The Multi-Million Dollar War on Islam | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

 

Who profits from making people fear Muslims? In this Focal Point episode, Imam Tom exposes the multi-million dollar network fueling Islamophobia—fake experts, front organizations, and political actors who weaponize misinformation for profit and power.

This isn’t ignorance, it’s strategy. Who funds the fear? Who benefits? And how do we counter it?

How Anti-Muslim Propaganda Is Spilling into India’s Film Industry

 

The Bollywood produced film The Kashmir Files opened in cinemas throughout India and the rest of the world on Friday. It tells a story about the exodus of Hindus – the Pandits – from Indian administered Kashmir during the early 1990s.

The script could have easily been written and directed by Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or its political wing – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kashmiri Muslims are portrayed as bloodthirsty killers and rapists, while Kashmiri Hindus are cast as hapless and defenceless pacifists, who refuse to take up arms against so-called “jihadists”, a pejorative term used to cloak local opposition to Indian rule in Islamic extremism. Expectedly, the Indian Government’s eternal bogeyman – Pakistan – lurks sinisterly in the background.

In a climatic point in the film, the late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto screams: “We will never allow Kashmir to become an integral part of India,” among calls for jihad from local religious leaders, therefore echoing the current Indian Government and its supporters, who have long accused Kashmiri Muslims of being puppets of Pakistan.

Kashmiri Hindu women and children are shown to be shot mercilessly in the head from point blank range, as radicalised Muslims roam the streets of Srinagar in search of their next victim. Historical facts be damned. This is the telling of a Pandit “genocide”, according to the film’s producers, who blend Hindu nationalist tropes with garden variety Islamophobia and straight up falsehoods.

For starters, there’s virtually no evidence that a Hindu genocide occurred in Kashmir during the 1990s.

Even the Indian Government reported that fewer than 220 Pandits were killed in Kashmir during the period spanning 1989 to 2004, a number that was contradicted by Srinagar district police headquarters in 2021, when it reported 89 Pandits had been killed during the past 31 years.

If this meets the definition of genocide, then so does the killing of 1,800 Muslims in Assam in 1983, the mass murder of 2,000 Muslims during the violence that swept Gujarat in 2002, and the Delhi Riots in 2020, which left 51 Muslims hacked, burned, and shot to death. But none of these mass atrocities were called a genocide, a term that has been reserved by Hindu nationalists crimes committed by “Islamic extremism”.

More to the point – if 89 to 219 dead Kashmiri Hindus equates to genocide, then what name do you give to the killing of at least 50,000 but potentially 100,000 Kashmiri Muslims by Indian occupation forces since 1989? And what name do you give to their nearly 10,000 unmarked graves?

Were you to count the number of inconvenient truths omitted from the screenplay, you’d not only run out of fingers and toes, but also marbles and loose change. The producers do not want the audience to know that the exodus of Pandits took place under Jammu & Kashmir Governor Jagmohan Malhotra, who was appointed by the central Government, which was supported by BJP.

For this reason, Kashmiri Muslims insist that the exodus was a “concentrated effort” by Jagmohan Malhotra to first “clear the Pandits from the valley, before turning the guns on their vulnerable selves,” writes Vijaylakshmi Nadar in a recent op-ed for the Indian Observer.

In mythologising the tumultuous political events that swept the valley during the early 1990s, The Kashmir Files not only advances Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda by further polarising the electorate, but also legitimises the persecution of innocent Kashmiri Muslims at the hands of Indian occupation soldiers.

It’s impossible to ignore that the movie is being released two years after the Government stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status, while imposing draconian lockdowns, curfews, mass arrests and communication blackouts. And at the same time BJP leaders vow to make Muslims second-class citizens, while some Hindu nationalist leaders call for a Muslim genocide.

Worryingly, the movie is being screened for free in many Indian cities, which will only whip up further hatred towards Muslims and drive a great number of Hindus towards BJP’s ultra-nationalist agenda, one that posits Islam and Pakistan to be a threat to the country’s Hindu majority.

To this end, The Kashmir Files accords with the imagination of the Indian Government’s unofficial Ministry of Propaganda, with Islam, Muslims, and Pakistan making a fearsome presence in every scene.

In India, we have a ruling party that not only draws its ideological inspiration from the Nazi Party, but also serves up propaganda to promote Hindu nationalism, the political ambitions of BJP, while demonising political opponents and Muslims.

