Douglas Murray’s blog post in the Spectator caught my eye yesterday, in which he points out a must-read article in the HuffingtonPost by Mehdi Hasan. No, really:
The Sorry Truth Is That the Virus of Anti-Semitism Has Infected the British Muslim Community
Hasan felt compelled for some reason to speak out against Lord Ahmed’s rant about how a Jewish conspiracy caused his conviction for killing someone while driving and texting at the same time.
To claim that your jail sentence for dangerous driving is the result of a Jewish plot is bigoted and stupid. The peer has since been suspended from the Labour Party and forced to stand down as a trustee of the Joseph Interfaith Foundation. I’m not sure how many “Jewish friends” he has left – if, that is, he had any to begin with.
Full disclosure: I know Lord Ahmed and have defended him in the past. In 2007, he flew out to Sudan to help free the schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons from the clutches of the odious Islamist regime in Khartoum. In 2009, an Appeal Court judge noted how the peer had “risked his life trying to flag down other vehicles to stop them colliding with… his car”. He is not a latter-day Goebbels. But herein lies the problem. There are thousands of Lord Ahmeds out there: mild-mannered and well-integrated British Muslims who nevertheless harbour deeply anti-Semitic views.
No kidding.
The truth is that the virus of anti-Semitism has infected members of the British Muslim community, both young and old. No, the on-going Israel-Palestine conflict hasn’t helped matters. But this goes beyond the Middle East. How else to explain why British Pakistanis are so often the most ardent advocates of anti-Semitic conspiracies, even though there are so few Jews living in Pakistan?
The fact that a visceral hatred of Jews and conspiracy-mongering is rife within the Mohammedan communities around the world is old news to people here, and surely it’s not a stunning revelation to Hasan, either. The real question is, what will the BBC do about this?
To be honest, I’ve always been reluctant to write a column such as this. To accuse my fellow Muslims of being soft on the scourge of anti-Semitism isn’t easy; I feel as if I am ‘dobbing in’ the community, telling tales to the non-Muslim teacher. Nor do I particularly want to assist the English Defence League in its relentless campaign to demonise all Muslims, everywhere, as extremists and bigots.
We aren’t. And we’re not all anti-Semites. But, as a community, we do have a ‘Jewish problem’. There is no point pretending otherwise.
So it’s not news to Hasan after all. He’s been aware of it for a very long time. How about the BBC? We all remember how they leapt to support Baroness Warsi when she lamented that Islamophobia had “passed the dinner table test” in Britain. They made sure to do a Have Your Say on it. The World Service audience got their own Have Your Say, asking who was responsible for Islamophobia. I don’t need to reel out a laundry list of all the news reports, radio shows, and drama programming the BBC has produced in the last few years trying to encourage people to accept Islam, and even welcome it. More recently, in keeping with the BBC’s remit to foster social cohesion, they promoted the national “Wear a Hijab Day”, to encourage girls of all races and religions to spend the day embracing this aspect of Mohammedan culture, to learn how “the other” lives and so bring communities closer together. Some of us joked at the time that we wouldn’t be holding our breath for the BBC to do a “Wear a Yarmulke” day. But now it seems like this would be the perfect opportunity for them to use the special, unique powers and influence of the BBC to take a stand against the anti-Jewish sentiment that has equally passed the dinner table test in Britain. And it’s not just at the dinner parties Mehdi Hasan goes to, either.
Hasan seems to be aware that the Palestinian situation is not necessarily the sole reason for the hatred of Jews amongst his co-religionists. He may not know just how far back it goes (before the creation of Israel, in fact), and one has to equally wonder if anyone at the BBC shares his awareness. Only time will tell. I don’t think Hasan’s purpose here is to delve into the history of anti-Semitism in the Muslim World or anything like that, so there’s no problem with him not going into it. However, the BBC does do history and background, when it suits them, so there’s no excuse for them not to get into it in detail.
