"Extremist Hate Preachers, pro-Jihad Activists, and Avowed anti-Semites" Talk the Talk on British Campuses

On Holocaust Memorial Day, Facebook friends of Mick Napier, verbose chief of chieftain the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, share an obnoxious cartoon popular with the Israel-demonising crowd.

For his part, Napier (current Facebook profile avowing "Working to boycott and isolate the genocidal State of Israel") has used Holocaust Memorial Day to push his anti-Israel message in posts and a live broadcast to followers, including one invoking Raphael Lemkin's definition of Genocide.

A follower runs with the theme of Israelis as deliberate perpetrators of genocide, and another, reflecting what has become commonplace in the anti-Israel movement, especially since the rise of Corbyn, is not shy about making antisemitic tropes:

To which the chief's observation is hardly an outright condemnation:

Meanwhile, Tomas Rowan, described as "with UNRWA as a United Nations Refugee Affairs Officer in Gaza during the First Intifada" whose "novel of that period A Bar Mitzvah At Arafat’s will be published this summer", is advocating adoption of an "anti-Palestinianism" declaration analogous to definitions of antisemitism.

And the London-based Henry Jackson Society has published a very revealing, very disturbing analysis of extremist speakers on campuses in the UK during the academic year 2017-18.

Inter alia:

'Extremist hate preachers, pro-jihad activists, and avowed anti-Semites have “near-unfettered” access to students. It catalogues 435 events promoted to students held over the last three academic years featuring elements of extremism – 16% of which took place at just one university.  The nationwide league table identified events promoted by university groups that have included: extremist or extremist-linked speakers, those that fundraised for extremist organisations, or included extremist content.

In September 2015 at a speech in Birmingham, then Prime Minister David Cameron ordered universities to stop providing extremists with “the oxygen they need to flourish” by hosting extreme speakers.  He cited 70 events featuring extremist-linked speakers that had occurred on campuses the previous academic year.  In spite of his warning, the University Extreme Speakers League Table discloses that more than 100 such events have been targeted at students in each and every year since.  In the 2017-18 academic year, the number of publicly promoted events increased by 87%, with 200 such events. The report warns that the true figure could be much higher, given it lists only publicly promoted events. 

Over the last three academic years, SOAS is the university which has hosted the most events promoted to students which feature extremist groups or speakers.  The university has repeatedly disputed that it is in breach of its Prevent duties and has seen 70 events promoted by student groups that feature extremist groups or speakers – 43 of which took place in the last year alone.  In the 2017-18 academic year, over 20% of all events featuring elements of extremism took place under its auspices.  SOAS, hosted over four times as many events as its closest rivals; King’s College London, Birmingham, and Queen Mary University.

Among the extremist speakers identified by the Henry Jackson Society are:

35 events featuring speakers from the pro-Jihad lobby group CAGE.  CAGE speakers include: Moazzam Begg who has praised Al-Qaeda figures and encouraged Muslims to travel to Syria; Shaker Aamer considered an Osama Bin Laden affiliate by the US Government; and Asim Qureshi who has promoted violent jihad, called Jihadi John a “beautiful young man”, and refused to condemn female genital mutilation.

4 of the 6 extremist speakers David Cameron warned universities not to host in 2015 have continued to speak at student events collectively making appearances in 54 student events over the past three years.  They are Hamza Tzortzis, Uthman Lateef, Haitham al-Haddad and Alomgir Ali.

Other radical Islamists among the almost 100 speakers identified include: Yahya al-Raaby who has called Shia Muslims “devils” and “rafida”; Yusuf Chambers who has advocated death for homosexuals;and Muhammed Taqi Usmani who has claimed that Islam allows slavery under certain conditions.

140 events featuring representatives of organisations linked to Haitham al-Haddad.  Al-Haddad is one of Britain’s most notorious extremist hate preachers who has sanctioned forms of female genital mutilation, child marriage, death for apostates and adulterers, and said that men who beat their wives should not be questioned.

The rankings also include appearances by the far-right extremist Tommy Robinson and noted anti-Semites including Jackie Walker, the former Vice-Chair of Momentum.The report argues that universities’ protocols for upholding the Government’s prevent strategy are “not fit for purpose”.'

Warning of an “industrial-scale failure by universities to apply their Prevent duties”, the report’s author highlights the apparent disparities between universities’ obligations under the law and the reality on the ground.  Universities have an obligation under the ‘Prevent duty’ enacted by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (2015) to protect students from extremist speakers.  The rules were instituted by Theresa May during her tenure as Home Secretary. The Government’s guidance on the duty states:

“…when deciding whether or not to host a particular speaker, [universities] should consider carefully whether the views being expressed, or likely to be expressed, constitute extremist views that risk drawing people into terrorism or are shared by terrorist groups. In these circumstances the event should not be allowed to proceed except where [universities] are entirely convinced that such risk can be fully mitigated without cancellation of the event.” ....

(Emphasis added)

Read the entire article, with a list of the most affected campuses and accompanied by a video featuring the report's author Emma Fox, here.