Indeed, the Indian Government has helped pay for the film to be promoted in the United States. It knows that if it can get American audiences to see Hindus as victims of radical Islamic terrorists, then it can silence US opposition to its Hindu settler-colonial enterprise in Kashmir.

Modi has carefully studied how pro-Israel groups have undermined political support for the Palestinians in falsely framing Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation as the product of Islamic extremism, not secular resistance to colonial rule.

The Kashmir Files does exactly that to Kashmir’s Muslim majority population.

Link

Why do French politicians have a problem with Muslims?

Hating Muslims, loving Zionists: Israel as a far-right model

On March 17, the Israeli Supreme Court banned Michael Ben Ari, the leader of the extremist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party from participating in the April 9 general elections, arguing that allowing him to run for the Knesset would "legitimise racism".

The ruling came less than a month after Otzma Yehudit entered into an electoral alliance with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, causing shock and anger in certain political circles within and outside Israel.

"The place of people who believe in the superiority of race is behind bars, not in parliament," said Tamar Zandberg, the leader of the opposition Meretz Party in a statement after the coalition was announced. Even the hawkish American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the influential pro-Israel lobby group and close ally of Netanyahu, seemed upset by the move. "The views of Otzma Yehudit are reprehensible. They do not reflect the core values that are the very foundation of the State of Israel," AIPAC tweeted.

But for Palestinians, who are on the receiving end of Israel's institutionalised racism, military occupation and apartheid, there is no difference between Otzma Yehudit and Likud or any other mainstream Israeli party. They know Israel's long history of racism is in constant flux.

In fact, just last May, Israel passed a nation-state law, which ended once and for all, any supposed confusion about Israel's identity. The new law openly declared Israel as "the nation state of the Jewish people", completely disregarding the Palestinian people and marginalising their rights, culture, language and history.

The political platform of Otzma Yehudit and the many racist and violent pronouncements of Ben Ari are not fundamentally different from the text of the nation-state law, or the myriad offensive statements made routinely by top Israeli mainstream politicians like Ayelet Shaked, Naftali Bennett and Ariel Uri.

Yet Israelis and Israel supporters continue to insist on the distinction between the Israeli far right and mainstream because they want to preserve the illusion that Israel upholds the values of democracy, transparency and human rights.

This is meant to cover up Israel's dark underbelly of racial supremacy, military occupation and apartheid and the role it is currently playing within the emerging global far-right menace.

It is not coincidental that far-right ideologues and extremist groups are celebrating its racism and violence against the perceived common enemy: the Muslims. They see its "war on terror" and victimisation of Muslims as a model.

This link between Israel and the far-right movements around the world, however, is not one based solely on their shared hatred for Islam and Muslims or common goals of Zionism and white supremacy.

There is increasing evidence that Israel and far-right groups around the world are converging in a global movement that aims to promote and grow far-right ideology and politics.

At the core of this emerging union is the conspiracy theory of the "great replacement" which was laid out by the infamous far-right ideologue Renaud Camus in his book "Le Grand Remplacement". Camus offers an extreme interpretation of Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilisations", arguing that Europe faces a Muslim invasion which will lead to "change of civilisation".

This idea has spread beyond Europe and reached as far as North and South America, India, Australia, etc. In it, Israel sees a reflection of its own demographic anxiety about the fact that the Palestinians have been and remain the majority on the ground in Palestine.

And while this theory in some places has also acquired anti-Semitic tinges - such as in the US, where in 2017 a far-right march chanted "Jews will not replace us!" - Israel has actively encouraged belief in it. 

European far-right ideologues and groups who espouse the "great replacement" conspiracy theory are also all eager supporters of Israel.

Camus, himself, has expressed his admiration for Israel on a number of occasions. In December 2017, after Donald Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, he tweeted: "Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Israel is a model of resistance. We must make Europe a greater Israel".

During a 2015 speech, Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who is well known for his Islamophobia, said: "There is nothing wrong with preserving our own Judeo-Christian civilization. That is our duty […] Look at Israel, learn from Israel; Israel is an island in a sea of Islamic barbarism. Israel is a beacon of freedom and prosperity in a region of Islamic darkness. Israel refuses to be overrun by jihadists. So should we." 

Former leader of the English Defence League, Tommy Robinson has claimed that "Jewish people are persecuted [by Muslims] and no one speaks out for them."

Both Wilders and Robinson have received money from the pro-Israel think-tank, the Middle East Forum, to offset their legal costs after they were charged with incitement of hate against Muslims.