If the BBC doesn’t respond to this with even a fraction of the energy with which they’ve attacked the problem of Islamophobia, it will be a clear failure of their Charter-bound duty. Whether or not it’s evidence of a similar epidemic of anti-Jewish sentiment at the BBC remains to be seen.
Not to mention the Guardian, who last year had to apologise for two Anti-Semitic articles by, I think, Deborah Orr. Anti-Semitism is rife on the Left, and their levels of denial about it are matched only by their eternal denial of Stalin & co.
I agree with much of this article. But Mehdi Hasan is not the chair of a major political party and a member of the Upper House, he’s a political journalist and, one might argue, not a terribly important one. So his comments are eminently less newsworthy than those of Baroness Warsi and it would not be fair to judge the BBC’s response to this article – whatever it should turn out to be – as if the two were equivalent.
Except Hasan is a regular on the BBC, and they see him as an important voice. I take your point that he’s not anywhere near the high public position that Warsi was at the time, which is why I’m asking for a mere fraction of the coverage from the BBC, and not an equivalent response. Surely you can agree that the BBC should at least acknowledge there’s a problem.
But the man deserves credit .It took balls to write that article.I was going to make a joke along the lines of
” as much for being a leftist as a muslim”
But the truth is that as leftist apostate, the worst he could expect is the same ‘knuckle dragging racist’ ad hominem that you or I might get.As a muslim his risk of physical attack,though small,is real.
I agree Stewart.
For a Muslim to say such things is quite a risk, but one downplayed by the useless Left and the Guardian huggers at the BBC.
Hasan is a blowhard creep in the main…but I have a new found respect for this individual act of courage.
I`m grateful for small mercies I know, but that`s no reason not to give credit…heck Question Time even had a tweeter attached who was NOT a lefty…this a first?
For a Muslim to say such things is quite a risk […]
As it is for all Muslims in the UK. It is not that they agree with the nut jobs it is that they are frightened of the response they would get from their own community.
Demonising all Muslims for the actions of a few is a futile tactic. Trouble is there are quite a few of ‘a few’ and because they are often the only voice heard they have power. Until organisations like the BBC come out in support of the ordinary Muslims and give them a voice we’ll never hear the condemnations of Islamofascism that I often hear on a one-to-one basis.
Absolutely. He even admits it was a difficult decision to make, and why.
From what I understand islam has been anti-Jew from the beginning of its creation. And reading translated extracts, it is deeply embedded in that book of theirs.
True enough, and all the more reason to accept that Israel is not the only cause, but the conspiracy craziness is a fairly modern phenomenon, which is what Hasan was really getting at.
From… http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/05/misunderstanding_islamic_antis.html…
The uncomfortable examination of Islamic doctrines and history is required in order to understand the enduring phenomenon of Muslim Jew hatred, which dates back to the origins of Islam. Even if all non-Muslim Judeophobic themes were to disappear miraculously overnight from the Islamic world, the living legacy of anti-Jewish hatred, and violence rooted in Islam’s sacred texts – -Koran, hadith, and sira — would remain intact. The assessment and understanding of Islamic anti-Semitism must begin with an unapologetic analysis of the anti-Jewish motifs contained in these foundational texts of Islam. We can no longer view Muslim Jew hatred — including annihilationist strains of this apocalyptic hatred — as a “borrowed phenomenon,” seen primarily, let alone exclusively, through the prism of Nazism and the Holocaust, the tragic legacy of Judeophobic Christian traditions, or “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” from Czarist Russia. ……
Uh-oh David. You’ve mentioned Muslims. Cue the usual accusations of racism.
I know. And I’m aware of the irony of my having recently wished for a one-week moratorium on posts about it. Cue charges of hypocrisy as well, I guess. But as the saying goes, “Events, dear boy, events.”
i wish for nothing more than, hearing zilch
zero, squat, nothing from this dangerous ideology at all.
but as it is a a dangerous ideology, the most dangerous ideology, and keeps driving its adherrents, to murdering, planning to murder, gang raping, stoning, beating, mutilating, subdugating all that don t follow its retarded worldview – week on week,on week
Attempting to silence writers, filmakers, bloggers etc that tell the truth about it
and poisons its next generation to continue
its fascist ideal.
it deserves everthing it gets, which isn t nearly enough.