Muslim Corbynista Suspended over Allegations of Antisemitism

Sunday Times image

Today's British Sunday Times reports that having approached Jeremy Corbyn with "a dossier" of antisemitic posts on social media by the Labour Party's senior organiser in the English West Midlands, a key swing area at general elections, Mohammed Yasin (pictured, with Jezza, at the party's national conference in September), Mr Yasin has been suspended from his position and an investigation launched.

The paper informs us:

"For more than two years Yasin, not to be confused with the Labour MP with a similar name, shared anti-semitic posts and 9/11 conspiracy theories, praised a homophobic preacher and described his former leader Tony Blair as a “child-killer”.

His Twitter feed, now removed, suggests he was working for Labour when he made most of the posts.

Labour has been riven by allegations of anti-semitism among members and activists, but Yasin is believed to be the first paid member of staff to be implicated."

According to the paper, Yasin in 2014 wrote:

“US imperialism needs Israel to keep the masses permanently at war”, accusing the Jewish state of “genocide”.

In 2015, the paper claims, he  

"shared a cartoon showing the BBC and CNN ignoring butchered Palestinians while training their cameras on a crying baby with a Star of David round its neck."

In 2016, it alleges, he shared a video on the“Rothschilds, the world’s most wicked and wealthiest family” and

'shared a post from the Lord Dreadnought site, headlined with a quote from the actor Mel Gibson, “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Attacking “Zionist madness”, the post showed two people laughing uproariously at the suggestion that anyone else could be to blame, in the line “when someone tells me it’s not the Jews”.'

He also allegedly shared a post headed “Why Israel is a problem”, which stated that

'“due to Holocaust propaganda” America had provided Israel with $233.7bn in aid and allowed it a nuclear arsenal. He shared a picture showing a rabbi next to the words: “Goyim [non-Jews] were born only to serve us. They have no place in the world — only to serve the people of Israel.”'

In 2017 he 'shared a post saying western governments had “lied about 9/11”.'

'Asked whether he denied sharing the posts, Yasin said: “I’m not aware. Before I make any comments I need to check.” Asked about the Mel Gibson post, he said: “I don’t agree with that.”

A Labour spokesman said: “We take all allegations seriously and fully investigate them in accordance with our rules and procedures.”'

Ta-ra, Tahra?

 Just fancy that!

From the billboard of a church in Atlanta, Georgia, 2015:

A misinterpretation, apparently:

Tahra herself shows little sign of believing that Jews are members of that human family:

As reported in the Jewish Chronicle, following a story broken by The Times:

'A volunteer working with victims of the Grenfell Tower fire has said the 71 people who died in the disaster were “burnt alive in a Jewish sacrifice”.

Tahra Ahmed, a conspiracy theorist who believes the 9/11 terror attack was faked by Jews, has been running an aid network to help those affected by fire.

According to The Times, Ms Ahmed, 47, told reporters that the fire was a “holocaust”

 Ms Ahmed shared her view that Jews were responsible for the tragedy on her Facebook page.

She claimed the tower, in west London, was owned by a Jewish property developer. It is in fact owned by Kensington and Chelsea Council. 

“Hitler and the Germans were the victims of the Jewish conspiracy to destroy Germany,” she wrote.

“Watch the live footage of people trapped in the inferno with flames behind them. They were burnt alive in a Jewish sacrifice.

“Grenfell is owned by a private Jewish property developer just like the Twin Towers. I wonder how much Goldman [Goldman Sachs,] is standing to make in the world’s most expensive real estate location [Kensington].”....'

 As The Times revealed:

 '[She]was an activist at the protest about the fire and has been running a volunteer network to help those affected by the tragedy. But she is known to antisemitism watchdogs who have been alarmed by her public claims about the Nazi genocide and “Jewish power”. ...'

 These are typical of her warped mindset, and that of many of her Facebook faithful:

Yes, she's posted many hardcore antisemitic messages to Facebook, but remains unrepentant:

 
To quote from an interesting report here:

'Attending a town hall protest two days after the fire, she told reporters there that the fire was a “holocaust.” She has allegedly previously described the Holocaust as the “holohoax” and posted on Facebook: “Hitler and the Germans were the victims of the Jewish conspiracy to destroy Germany.” She is also a proponent of the antisemitic conspiracy theory that the 9/11 terror attacks were faked by Jews.

 In one Facebook comment found by Campaign Against Antisemitism after The Times published its article, she wrote:

 “All the leadership of ISIS is directly recruited by CIA and the leadership are all Arab Jews, trained by Mossad.”

Councillors in Kensington and Chelsea are reportedly so worried about unchecked volunteers’ involvement with Grenfell Tower survivors that they have written to the Secretary of State to complain.'

Campaign Against Antisemitism calls for Ms Ahmed to be immediately stood down in her role assisting volunteers. To blame the unspeakable tragedy of Grenfell on a historically persecuted people is to let down those victims she claims to represent and support and exacerbate social division in Britain.