Austrian Vice-Chancellor and leader of the far-right Freedom Party Heinz-Christian Strache, who has called for "zero immigration" and putting "an end to the policy of Islamisation" in Austria, has visited Israel a number of times in recent years and supported moving the Austrian embassy to Jerusalem.

Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who has been linked to the German Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident (PEGIDA), chose to launch his electoral campaign for the Italian elections during a 2016 visit to Israel, where he declared: "Israel embodies the perfect balance of different realities, while ensuring law and order. It surely is a role model for security and anti-terrorism policies." Two years later, Salvini won enough votes to form a coalition government with the populist Five Star movement.

Salvini's electoral success, along with Strache's in Austria and Viktor Orban's in Hungary, have brought far-right ideas into European governance. In countries across Europe, South and South-east Asia and the Americas, where the far right has failed to make it to the government, it has still managed to push national politics to the right.

This global far-right movement has also emboldened the grassroots and encouraged more violence, where rabid Islamophobia has also been combined with admiration for Israel.

Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed six worshipers in a Quebec mosque in 2017, was a fan of the Israeli army and pro-Israel groups such as "United with Israel".

Brenton Tarrant, who killed 50 Muslims in Christchurch and who refers to Camus' conspiracy theory in his manifesto, visited Israel, along with other countries, where he was searching for the proverbial clash of civilisations and struggle against the "Muslim invaders". He was recently found to have donated money to the far-right anti-Muslim group Identitarian Movement Austria.

Considering the degree of violence now associated with these far-right groups and parties, it is essential that we move with our understanding from merely analysing possible links to strongly confronting all channels of political support and validation they receive, including from Israel.

Israel's success in making its war on Palestinians a global cause, shared among far-right ideologues worldwide is not just a danger to world peace, but a precursor for more deadly violence, from Gaza to Quebec to Christchurch.

Link

Twice a Victim: How Have Attacks Affected Muslims in Europe?

Why Jew Hating Trump Supporters Love Israel.

Their open fondness is built on two premises:“If Trump is pro-Israel, then he can’t be an anti-Semitic, white nationalist” is the logic that underpins this new right-wing orchestrated talking point, but anyone who follows the machinations of the Israel Lobby and its cadre of Zionist organizations and individuals knows only too well that far-right, white nationalist, and even avowed neo-Nazis have long been courted as allies in their fight to permanently erase Palestinians from the ever expanding Israeli controlled territory.

In fact, Israel not only weaponizes anti-Semitism to provide cover for its brutal security state apparatus, but also it was European anti-Semitism that created the Israeli state in the first place. When Theodor Herzi, the founding architect of the “Jewish state,” brought forward his idea for creating a state in Palestine for exiled European Jews in 1896, prominent Jewish intellectuals dismissed his idea, claiming it undermined Jews who had assimilated successfully in European societies.

Dejected but not defeated, Herzi enlisted the help of the Chaim Weizmann, a prominent British Jewish figure, who, in turn, won support for Herzi’s proposed white European settler colonial project by recruiting the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, an avowed white supremacist.

“We have to face the facts,” Balfour said. “Men are not born equal, the white and black races are not born with equal capacities: they are born with different capacities which education cannot and will not change.”

Balfour also enacted anti-immigration laws that were designed to restrict and prevent Jews migrating to Britain. In many ways, Balfour’s ban on Jews was the 100 year precedent to Trump’s ban on Muslims.

In November 1917, the Balfour Declaration laid the groundwork for the future state of Israel, stating that, “His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object.”

Balfour thus became a hero among Zionist Jews, who were only to happy to ignore his demonstrable record of avowed white supremacy and anti-Semitism, which brings us to where we are with Trump and white supremacists today.

During the past year, Trump has deployed anti-Semitic tropes, retweeted anti-Semitic posts, and has given cover to anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi agitators, going so far to label thousands of Nazi flag waving, “Sieg Heil” saluting thugs as “very fine people.”

In return, America’s Jew haters have praised Trump for his “honesty” and his defence of white America. What is telling, however, is the same anti-Semitic hate groups and individuals also support Trump’s decision to validate Israel’s war crime, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

You see, while Nazis and white supremacists might still hate Jews, they simultaneously also love the apartheid Israeli state.