To balance things up a bit, I understand that those bloody Buddhists have been attacking a certain minority in Burma.
That was the BBC take on it a couple of months back.
Trouble is because of their previous obfuscations I take their construct with more than a pinch of salt.
37 Responses to Anti-Semitism Discovered In the Muslim Community: Shocker!
Breaking news: bear defaecates in woods, papa found to be catholic.
Bearing in mind Hasan’s previous recorded pronouncements about kuffars etc, it’s hard to puzzle out just what could be his motivation here. Interesting times indeed.
Who cares? Whatever he means to accomplish, the meme is out there now. The BBC won’t be be able to hide it.
has infected? …. brit muslim community?
Islam has infected everyone of its adherrents
with jew hatred … if they read their own book,
oops … their own ahem “perfect book” that is.
or maybe follow their “perfect example”, mind you they d have to go a bit he s known to have beheaded 200, yep! thats 200 at a time … feel the love eh!.
ah! … and all that deliberately diversionary, apologetic pap from M,(kaffirs are animals) Hasan too, and i thought muslim groups were worse than useless on stopping antisemitism by mistake 😀
and i thought it was the jooos that were the nazis? too
i couldn t find anything on bbc news about it either?
obama visit and all that?
i wonder if 5lives “panto” cambell, could get the UAF back on his “fascism” show to explain this?
http://news.yahoo.com/hate-graffiti-sprayed-jewish-homes-tel-aviv-065408702.html
Swastikas and “death to Jews” spray-painted on Jewish homes in Tel Aviv.
or … how about the “yearning for peace” pallies , celebrating obamas visit with ……
yep! … swastikas!
http://youtu.be/PVk4Yv4QRSM
I visited Bethlehem as a tourist 10 days ago. You can see from the background to this film that the town is perfectly prosperous. Smart cars, clean buildings and streets. The Arab bus from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was brand-new, air-con etc, just as comfortable as any other bus I travelled on in Israel.
What is all this “pain the Israelis inflict on us every day ” that one of these idiots bleats about ? – I didn’t see any.
These demos are just for media effect, they do not reflect the ongoing daily life of this Arab city.
Bethlehem was a Christian city too, but Christ being a joooooooo…..
Thankfully Israel gave them refuge.
Look at this nut job from America. He reckons that drawing a Mo cartoon is as bad a s burning down a Church. Cartoons the same as arson.
http://youtu.be/T6uZFSj_ueM
think thats bad … listen to this
“my argument is” …
which he obviously isn t sure about, but anyway its just like US and Canada isn t it …
i think, so get ready for 100s missiles yanks … (shakes head)
Fine sentiments, but they don’t stop this Nobel peace prize winner from increasing drone attacks that will kill bystanders, many of whom will be Muslims and assasinating his enemies.
He’s even set up a new drone base in Niger. The Washington Post has raised and eyebrow now. Can the BBC be far behind? Will they dare mention drones and His Nobel in the same sentence? Charlie Brooker mentioned the drones once, but I think he got away with it…..
If the bad guys will insist on deliberately taking “human shields” with them then the bad guys are responsible for the deaths of civilians. Get your head around that this is war and civilians/human shields will get killed..
The BBC in December 2003 simply wrote the Jews out of history .see how the complaint was eventually dealt with. if this is not anti semitism than what is ? ?
http://netanyalynette.blogspot.co.il/2012/08/writing-jews-out-of-history.html
Completely agree. You’d have to work hard to talk about monotheism in Western civilisation and not mention Judaism, which is its source.
Didn’t his previous employer ( The New Statesman ) once have a cover showing a ” gold star of David dripping in blood “. Star of David = Jews, Gold = money, blood = child killers, the old old tropes, he was either working for them at the time and if he wasn’t he must have known about it but still chose to work for these Nazi’s. Don’t hold your breath on the BBBC doing anything on Islamic Jew hatred.
