games unless the officials change their decision.”