Their open fondness is built on two premises:

Muslims have replaced Jews as the number one target for European white supremacists, and Israel’s abusive mistreatment of a majority Muslim population inspires them greatly, and
They love that Israel is everything they dream of: a fascist ethnocratic brute that suppresses a non-white indigenous population.
Across Europe and the US, Israeli flags now wave comfortably alongside Nazi and white supremacist banners. When 60,000 ultranationalists marched on Poland’s capital last month, Israeli flags were there. When neo-Nazis marched on Charlottesville, Virginia, Israeli flags were neatly nestled among flags of the Confederacy. Paradoxically, however, anti-Semitism remains at the heart of the platforms of all white supremacy groups that turned up to either.

Zionism and white supremacy are not strange bedfellows, but natural allies, according to Nada Elia, adding that, “Both represent a desire to establish and maintain a homogeneous society that posits itself as superior, more advanced, more civilised than the “others” who are, unfortunately, within its midst, a “demographic threat” to be contained through border walls and stricter immigration law. American fascism, then, is holding up a mirror to Zionism.”

The intersectionality between anti-Semitism and pro-Israel fervour is no accident. It was a strategy hatched and formulated by far-right, white nationalists in Britain in the late 90s before gaining traction in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

When Nick Griffin, a Holocaust denier, took the helm of the far right, ultranationalist British National Party (BNP) in 1999, he shelved his public anti-Semitism, replacing it with open hostility towards Muslim.

Having never made a public statement about Islam or Muslims previously, Griffin suddenly attacked Islam as a “vicious, wicked faith,” while also claiming the “Islamification” of his country had taken place via “rape.”

From this moment forth, anti-Semitic political entrepreneurs on the far right began adopting pro-Israel talking points to mask their naked anti-Muslim bigotry, and Griffin admitted as much when he penned a 2007 essay that stated the motives behind substituting the far-right party’s anti-Semitism with Islamophobia: “It stands to reason that adopting an ‘Islamophobic’ position that appeals to large numbers of ordinary people?—?including un-nudged journalists?—?is going to produce on average much better media coverage than siding with Iran and banging on about ‘Jewish power’, which is guaranteed to raise hackles of virtually every single journalist in the western world.”

Zionists of all stripes teamed up and leveraged the political mobilizing power of anti-Semitic far right groups. NYU adjunct professor Arun Kundnani noted that by 2008, “a group of well-funded Islamophobic activists had coalesced” in order to demonize Muslims and Islam for the purpose of gaining support for Israeli policies of occupation, segregation and discrimination from far-right voters, white supremacists, and anti-Semites.

These pro-Israel individuals began positioning themselves as “counter-jihadists,” and, in turn, became darlings of the far right media landscape, with some even making their way into Trump’s foreign policy circle. Frank Gafney, for instance, who warned the US government had been taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood, continues to have Trump’s ear.

So, no?—?Trump’s move on Jerusalem does nothing to assuage his prior expressed sympathies with anti-Semitic white supremacists. It only reminds us how deeply Zionism and white supremacy are woven into the DNA of two respective white settler colonial states: Israel and the United States.

Link

Quebec City mosque shooter 'not a monster' say parents

The parents of the 28-year-old man who opened fire on worshippers in a Quebec City mosque, killing six men and injuring more than a dozen others, have blamed years of bullying and intimidation for their son’s actions, saying he is not a “monster.”
After pleading guilty to six counts of first degree murder in March, Alexandre Bissonnette is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole for up to 150 years.
As sentencing arguments wrapped up on Thursday, Raymond Bissonnette and Manon Marchand spoke publicly for the first time since the shooting, expressing their sympathy to the victims and lashing out at the crown prosecutor for minimising the relentless bullying Bissonnette suffered in school.

“Alexandre is not a monster,” Raymond Bissonnette told reporters as his wife fought back tears beside him. “The crown said that all young people are bullied at some time in their lives and don’t commit serious crimes. I think that this opinion does not do justice to the serious damage and suffering caused by bullying and intimidation.”
They had worked for years to address the bullying but failed, leaving Bissonnette battling mental health issues. “Unfortunately, Alexandre’s mental condition caused by the years of intimidation was not identified by us nor by the doctors he consulted,” he said.
He noted that the crown did not order a psychiatric examination after Alexandre’s arrest. Instead it sought to “demonise” their son by seeking six back-to-back life sentences, amounting to a 150-year sentence that could rank as the longest in Canadian history.
“One hundred years is actually a death sentence in disguise; we all know that,” said Raymond Bissonnette. “I fear that in my son’s case, the crown is seeking a political, not a judicial sentence.”