Did anyone see Bowen on the news yesterday discussing a planned settlement? The venomous way he spat out that the pla would consider it a block to a two state solution if “they cover the area with houses for Jews” left me in no doubt of his leanings, disgusting.
Bowen and the BBBC. There were no settlements in 1948, 1956, 1967. So what was the pallys/muslims excuse then for not making peace ? Settlements are just a very convienient excuse. Those in Gaza were destroyed, and for what ? 1000’s of rockets still landing on Israel’s soil.
The two state solution, at least as defined by Abbas, has one state where the Jews are expelled and a 2nd state where the existing Arabs remain and any who come under the UNRWA definition of refugees can enter and take up residence, displacing any Jews who live where someone, mostly grand-parents or great grand-parents once lived.
Bowens is disgusting. No arguments.
Even the BBC recognised the Bowen’s tone of voice showed his true feelings when they re- recorded a broadcast in order to show he wasnot anti Semitic.
See how they dealt with this complaint against him in the last paragraph of this blog
http://netanyalynette.blogspot.co.il/2012/07/imortance-of-tone-of-voicerepetiton-of.html
Mehdi is understating it, perhaps because Muslim anti-semitism is too obvious to deny. The truth is that the Jews (all Jews, not just Israelis, as responsibility is taken to be collective) are currently being subjected to a sharia-ordained jihad. Western incursions into Iraq and Afghanistan were always meant to be temporary and in support of local ‘moderate’ but orthodox Muslims: defensive jihad (the type that is compulsary for all adult males) against the west might be treated as a moot point but a permanent invasion from outside dar al Islam coupled with a breach of their contract of subjugation by middle eastern Jews makes Israel definitely the real thing. Holy war, for Muslims, means the allah approved practices of massacre, rape, abduction and pillage and it is open season on the Jews.
Mehdi Hasan’s Twitter feed says it all:
Tweets by mehdirhasan
KA @ma2j222 2h @mehdirhasan u dumb bastard uncle tom wannabe.so what if no jews in pak ? plenty of jews in america and global media causing trouble in pak
Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan 4h @Abd_al_Rahman_X @desire_truth ah, denialism. What we Muslims are best at.
Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan 14h @HotterThanCurry I didn’t say we are. But generalisations have a role to play. Otherwise we can’t judge any country/people/culture/community
It will be interesting to see what Mehdi write about next related to Islamic issues. Looking at the tweets he’s received since the article he may be confronting the Islamic mentality that we are used to for the first time directly as a subject himself.
‘And the truth shall set you free’
We know there are Muslims in our society who genuinely prefer the values that are inherent in it than those of the lands they descended from. It is fair to assume that they usually don’t speak out against the more virulent mindset within their Muslim community for a few reasons:
1. They don’t want to risk reprisals against themselves, and be used as ‘examples’ for others to keep quiet. In Palestinian areas they would simply call them Israeli collaborators and kill them.
2. They would expect our own society to lead the way in dealing with this menace.
3. Until now, it is usually only when ‘put on the spot’ that the so called ‘moderate Muslim’ denounce any actions committed by the more extreme, that later they can claim within their community that it is part of Taqiyya (lying and deceit) to make the infidels believe they are not condoning these actions.
So it is quite a step for Mehdi to raise his head above the parapet and speak about the mindset from his own volition. I certainly have more respect for him than previously. It had seemed as most moderate Muslims looking at the potential future were simply going to go whichever way the wind blows. Perhaps some are seeing the future where there may be a more radical Muslim dominance in the society and know they don’t want it. It is not an acceptable possibility, and perhaps this motivated Mehdi to try and affect his community.
I hope more come out of the closet.
Not sure I entirely trust Hasan….he seems a pretty convinced Muslim. Probably trying to cement his position in UK media and Establishment as a ‘safe’ Muslim…and be all the more influential because of it.