Meanwhile, in the wake of Donald trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, an item on Facebook (unconnected to Tahra Ahmed; found by Peter Sweden, 11 December):

Wonderfully Wise Ms Wilson, plus The Frenzied Pharmacist & Other Fizzogs

First, before we look at the foolishness below, here is, in high resolution video, is British terror victim Kay Wilson's magbificently outstanding speech indicting the capitulation of the British political establishment (as seen in certain legislation) to the haters who  have been permitted to hold the disgusting Al Quds Day march (see my previous post):

 (Israelly Cool video, acknowledging footage by Rebel Media and Sussex Friends of Israel)

Boy, can London pharmacist and local Al Quds Day supremo Nazim Ali jump! He won't be putting on any calories all the time he inveighs against the Zionist Entity in this frenzied manner:

The above is a still from the Alex Seymour video below, in which, among other delights, we see a Jewish kid in a red cap being manhandled by marchers ("Arrest the fascist!" "Fucking bastard!"), and familiar anti-Israel warhorses Mick Napier, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi and Sandra Watfa (the lady with the powerful lungs and beautiful hair) spewing their usual invective

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVDKnZ62uxU&feature=youtu.be

More footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVCsZCKDh64

Mrs Wimborne-Idrissi and the nuts from Neturei Karta were not the only Jews at the parade where the flag of the antisemitic terror group Hezbollah was flying high and in profusion; squint closely and who do we observe in this shot but (in the baseball cap) the little lady of "Jewish heritage" who frequents "Kick Israel Out of FIFA" demos.

Now, where have I seen this Neturei Karta nut, fist raised against the Zionist Entity, up close and personal with Nazir Ali?

Oh, yes, of course.  At Tooting recently for an event involving an Iftar meal, "Free Palestine" badge in lapel.

And the owner of the back of that head?  I'd know that straight spikey coiffure anywhere.

Yes, it belongs to this chap, one Stephen Sizer, pictured denouncing Israel at the (sparsely attended) event:

Careful not to bend the knee to Baal, sirrah!

Not a word of reproach regarding Islamic incitement to Jew-hatred, then, ex-vicar?

The BUF With A Different Face: London's tolerated Jew-baiters

The smiling Israel-hater on the right of the picture at left, and in full Israel-denouncing flood below, is, well, you really don't need me to introduce you, do you?

You may, however, not be quite so well-acquainted with the Israel-hater standing next to Stephen Sizer.

He's Nazim Ali, a pharmacist and director of the so-called “Advocacy Group” of the UK Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC). He appears to be the master of ceremonies of choice at London's toxic Al Quds Day rallies, the Iran-sponsored hate fest which seems to be becoming ever more overtly antisemitic each year.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYInkVkBjhI

Back in 2012 it fell to Mr Ali to welcome to the rostrum the following enthusiastic quartet of hardened Israel-demonisers to perform their rabble-rousing against the Zionist entity each in turn.

Unreconstructed old Trotskyite, now leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn:

Incorrigible pro-Iran Anglican enfant terrible Sizer:

Loquacious Irish anti-Israel agitator Sean Clinton:

Demagogic Scottish PSC chief Mick Napier, like Sizer a frequent guest on Iran's propaganda channel Press TV: 

At this year's Al Quds day rally in London, Mr Ali's own intemperate demagoguery was in full decibel force.

Addled by the presence of a courageous group of men and women proudly holding Israeli flags, who slowed the hate parade as it snaked its evil way along Regent Street, Hezbollah flags flying as usual (despite a plea to London mayor Sadiq Khan and others in authority that flying the terrorist flag be banned) and even managed to halt it until coralled by Mr Plod, Mr Ali resorted to racism raw and rude inveighing

"Babykillers ... Occupation ... It's in their genes ... European alleged Jews ... Zionists are not Jews ..."   

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzKKZ_1at5A

As reported by the Jewish Chronicle, inter alia:

'....  Mr Ali whipped up the 1,000 anti-Israel fanatics attending the march with a series of chants blaming the Grenfell Tower tragedy on “Zionism”.

He also called for Israel’s annihilation, and accused the Israel Defence Force of being a “terrorist organisation that murdered Palestinians, Jews and British soldiers.” [Emphasis added, here and below]

Mr Ali stayed at the head of the marchers ... for the two hours it took for the parade to make its way through central London to Grosvenor Square, Using a loud-hailer to lead them in a stream of anti-Israel abuse.  \

At one point he spotted pro-Israel counter-demonstrators carrying Israeli flags.

He ordered the march to halt, insisting it would not move on until the “Zionist flag” was removed. He said: “We are fed up of the Zionists. We are fed up of their rabbis. We are fed of their synagogues. We are fed up of their supporters.”

Screaming into the microphone, Mr Ali guided the crowd in a chant of: “Judaism – yes. Zionism – no. The state of Israel must go.”

It was just as the march was about to set off that Mr Ali walked towards a small group of pro-Israeli demonstrators and began singing: “Bye, bye Zionists.”

He then made his remarks linking the Grenfell Tower tragedy to Zionism, adding: “These people do not know what justice is because it’s their supporters who are supporting the Tory Party, that’s who they are. Zionists who give money to the Tory Party to kill people in high rise blocks."

Mr Ali turned to the large police presence and said: “I am requesting that the police watch those trouble-makers over there. They will try to incite. That’s what they are good at causing violence. Do not react to the killers of British soldiers.”

He also repeatedly drew attention to the presence of a handful of members of the Jewish anti-Israel Neturei Karta group, praising as being “true” Jews.

