| Submit your comments on this article |
| Britain |
| UK: Top job fighting extremism for Muslim who praised bomber |
| 2005-08-21 |
| A Muslim accused of anti-Semitism is to be appointed to a government role in charge of rooting out extremism in the wake of last month's suicide bombings in London. Inayat Bunglawala, 36, the media secretary for the Muslim Council of Britain, is understood to have been selected as one of seven "conveners" for a Home Office task force with responsibilities for tackling extremism among young Muslims, despite a history of anti-Semitic statements. Mr Bunglawala's past comments include the allegation that the British media was "Zionist-controlled". Writing for a Muslim youth magazine in 1992, he said: "The chairman of Carlton Communications is Michael Green of the Tribe of Judah. He has joined an elite club whose members include fellow Jews Michael Grade [then the chief executive of Channel 4 and now BBC chairman] and Alan Yentob [BBC2 controller and friend of Salman Rushdie]." "The three are reported to be "close friends
so that's what they mean by a 'free media'." In January 1993, Mr Bunglawala wrote a letter to Private Eye, the satirical magazine, in which he called the blind Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman "courageous" - just a month before he bombed the World Trade Center in New York. After Rahman's arrest in July that year, Mr Bunglawala said that it was probably only because of his "calling on Muslims to fulfil their duty to Allah and to fight against oppression and oppressors everywhere". Five months before 9/11, Mr Bunglawala also circulated writings of Osama bin Laden, who he regarded as a "freedom fighter", to hundreds of Muslims in Britain. The Muslim Council of Britain was one of several organisations invited to a meeting held by Tony Blair after the London bombings. The Prime Minister said afterwards that he would set up a task force to tackle extremism "head on". Mr Bunglawala's job at the Home Office will be to help to organise a programme to tackle radicalism and extremism among young Muslims. News of his appointment comes 10 days after he wrote to Mark Thompson, the BBC Director General, accusing a forthcoming BBC1 Panorama programme of possessing "a pro-Israeli agenda". Although the programme had yet to be completed, Mr Bunglawala said that the BBC had allowed itself to be used by "highly placed supporters of Israel in the British media to make capital out of the July 7 atrocities in London". The programme, A Question of Leadership, which will air tonight at 10.20pm, seeks to discover whether British Muslim leaders can tackle the extremism in their midst. Obviously not. It features an interview with Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, who says members of the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas are "freedom fighters". Sir Iqbal compares Hamas suicide bombers to Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi. He says: "Those who fight oppression, those who fight occupation, cannot be termed as terrorist, they are freedom fighters, in the same way as Nelson Mandela fought against their apartheid, in the same way as Gandhi and many others fought the British rule in India." Sir Iqbal also refers to the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as "the renowned Islamic scholar". Sir Iqbal attended a memorial service at the Central Mosque in London for Sheikh Yassin after he was killed in an Israeli air strike last year. The programme also shows a leading Saudi cleric, an honoured guest of the East London Mosque, claiming that Islam is "the best testament to how different communities can live together", while back in his pulpit in Mecca, he has referred to Jews as "monkeys and pigs" and also as "the rats of the world". Christians are "cross worshippers" and Hindus "idol worshippers". Mr Bunglawala said: "Those comments were made some 12 or 13 years ago. All of us may hold opinions which are objectionable, but they change over time. I certainly would not defend those comments today." No. Some of these calls to murder and treason were made as recently as this year. The Home Office refused to confirm or deny the appointment. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #5 The BBC program did a pretty good job on Sacranie, pointing out that he refused to attend the Holocaust memorial, but was happy to attend a memorial for Yassin, the leader of a terrorist group whose only objective is to destroy Israel. Sacranie (and various other taqqiyah artists) came across very badly indeed, and this program will hopefully have been very useful in alerting the British people to the enemy in our midst. |
| Posted by: Booper 2005-08-21 21:03 |
| #4 Find out who proposed him, seconded it and all along the ladder - PURGE |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-08-21 18:14 |
| #3 In keeping Islamists and wolves in sheep'sclothes out of govt, the French are way, way, better than the Brits. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-08-21 18:06 |
| #2 "Sir?" fucking Iqbal? I thought knights were from the Round Table. Whomsoever bestowed this upon him will answer for treason. BTW, MCB answer to tonight's programme, excerpt. "Furthermore, Ware's presumption that we live in a truly secular society/world is quite flawed. Take George Bush. His conception of Christianity very obviously informs his political beliefs and actions. But it's not just the United States. At least three members of the UK Cabinet are committed Christians. There are members of the Christian clergy in the House of Lords and Britain has an established Church. Christian values and teachings have been a major influence behind the Welfare state, the NHS, etc. The Pope often meets with world leaders and comments on world affairs. The Archbishop of Canterbury regularly comments on social, economic and major political events. Ruth Kelly, the cabinet minister, has made no bones of her commitment to Opus Dei, remarking "I am a practicing Catholic. Clearly I have strong personal principles. I would have to abide by them in my political career if they are strong personal principles." (The Guardian, 17th December 2004). So it is strange that when Muslims seek to be guided in their social and political beliefs and actions by their faith, Ware describes this as ‘playing politics with religion in a secular country’. To disconnect morality from public life would be to make faith largely irrelevant. A Few Selected Voices of Discontent The Muslim Council of Britain is this country’s largest umbrella body for British Muslims. It's over 400 affiliates represent the diversity of the Muslim community, including schools of thought (Sunni and Shi'a) and ethnic and national groups - from the Kosova Islamic Centre to the Council of Nigerian Muslim Organisations. However, the MCB makes no claim to represent all of the UK’s 1.6 million Muslims and we recognise that there are other senior Muslim individuals and organisations that are not currently affiliated to us and we seek closer cooperation with them, even if they do not wish to formally affiliate with us". Doesn't sound like co-operation to me. |
| Posted by: rhodesiafever 2005-08-21 16:06 |
| #1 The fox in charge of the hen house. Dump this loser...should have been deported. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-08-21 15:14 |