The more abuse on Twtter etc he gets from other Muslims is a price worth paying…especially as it reinforces his adopted position as a ‘moderate’ to those watching….unless they have a rather cynical view of things as I perhaps have.
I can well understand your reservations Alan. I think it’s only common sense in light of the known strategy that Islam employs in its efforts to undermine and dominate.
I too will sleep ‘with one eye open’ on this, but his words do appear sincere, and beyond the usual trite denouncements we mostly get.
I was going to write something on this subject tomorrow, but Alan you really have surpassed yourself.
Compare the following statements:
“Not sure I entirely trust Hasan….he is after all a Jew”
“Not sure I entirely trust Hasan….he seems a pretty convinced Muslim”
If you consider the first to be abhorrent then why isn’t what you wrote just as disgusting?
It’s exactly the same idiot, racist bigotry; just pointing in a different direction.
Islam isn’t a race.
Dezi, youcould always turn it round and say “Not sure I entirely trust Hasan….he is after all an Israeli”
And that’s where you lefty bigots and racists come in. You never believe or trust a word of a pro-Israel Israeli. All quotes must be caveatted e.g. “Israel says…” or “Israel claims…”
Is it bigoted not to trust somebody if you have good reason not to trust them? Do not think for one moment that Dez trusts everybody equally?
All his claim amounts to is “I am offended that you do not trust somebody I trust” but this is like saying “I am offended if you do not trust Pakistani shopkeepers to give you the correct change”. It all depends if you have a good reason for your suspicion.
As a Leftist Dez just wants to enforce his views on everybody else – on no stronger grounds than that they are his opinions.
In other words it is the usual narcissism and coercive malignancy of the Left. Given his totalitarian mentality it is hardly a surprise that he supports the BBC.
I wonder if he supports increased regulation of the press? Hmmmm. I wonder.
Wild,
“All his claim amounts to is “I am offended that you do not trust somebody I trust…”
I’m not at all “offended” by anyone not trusting Mehdi Hasan. What I am objecting to is Alan’s assertion that he doesn’t trust him because he’s a muslim.
“…but this is like saying “I am offended if you do not trust Pakistani shopkeepers to give you the correct change”. It all depends if you have a good reason for your suspicion.”
Which begs the question; “what is a good reason for not trusting shopkeepers? Is it because they sometimes give you incorrect change, or is it because they are Pakistani?”
“As a Leftist Dez just wants to enforce his views on everybody else…narcissism…coercive malignancy… totalitarian mentality…”
Jeez, I’m just arguing a point. Are you really so fragile you can’t cope with anyone disagreeing with you?
Ignore Dez. He’s pretending that things like this video don’t exist. When somebody has form calling non-Muslims “animals” and things like that, it’s wise to view subsequent moderate poses with caution. It’s not like he’s claiming some damascene conversion, either.
I suspect that Mehdi Hasan’s recent conversion is all part of a power struggle as he tries to position himself within the ‘moderate Muslim’ community. His HuffPo article followed five days after a very similar article in The Times by Maajid Nawaz, Chairman of the Quilliam Foundation which for the last six years has argued against Muslim extremism.
The Quilliam Foundation has performed a number of insightful analyses of British Islam and published some useful documents.
The one which I have found most telling is their investigation of British mosques, where they found that 97% of Imams were foreigners, preaching an ‘Asian’ version of Islam to ‘British’ Muslims.
David,
“We all remember how they leapt to support Baroness Warsi when she lamented that Islamophobia had “passed the dinner table test” in Britain.”
Yes, and what did you say about Baroness Warsi at the time?
“She’s just concerned about her own kind.”
Would you say the same thing about a Jew complaining about anti-semitism? Lovely “not-at-all-racist” David Preisner (USA)?
Dez – such devotion to the cause of the BBC’s defiled impartiality claims deserved recognition. Thank you for your work on behalf of ‘The Sanitizing the Effluence of the BBC Group’
However, I think you need to reread your ‘Rules for Radicals’ again, you’ve been ignoring Rule 5 a little recently Let me remind you: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” I fear you yourself have been on the receiving end this month, and it is not a good look for the organisation.