He added: “Because these rabbis don’t kill people, because these rabbis  don’t murder people, they are told they are traitors. Because Zionism is a fascist, evil ideology. It is an evil ideology to its core – that’s what Zionism is. That is why they killed British soldiers in order to get their country.”

During the march Mr Ali also claimed “Zionists” were supporters of Isis.

He said: ”Isis are being treated in their hospitals. Isis are being supported in the occupied Golan. Everyone knows that  Zionist Israel and Isis  are the same. They are brothers in arms.“

The Jewish Chronicle notes that the IHRC

Anti-Israel activists rejoice

'has repeatedly called for the repeal of much UK terror legislation – including the government’s Prevent strategy.

The Community Security Trust yesterday condemned Mr Ali’s comments linking Zionism to the Grenfell Towers fire as “grotesque.”

Lord Polak CBE, Conservative Friends Of Israel’s Honorary President wrote to Home Secretary Amber Rudd to express concern over the Hezbollah flag at Sunday’s march and  called on the Metropolitan Police to charge those found in “direct contravention” of Section 13 of the Terrorism Act (2000).

The UK currently proscribes Hezbollah’s so-called ‘military wing’, while the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and Israel proscribe the terrorist organisation in its entirety.

The Metropolitan Police and the Home Office have been asked for comment....'

Heroes and heroines:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOUlSX8Sz0A

Middle East analyst Jonathan Sacerdoti on the issue of the Hezbollah flag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp-E4rpRobE

For more on this be sure to see the the splendid coverage (with photographs) by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) here

The CAA observes, inter alia:

'In the wake of the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester, just as the government has promised a crackdown on extremism and terrorism, the red carpet has been rolled out for hundreds of supporters of Hizballah in central London today.

The brave volunteers of our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit went into the thick of the pro-Hizballah supporters to capture evidence, whilst police officers looked on inertly.

Some of the people at a splendid counter-rally

Marchers draped themselves in Hizballah flags bearing a dagger and a raised fist clenching an assault rifle, and organisers handed out flags for those who had not brought their own. The organising charity even distributed placards emblazoned with the slogan: “We are all Hizballah”. As the marchers claimed that Zionists were responsible for ISIS and even the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, the Metropolitan Police Service refused to make arrests or even accept reports of hate crimes when approached by members of the public, with one Inspector even claiming that Hizballah flags belong to a legitimate “state” instead of a terrorist organisation. Terrifyingly, demonstrators even attached Hizballah flags to children whilst police looked on.

 However, supporters of Hizballah did not have the streets to themselves. As they marched down iconic Regent Street, their path was blocked by anti-terrorist protesters chanting “Terrorists” and playing Jewish music (they had come prepared with a saxophonist). The police however suddenly spurred into action, with vans of officers arriving within seconds to start demanding that the anti-terrorist protesters move out of the way, with reports of pushing and shoving.

The brazen display of support for a genocidal antisemitic terrorist group was met with inaction, but opposition by members of the public was swiftly rounded upon.

Outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, marchers were addressed by figures including Mick Napier, Chair of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who was convicted in March of aggravated trespass over allegations of intimidating bank staff at a demonstration against investment by Barclays Bank in an Israeli company. Campaign Against Antisemitism will analyse the excitable speeches....

Hizballah is clear that it seeks the genocide of Jews worldwide, committing terrorist atrocities from Bangkok to Buenos Aires to Burgas. As Britain mourns those we have so recently lost to Islamist terrorism, the Metropolitan Police Service and Charity Commission permitted Hizballah supporters to mount a show of force through the heart of London. This is the reality of the supposed crackdown on extremism and terrorism. Since the authorities intend to take no action, it now falls to us to ensure that there are consequences for those who organised a pro-terrorist show of strength through the heart of London today. We will also be reviewing our legal options for holding the authorities to account over their utterly despicable failure to act.'

 In response to yesterday's attack on a mosque at London's Finsbury Park, Theresa May has wasted no time in declaring:

 "... It is a reminder that terrorism, extremism and hatred take many forms and our determination to tackle them must be the same, whoever is responsible.

As I said here two weeks ago, there has been far too much tolerance of extremism in our country over many years - and that means extremism of any kind, including Islamophobia.

That is why this government will act to stamp out extremist and hateful ideology - both across society and on the internet, so it is denied a safe space to grow.

It is why we will be reviewing our counter-terrorism strategy and ensuring that police and security services have the powers they need.

And it is why we will establish a new Commission for Countering Extremism as a statutory body to help fight hatred and extremism in the same way as we have fought racism - because this extremism is every bit as insidious and destructive to our values and our way of life and we will stop at nothing to defeat it.

Today's attack falls at a difficult time in the life of this city, following on from the attack on London Bridge two weeks ago - and of course the unimaginable tragedy of Grenfell Tower last week, on which I will chair another meeting of ministers and officials later today.

But what we have seen throughout - whether in the heroism of the ordinary citizens who fought off the attackers at London Bridge, the unbreakable resolve of the residents in Kensington, or this morning the spirit of the community that apprehended this attacker - is that this is an extraordinary city of extraordinary people.

It is home to a multitude of communities that together make London one of the greatest cities on earth.