Nearly 50 people were at the mosque in 2017 when the three-minute shooting rampage began. Video of the attack played in court showed Bissonnette pausing numerous times to reload his semi-automatic Glock handgun as worshippers scrambled to protect the handful of children in the mosque at the time.
Bissonnette’s parents have attended much of the sentencing hearing, listening quietly as the victims’ families detailed how the killings shattered their lives and left many in the city’s tight-knit Muslim community fearing for their safety. “I would like to express to them, once again, in my name and my family’s name, all our compassion, our sympathy with them in this terrible, terrible, terrible ordeal,” Raymond Bissonnette said.

Canada mosque shooter says he was motivated by Trudeau welcoming refugees

Earlier this year, prosecutors sought to paint Alexandre as an unrepentant killer who saw violence as a means of avenging the relentless bullying he had suffered in school.

The court heard that Bissonnette had trawled the internet, obsessively following the social media feeds of Donald Trump and right-wing commentators in the US and scouring for content to feed his resentment of immigrants, Islam and feminists as well as his fascination with mass shooters.
When asked if he had anything to say, a tearful Alexandre said he was ashamed of his actions. “I regret that my life has caused so much suffering and pain for so many people,” he told the judge.

In February, Bissonnette’s parents issued a written statement, hinting at their anguish in the wake of the attack. “The immense pain and suffering caused to the innocent victims and their families by this inexcusable act remains for us, to this day, totally inexplicable,” they said. “Alexandre remains our son whom we love and who will always remain a part of our family. Like all parents, we had hoped to see him succeed and be happy in life. In a sense, we, too, have lost a son.”

The judge is not expected to hand down a sentence until October.

Link

Board announces ‘urgent review’ into deputy, after JC reveals she promoted ‘Islamophobic’ views

The Board of Deputies has pledged an “urgent and detailed case review” into one of its deputies who has expressed what have been described as “Islamophobic” and “anti-Arab” views.

The JC has seen tweets shared by Roslyn Pine, who stood unsuccessfully to be vice-president of the Board in last month’s elections, describing Muslims as “the vilest of animals”, as well as one describing Arabs as “so evil”.

She also retweeted a message describing Arab migrants to Europe as “an invading army”.

The JC understands her account, @RoslynPine, was suspended by Twitter in November 2017. Mrs Pine admitted running the account but denied ownership of another account, @Pine_Roslyn, which was also suspended.

She denied establishing a third account, @toscasbacci, which shares anti-Muslim messages and tweets supporting right-wing figures such as Tommy Robinson. The account features the same profile image as one allegedly previously used by Mrs Pine on her WhatsApp account. She denied it was her account on the messaging service.

Mrs Pine is currently a deputy for Finchley United Synagogue and previously represented North Salford Synagogue in Manchester.

Speaking to the JC, she defended her right to hold “views against Islam”, denying it was Islamophobic to do so.

Mrs Pine added: “There is no such word as Islamophobic. ‘Islamophobia’ is trying to shut down criticism of Islam. I detest the creed of Islam and I’m entitled to say it.

“I have an issue with Muslims and Arabs who want to kill us, who want to destroy Israel. And that is an Islamic fundamental if you know anything about what the Koran is.

“I have views that offend people. That is what a free society is. To criticise a religion — including Judaism — I have no problem with that. In a free society you should be able to criticise a body of ideas.”

New Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl has ordered a report on Mrs Pine from the internal committee responsible for breaches of its code of conduct. Mrs van der Zyl said: “I will not tolerate any anti-Muslim hatred whatsoever. Irrespective of this particular case, I have also asked for a complete list of the sanctions available to us and recommendations for whether these are sufficient.

“I have asked that this be on my desk by no later than the end of next week.

“As a community that has faced more than our fair share of prejudice, we need to be crystal clear on this and lead the fight to defeat it.”

Previous internal reports into Mrs Pine’s conduct — as well as notices that complaints have been lodged against her — were not circulated among deputies ahead of the election.

A fellow deputy, who wished to remain anonymous, described Mrs Pine’s conduct as “very problematic”, adding that she had frequently used “racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic language”. The deputy added: “She is a very proud person and she doesn’t want to change her views or tone down anything she says.

“It doesn’t show a good side of the Board to younger deputies. She has treated people in an offensive manner, and her language has also been quite violent.”