So, overall while we appreciate the effort we think you must try harder, so just 5/10 this week old chum.
Yes, of course I would, Dez. What an utterly moronic thing for you to say. If a Jew speaks out against anti-Semitism, it’s surely not with the aim of supporting Anabaptists. Your reflexive contradiction simply because you dislike me has caused to you to spout something that makes no sense whatsoever.
Now, please explain how speaking out against discrimination against one’s own community is the exact same thing as speaking out against your own community’s discrimination against another.
Next you can explain why you believe it’s okay for the BBC to spend years making broadcasts condemning Islamophobia and encouraging celebration of one religion, while remaining almost completely silent about similar prejudices against another. Ever heard of Malmö?
Islam is just a pot-pourri of Jewish and Christian practices as observed and picked up by Mohammad due to his circumstances at the time when he wanted a political Arab nation under the one God of their own.
There is hardly anything original in it, the few bits that are,are frankly bizarre and demand “submission”…for any questioning brings the death sentence.
Hence the Rushdie stuff, the discomfort over Tom Hollands honest attempts to explain why the Saudis want any possible archaeological evidence of its “absence from the Arab narrative” to be removed pronto.
Because it simply does not stack up historically, scientifically or even in terms of archaeology, unlike Judaism and Christianity.
Islam was a political movement which united under the one facsimile of a God derived from Judeo-Christian thinking and practices-but given a decidedly sinister slant.
Intellectually and morally it is untenable. Just angry, bitter and coercive…but enough to scare the lefties, hence its elevation to current heights.
The Jews and Christians-the real ones-won`t be scared of it, and will be ready should they need to be….Israel is hated for good reasons, but its friends know its role.
Islam is just a pot-pourri of Jewish and Christian practices as observed and picked up by Mohammad due to his circumstances at the time when he wanted a political Arab nation under the one God of their own.
There is hardly anything original in it, the few bits that are,are frankly bizarre and demand “submission”…for any questioning brings the death sentence.
Hence the Rushdie stuff, the discomfort over Tom Hollands honest attempts to explain why the Saudis want any possible archaeological evidence of its “absence from the Arab narrative” to be removed pronto.
Because it simply does not stack up historically, scientifically or even in terms of archaeology, unlike Judaism and Christianity.
Islam was a political movement which united under the one facsimile of a God derived from Judeo-Christian thinking and practices-but given a decidedly sinister slant.
Intellectually and morally it is untenable. Just angry, bitter and coercive…but enough to scare the lefties, hence its elevation to current heights.
The Jews and Christians-the real ones-won`t be scared of it, and will be ready should they need to be….Israel is hated for good reasons, but its friends know its role.
have you noticed one thing comrades,,,the same in denial bigots from the so called muslim community self appointed leaders have slated medhi hassan for saying it as it is,,,,ditto…are these the same racist bigots who denied there was a problem with muslim paedophile men grooming poor white working class children for sex,,,are these the same sectarian bigots who deny muslim fascism and extremism is nothing to do with islam,,,i ask you this comrades,,,would rather these big mouthed with little brains muslim leaders just hush hush everything just to pretend islam is the religion of peace………….huh……………………
Beeboid ears burning?:-
“Sharia in action in the mainstream media: Muslim gang-rapes across Europe under reported in press”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/03/sharia-in-action-in-the-mainstream-media-muslim-gang-rapes-across-europe-underreported-in-press.html
EGYPT.
The political tone of this BBC-NUJ Cairo Bureau piece appears to side with the Muslim Brotherhood, not with the ‘protesters’.
“Egypt’s opposition protesters clash with Islamists”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21906461
Of course, if the ‘protesters’ were ‘Syria rebels’ (Sunni jihadists),
or ‘Uncut’ or ‘Greenpeace’, then, of course, BBC-NUJ would support them.