Diverse, welcoming, vibrant, compassionate, confident and determined never to give in to hate.

These are the values that define this city. These are the values that define this country. These are the values that this government will uphold.

These are the values that will prevail."[Emphasis added]

Words that ring horribly hollow in the wake of Al Quds Day's incitement to antisemitism and the tolerance of extremists glorying in the hateful Hezbollah flag.  

With this latest march the Al Quds Day organisers and their lily-livered enablers have descended into the very heart of darkness.  Moseley's British Union of Fascists, when they marched through the Jewish East End during the Devil's Decade of the 1930s, had at least the excuse of not knowing the ultimate depths to which antisemitism can lead.  Today's antisemites have no such excuse.  Nor do the authorities who tolerate this grotesque Jew-baiting and turn a blind eye to it in the name of the Appeasement of our time.

To quote Sapan Maini-Thompson here:

'.... A parade which features explicit racial incitement and sectarian militarism raises challenging questions concerning the legal limits of free speech. Firstly, it is remarkable that anti-Semitic exhortation is given police protection through Oxford Street. Secondly, it highlights a hole in extant anti-terror legislation. While the military wing of Hezbollah is proscribed in the UK, those adorning Hezbollah garb conveniently stapled themselves with leaflets expressing their solidarity with the political wing. This technicality is surely falsified by reality.

As Karl Popper astutely argued, ‘Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.’

"It is Clear That Many British Muslims Reserve a Special Hatred for British Jews"

An interesting article's just appeared by an Arab supporter of Israel regarding the moral bankruptcy of BDS and how it is damaging the Palestinian people.

It's by Fred Maroun, who was born and grew up in Lebanon, left that country in 1984, and now lives in Canada.

But have you read David Collier's latest blogpost?

It's a real disturbing eye-opener regarding what's going on across British campuses.

And as Mr Collier has remarked today on social media:

Can we now put the question "is BDS antisemitic?" to bed please. I've been to scores of events on campus, and yes, I have heard plenty of rabid antisemitism. But that was always just my experience, my opinion. Until yesterday. We have a few things to build on. We know that without the Palestinian and Islamic societies BDS wouldn't get any airtime at all. We know that standing for positions with the student unions is being used as a way of pushing the BDS cause. We know that on many campuses, especially in the south, events that BDS hold have a mainly Muslim audience. During Apartheid week, in the count for the events I attended, it was always above 70%.

So what do we know now. We know that many of these people in the BDS audience, supporting Apartheid week, think adultery is a crime worth stoning. We know that there is huge support for Sharia law implementation amongst them (rather than democracy), we know that they do not on the whole support freedom of speech, that they have a real problem with gays and of course, that there is a problem with antisemitism.

Which means that in the BDS room.... in the room that just coincidentally happens to have a problem with the Jewish state, there are gay hating, Jew hating, freedom hating, liberty hating people pretending to support a humanitarian cause, just so another one of their pet hates gets fed. And we also now know we are not talking about just a 'tiny minority of them'. It is done now, the argument is over. Whatever BDS inside a book (in theory) might be, we know that in practice much of the crowd is antisemitic. The university has to recognise this and end the practice on campus. BDS is a wagon of antisemitsm.. It is time to force the people off the bus.

And more essential if depressing reading.

 'For at least twenty years, the British Jewish community has been out in front when it comes to interfaith work. As Britain’s Muslim population has grown, British Jews assumed that interfaith models that led to huge advances in relations with British Christians, could apply just as well to relations with British Muslims. Indeed building bridges with British Muslims has become the focus of outreach work by British Jews.

Today, our analysis of the ICM survey of British Muslims for Channel 4 and Juniper Television shows that the gradual buildup of understanding and friendship between Britain’s Jews and Muslims has been utterly eclipsed by growing antisemitism amongst British Muslims.

On every single count, British Muslims were more likely by far than the general British population to hold deeply antisemitic views. It is clear that many British Muslims reserve a special hatred for British Jews, rating Jews much less favourably than people of other religions or no religion, yet astonishingly British Muslims largely do not recognise antisemitism as a major problem.

It has long been suspected that sections of the British Muslim population harboured hatred towards British Jews. This survey goes some way to identifying pockets of prejudice, but it also shows that the prejudice is horrifyingly widespread.

From the ICM survey data made available by Channel 4 and Juniper Television, we have been able to identify some of the worst pockets of prejudice. Antisemitic British Muslims are more likely to be men, to be older than 35, to be social renters, to be in employment, to have been born outside Britain, to live south of the Midlands in England, or in Scotland, and they are overwhelmingly likely to sympathise with terrorism, violence and extremism.

The data is frustratingly limited in one [sic] some respects, and one in particular: it does not delve into the various political and religious movements that comprise the British Muslim population.This data shows that Jews remain the "canary in the coal mine", as they have been throughout history: those who harbour hatred of Jews also hate British society and sympathise with our most deadly enemies. Britain must confront rampant antisemitism within its Muslim population, but also amongst the general population, whose shocking views should be no less concerning simply because the views of British Muslims are worse.'

See the results of the survey with analysis and full report here

Another county heard from: arch-secularist Keith Porteous Wood:

 But at least he's apologised ...