Link

What is the business of hate? Islamophobia Inc. in the US

The forgotten Muslim heroes who fought for Britain in World War 1

Algerian soldiers on the way to the western front arrive in Paris in 1914. Photograph: Photo 12/UIG via Getty Images

Good piece in The Guardian today about the Muslim Soldiers in WW1 that fought for the British Empire.

A biting wind whips across the rolling countryside, cutting through the crowd gathered on a hillside overlooking Notre Dame de Lorette, France’s national war cemetery. Huddled amid what remains of the 440 miles of trenches that made up the western front, they shudder out of shock and surprise rather than cold while listening about life for the men who endured the horrors of the first world war.

More than 1.5 billion artillery shells fell in this part of northern France, close to the town of Arras, prompting soldiers to nickname the farmland in which they fought “the hell of the north”, or poignantly, “the cemetery”. It is the experiences of some of their Muslim comrades, however, that particularly capture the crowd’s imagination, drawing looks of disbelief at a history that has never been fully told.

Having travelled thousands of miles from hotter climes, these soldiers went into the trenches with imams whose duties included leading group prayers and reciting the call to prayer into the ears of the dying. Special orders had been issued on when and how to pray. “If the war is intense and the Muslim does not have a moment of peace to fulfil his prayer he can just move his head and torso,” said a declaration from French high command. “In the case where there are moments of calm, one can complete the prayer together.”

Hot halal food was routinely served, prepared by cooks who had accompanied the men. When medical supplies ran out, some of these soldiers used traditional herbal medicines from their homelands to help treat injured comrades, whatever their faith. Others taught their folk songs to those serving alongside them, whatever their language, in between the brutal onslaughts of trench warfare.

The evidence of their sacrifice is on display in a corner of Notre Dame de Lorette, which contains the graves of 40,000 French soldiers who fell on the western front. The Muslim headstones are distinguishable not just by their Islamic inscriptions but because they also tilt eastwards towards Mecca. They were designed by the French painter Etienne Dinet, who converted to Islam in 1908.

The crowd of mainly British Muslims, who were at Notre Dame de Lorette before this weekend’s Armistice Day commemorations, ended their visit by praying over the graves of the north African soldiers who shared their faith. Their visit formed part of a groundbreaking project by an organisation called the Forgotten Heroes 14-19 Foundation, which has, for the first time, documented the contribution of all the Muslims who fought and worked for the allied forces during the first world war. The 19 in its name refers to the conflict that was caused by the French military presence in Syria in 1919 after the first world war ended.

...

They were drawn from across Africa, India, the far and middle east, Russia and even America, but it is their heart-touching stories of living and dying alongside European Christian or Jewish counterparts that have resonated the most with Ferrier and his team. Knowing this history, they say, could help overcome some problems in the Europe of today.

Documents uncovered have shown instances of imams, priests and rabbis learning each other’s burial ceremonies and prayers to lay the dead to rest on the battlefront. There are reports of Muslim soldiers sharing food with hungry civilians, while French, Belgian and Canadian officers expressed surprise at their humane treatment of German prisoners of war. When asked to explain their conduct, the soldiers quoted the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad on how enemy combatants should be dealt with.

Ferrier, who is not a Muslim, said: “The far-right and Islamophobia is on the rise throughout Europe. Our project is about making all people across the continent understand that we have a shared history. This is not about politics or colonialism. We are simply presenting the facts because this is a story that the whole of Europe needs to know.

“Muslims are portrayed as the enemy within, that they are recent arrivals who have never made a valuable contribution to Europe. But we can show that they have sacrificed their lives for a free Europe, have helped to make it what it is and that they have a right to be here.”

Central to the foundation’s ethos is spreading knowledge of its findings to young Britons and Europeans in particular, with the aim that this will help future generations better understand the Muslim communities living among them. The battlefield tours, entitled The Muslim Experience in World War One, are organised in partnership with Anglia Tours, a company that specialises in battlefield visits for British schoolchildren.

In addition to visiting the trenches, memorials and graves, and hearing the human stories behind them, the tour also includes a visit to the El Badr mosque in Amiens for a presentation on the foundation’s research, followed by a traditional north-African meal. Non-Muslim visitors are also encouraged to witness evening prayers.

 ...