In Britain, "People Are Scared To Talk About Palestine"

Ever wondered what rain in London looks like?  Well, here's your chance to find out.  Courtesy of virulent anti-Israel stalwart Alex Seymour aka Seymour Alexander, footage of umbrellas, wet "Boycott Israel" banners, and pedestrians in raincoats and plastic macs scurrying by.

The most interesting part of this footage? Right at the end, when a rather handsome older gentleman hoves into view.  If only we could hear what he's saying to the assembled little group of (very familiar) Israel-haters.

According to Mr Seymour's intemperate introduction on YouTube:

"The shadowy guy at the end of the video was insistent that we were in league with terrorists but from his Israeli accent I would guess that he was probably in much closer contact with terror gangs ( of the IDF death squad variety ) than we were ever likely to be."

(Some people tell me Seymour's Jewish, btw.)

I intend no ingratitude to Seymour, whose videos I confess I'm drawn to like a moth to a flame, when I say that antipodean readers may find the most interesting bit of this video to be the very very end, when we meet two Australian BDSers from Adelaide who've come along to show solidarity with the ubiquitous Sandra, her equally ubiquitous grey-haired offsider (did you spot her helping to support a banner at the "Al Quds Day" footage I posted recently?), and the rest of the gang:

Meanwhile, from nuts to NUT.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIwfWfp8v4I

At its annual conference in April last year, Britain's Left-dominated National Union of Teachers, the aptly abbreviated NUT, passed the following motion:

“Conference instructs the Executive to:

support TUC policy, to “boycott the goods of, companies who profit from illegal settlements, the Occupation and the construction of the Wall”; pressure the UK Government to call on the Israeli Government to comply with international law and human rights treaties; work to win the backing of Education International and the ETUC(E) for these policies and to seek to collaborate with like-minded unions internationally; convey these views to the Israeli Teachers Union; express our solidarity with the GUPT for its objectives for education and discuss with them ways to develop this solidarity; all for an end to the discrimination against Palestinian students and teachers within Israel; encourage divisions to make links with Palestinian teachers and schools including organising delegation exchanges; encourage Associations, Schools and Divisions to publicise the report of the delegation to members; invite speakers to their meetings and encourage active membership participation in work on this issue; organise a special meeting for Division representatives and International Solidarity Officers to present the report, explain Union policy, outlining ways to develop the work and incorporate regular updates in Divisional Secretaries briefings and school representatives training; and continue to campaign for the rights of Palestinian children including child prisoners and work to engage all members in this campaign encouraging individual membership of and affiliation to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and support for Action for Palestinian Children Prisoners; educate the membership through publications, divisions and international solidarity officers of the ‘Pinkwashing’ propaganda used by Israel to make their citizens and the wider world believe that they are progressive in respect of LGBT rights, while distracting attention away from the human rights abuses they have instigated by their occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.”

How outrageous that British children's education is in such hands!

What is especially rich is the fact that at this year's NUT conference, which took place in April:

Fringe event at conference

'.... Delegates ...  raised concerns about the move to require schools to promote fundamental British values as well as the Government's Prevent strategy, which is aimed at tackling extremism.

The strategy suggests school staff can help to identify and refer youngsters whose behaviour suggests that they are being drawn into extremism or terrorism.

Alex Kenny, of the union's executive, described Prevent as a 'blunt instrument that will do damage and inhibit debate in schools', adding that Ofsted should be allowed 'nowhere near these issues'.

Ofsted now checks that schools are actively promoting British values like tolerance and democracy as part of regular inspections.

Mr Kenny said: 'We live in a damaged and volatile world, and like us, young people are trying to make sense of it, like us, they're trying to come to conclusions about cause, effect and solutions, and like us they want a space to discuss it.

"Schools are places where that discussion, on ethical and political issues should take place, in an environment of enquiry, and it may be an environment where young people say things we don't like, or say things that concern us that we want to address with them, that we want to discuss with them.

But Prevent conflates a notion of British values and an elastic notion of non-violent extremism that is shutting down that debate." ...'

 (More on the NUT's 2015 conference and anti-Israel activity here)

 Hah!  I'd have thought that the NUT's adoption of BDS against the world's only Jewish State is also shutting down debate.

"Zionism's Got To Go!": Al Quds Day, London, 2015

But that's Leftist double standards and hypocrisy for you, to put it no stronger


This week, the NUT and its attitude towards Israel and Prevent has been in the news again, with Al Jazeera alleging:

'School children in the UK who express support for Palestine face being questioned by police and referred to a counter-radicalisation programme for youngsters deemed at risk of being drawn into terrorism under new laws requiring teachers to monitor students for extremism.

One schoolboy told Al Jazeera he was accused of holding "terrorist-like" views by a police officer who questioned him for taking leaflets [produced by Friends of al-Aqsa] into school promoting a boycott of Israel.

The case reflects concerns raised about the expansion of the government's Preventcounter-extremism strategy into schools, with critics complaining that teachers are being expected to act as the "eyes and ears of the state".

Since the beginning of July, teachers have had a statutory duty to monitor and report children who they believe may be susceptible to radicalisation, although Prevent engagement officers, who are usually also police officers, have long been active in schools in areas with significant Muslim populations.

The boy, who was then 15 and attending school in a southern English town, said he was also told that "Free Palestine" badges that he wore were "extremist". Al Jazeera is not naming the student or the school to protect his identity.

"He asked me what I thought of the leaflet," the boy said, describing how a police officer told him he had been brought into the school to "deal with this sort of extremism".

"I explained to him my views about freedom and justice and that I supported Palestine. I said I thought Israel should have tough sanctions put upon it and he said these could be radical beliefs," the boy said.

"He said these are terrorist-like beliefs that you have. He explicitly said you cannot speak about this conflict at school with your friends," the boy said....

The boy said he had subsequently had numerous run-ins with teachers and with the officer, who had an office in the school.

"I asked my form tutor about Prevent and whether he would act as an informant if I said anything, and he said, 'I am uncomfortable with that but that is what I have to do,'" the boy said.

On other occasions, a dinner lady reported him to teachers for inquiring whether any food in the canteen was produced in Israel. A teacher also spoke to his 14-year-old brother, who attended the same school and was told, "Your brother has radical ideas. You advise your brother to stop or we will report him to the intelligence agencies."

Al Quds Day, London, 2015

Al Jazeera has identified other examples suggesting that Palestine-related activism is something that teachers and public officials are being encouraged to look out for as part of their Prevent duties....

 "We've heard of the police going into schools to talk about Prevent to teachers and saying things like, 'If a kid thinks the West is at war with Islam it might be a cause for concern.' Or if a child goes on a demonstration against the bombing of Gaza, 'Keep an eye on him,'" Alex Kenny of the National Union of Teachers told Al Jazeera .....

Ismail Patel, chairman of Friends of al-Aqsa, dismissed allegations that the organisation's leaflets were extremist and accused the government of "veering towards totalitarianism".

"People are scared to talk about Palestine. A lot of mosques now will not put posters up. There is fear in the community so there is self-censorship and self-policing," said Patel. "That really feeds the process of radicalisation because they are not allowing individuals to express their grievances."...' [Emphasis added]

Read more here

"People are scared to talk about Palestine."

 Really?

I must say, to judge from the truly horrible chanting in London on Al Quds Day, that hardly seems to be the case.

I posted footage here of Al Quds Day marches this year, but, in summary, to quote well-known London-based blogger Richard Millett:

'[P]lacards that have appeared at Al Quds Day demonstrations include: “Israel is a disease, We are the cure“, “Listen Israel, Leave!!!”, “For world peace Israel must be destroyed“, “Israel your days are numbered”, “Death to Israel”, “The world stopped Nazism…the world must stop Zionism”.'

Manchild in George's Promised Land

As Britain goes to the polls, an article by a journalist and pundit called Ben Judah begins:

'Welcome to Gallowayland.

This is what I think as I drive into Bradford.

In two hour’s time I will be punched in the head.

The squinty moon-face of one of Britain’s most ferocious orators glares from the street posters, capped by a black fedora.

... George Galloway has turned the constituency of Bradford West into his own world, catapulting into parliament as a Muslim-grievance politician from Britain’s most Islamic city.

Galloway, a former Labour Party MP, has got his seat by using anti-Zionist rhetoric, whilst suing critics who say he is anti-Semitic. His political genius is to have twigged that Bradford’s multiculturalism is a mirage: He now plays the city’s Pakistani clan politics, of family controlled votes, for power.

British civility has collapsed in Bradford’s elections.

The Labour Party is reported to have struggled to choose a candidate without the acquiescence of the Kashmiri clan dominating its local branch, and supporters of its eventual candidate Naz Shah have received menacing threats — like the dead crow, its mouth stuffed with grass, she found on her doorstep.

Bradford has also earned a reputation in Britain as unfriendly to Jews — a place where a journalist who walked the streets in a skullcap in March was almost immediately abused.

Galloway, who heads something called the Respect Party, has declared the city “an Israel-free zone.”

I drive through Gallowayland.

The leader of the Respect Party calls Bradford “the city of gold,” and has been going around the city in an old Rolls Royce, or an open-top double-decker bus fluttering with Pakistani and Palestinian flags.

I drive around shuttered industrial yards, cramped terraces of rising damp, and boarded-up pubs, their roofs sprouting with plants.

Respect has told me they are holding a “rally” in the community hall of St. Martin’s Church that I may attend as a journalist.

I walk into the hall....'

Read the rest here
Update: Galloway has lost his seat!!!

Pro-BDS Israel-Haters Prance & Scream In London's Covent Garden

This is how some London Israel-haters have spent part of this weekend.

I wonder how many, if any, are from the toxic BDS-voting SOAS (see my previous post).

After such a "knees up" let's hope the oldies among them aren't feeling too stiff in the joints today:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl9QZjfvDKA)

Meanwhile, further north in the British Isles, Scottish PSC chief Mick and his retainers have been quick with some tosh re one Josh:

...

Rum sort of analogy, eh?

What can have caused it?

Something in the whisky, perchance? 

 Of the Kuwaiti-born Londoner claimed to be "Jihadi John" (see this troubling article in the Washington Post, btw) a friend reportedly remembers:

'A former friend of the terrorist, who met him in 1999 when they both attended Quintin Kynaston Community Academy in St John's Wood, North London, said he found out Emwazi was a Nazi sympathiser during a Year 9 lesson.

The 27-year-old told the Daily Mirror: 'The teacher told us the Nazis drew up plans to get rid of all the Jews.

'I heard Mohammed mutter "Good, they deserved it". I thought he was joking but later he told me that he hated all Jews and blamed them for the plight of Muslims.'

The school friend said that if they ever walked past a house in Golders Green that Emwazi knew was owned by a Jew, he would shout obscenities such as 'f***king pigs'.'

(Read more here)

And see Douglas Murray's article (with videos) here

Another Scots Israel-basher heard from: read about Gorgeous George's lawfare threats here

"Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism ... Israel Represents The Right To Be Different In The Middle East"; A British Muslim Former Radical On How & Why He Learned To Love Israel (video)

An insightful address in America by former radical Israel-hater Kasim Hafeez, a personable, well-spoken and amusing young Muslim man of Pakistani background from Nottingham, England who now lives in Canada, on why Israel is not an apartheid states and why he's convinced that no "pro-Palestinian movement exists in the Western World ... It is an anti-Israel movement".

He is not afraid to speak about Islamic extremism and the inadequate response of the general Muslim community ("To be honest, the radicals are winning .... We have sleep-walked into this disaster").

And his comments about the Palestinian plight is spot-on.

Woven inextricably into this splendid narrative is his own personal odyssey from an easy-going guy to a confessed antisemitic activist, radicalised at university in Britain, to a staunch supporter of Israel who is shunned by much of his family and receives death threats from "people who can't spell properly". 

Long, but worth listening to, if necessary in instalments.  His passionate defence of Israel, so well-expressed,  will inspire you and warm your heart!

Another great defence of Jews and Israel, this one by Brigitte Gabriel, here:

Jonathan Sacerdoti On Antisemitism in the UK (video) & Melanie Phillips on The Antisemitism Spawned by Gaza (video)

The articulate young British Middle East analyst and commentator explains the background to and purpose of yesterday's huge rally in London calling for "zero tolerance" against antisemitism that, as he says, contained "powerful voices".

More on the rally here

See also Melanie Phillips talking (for nearly an hour) in Israel, "this life-affirming place of hope":

"If We Abandon Israel Today Then One Day – Too Late – We Will Realise That ... What We Abandoned Was Ourselves"

"I love you Douglas Murray. You speak the truth no matter how unpopular that truth is."
Thus writes a lady of discernment, one Persephone Jones.

"Thank you Douglas and thank you the Daily Express. I am hopeful that the penny is finally dropping and that people will now start to join up the dots. The UK stands at the forefront of a tsunami of terror that is about to hit and that it is ill prepared for. This is 1939 all over again. No, I am not being dramatic. We, along with the rest of the Judeo/Christian world are in imminent and terrible danger. Just like 1939 we cannot face the blindingly obvious and are paralyzed by fear - because we refuse to

accept the ghastly truth that we have over 2 million Muslims living in this country and we don't know what they are really thinking. We know something doesn't feel right and we simply don't know what to do.

I do not fear for Israel - of all countries they know exactly who their enemy is and how to confront them. Maybe they will in the end save our civilization, despite their vilification at the hand of their so called friends. Maybe not.

Either way it is the UK that is in real trouble and the rise in Islamic inspired anti-semitism is the first sign of it."

Thus, quite understandably, writes somebody else.

They are among the commenters on a typically courageous and perspicacious article (on the menace posed to all of us by "the black flag of jihad") by the British pundit Douglas Murray that appears today's Daily Express.

In it, Murray, deploring the antisemitism that Operation Protective Edge has unleashed, observes inter alia:

'There are those who think that Israel is somehow the cause of the world’s problems, or that in defending themselves from Islamic extremists Israel is somehow causing Islamic extremism. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The extremists of Hamas are the ideological bedfellows of the extremists of ISIS who are rampaging through Syria and Iraq, crucifying and beheading as they go....

They also share the exact same ideology – if not yet the same means – as those people who were found in Birmingham earlier this year teaching British pupils to hate wider British society and cut themselves off from non-Muslims.

Hyde Park, London

 But it is this last part of the equation which many people seem so incapable of dealing with. They see the millions of Muslims who have come to our continent and see how many of them are radical. But it is a problem they fear they cannot deal with....

... The problem of anti-Semitism, and Islamic anti-Semitism in particular today, is undoubtedly a problem for Jewish people. But it is only a problem for them first. It is a problem for all of us next.What is it that lies behind this terrible Hamas-driven rage against Israel?  What lies behind the desire for Israel to disappear? Today the world is finding out.  

Wakefield, Yorkshire

Because behind the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah which have flown at anti-Israel demonstrations in recent weeks is another flag. The black flag of jihad – the black flag most recently being waved in Iraq and Syria by ISIS....

The ambition of the jihadists – from al-Qaeda to Hamas, Hezbollah, Boko Haram and more – is to subjugate the entire world. ...

 [I]f we abandon Israel today then one day – too late – we will realise that in fact what we abandoned was ourselves."

See all of Murray's compelling article here