The foundation’s work has already caught the eye of first world war experts. Last month, Ferrier addressed historians at Harvard University and he has also presented a paper to the UN. Plans are under way for a book next year that will contain extracts of the documents and images that have been uncovered, and an exhibition is to tour Europe. As the research continues, he estimates that the current figure of 2.5 million Muslims helping the allies during the first world war could increase.

...

MUSLIM COMRADES

Soldiers

400,000 Indians (British Indian army)

200,000 Algerians , 100,000 Tunisians, 40,000 Moroccans, 100,000 West Africans, 5,000 Somalis and Libyans (French army)

5,000 American Muslims

1.3 million Russian Muslims

Labourers

100,000 Egyptians

35,000 Chinese Muslims

130,000 North Africans

200,000 Sub Saharan Africans

40,000 Indians

 Source

‘It only takes one terrorist’: the Buddhist monk who reviles Myanmar’s Muslims

Islam represents only 5% of Myanmar’s population of 54 million, but nationalists like Wirathu are pushing the idea that the faith puts Buddhism, and the very essence of Myanmar, in jeopardy. He claims the 1 million Rohingya Muslims living in precarious conditions in his country – described by human rights agencies as the most persecuted people on Earth – “don’t exist”.

“It only takes one terrorist to be amongst them,” he says. “Look at what has happened in the west. I do not want that to happen in my country. All I am doing is warning people to beware.”

Wirathu adds that if Donald Trump or Nigel Farage need some advice he will happily share his ideas. These include infiltrating the Facebook pages of Muslim groups, getting all Islamic schools to record their lessons, and government surveillance of internet activity, including emails. Wirathu claims he has his own army of individuals screening the net in Myanmar.

On the well-documented situation of the Rohingya in Rakhine state – where people have been left without access to medicines, aid, and basic human necessities such as clean water, sanitation and food – Wirathu is dismissive. The Rohingya have been mostly couped up in camps since the 2012 violence, and the silence of Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy on their plight has attracted growing criticism.

Wirathu rejects the stateless Rohingya as illegal immigrants, a view echoed by the government. He will only discuss them if the description “Bangladeshis” is used, and even then Wirashu says the situation is not as it is portrayed.

“If it is true what [outsiders say], then I would offer help but I have visited the camps on many occasions. The aid agencies are refused access because they are using the refugees to fill their own pockets. Bangladeshis are posing for the media. They are not starving. They have so much food that they are selling it on in their shops – stealing even from their own.”

On the allegations that women have been abused and raped by the military, he laughed: “Impossible. Their bodies are too disgusting.”

There have been calls outside Myanmar for Aung San Suu Kyi to return her Nobel peace prize for her failure to tackle the situation with the refugees, which has broken her own promises on human rights.

Source

Florida mosque arsonist shared extreme pro-Israel propaganda

The man accused of setting fire to the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce in Florida a week ago is an ardent supporter of Israel who labeled all forms of Islam as “radical.”

Joseph Michael Schreiber, a 32-year-old messianic Jew, was arrested at his home in St. Lucie, Florida, on Wednesday and charged with arson and a hate crime. Police say he confessed after his arrest.

His attack is part of a spate of anti-Muslim hate crimes since the start of the current US election season.

The mosque he set ablaze has been regularly attended by the father of Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen and the crime was committed on 11 September, which marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The attack was also the night before the Islamic center was due to hold a community celebration for Eid al-Adha.

Full article

Hate Group in Texas Threatens to Kill Muslims – And Nobody Asks Where the Group Was Radicalized

One BAIR member in the video stated, “A lot of us here are using either pig’s blood or bacon grease on our bullets, packing it in the middle so that when you shoot a Muslim, they go straight to hell”. Another member insisted, “Don’t f*ck with white people.”

David Wright, spokesperson for BAIR, said he was “going to start doing something about Muslims… now”. That’s code word for “I’m going to threaten Muslims with violence”.

Clearly, members of BAIR are misinformed and uninformed. One member told AJ+, “the next step in jihad does not involve random, sporadic attacks… They start killing people”.

Actually, no. That’s not true.

I teach the course “Muslims in American Society” at Rice University in Houston, not too far from Irving, where BAIR is based. Our class, composed of Muslims and non-Muslims, takes a careful look at the various dimensions of jihad. The students, I should add, get alone perfectly fine despite coming from largely Christian and Muslim backgrounds.

Jihad has many meanings. It’s often misinterpreted to mean “holy war”, obvious in the case of BAIR, but jihad really means “to struggle” or “to strive”. A jihad might be waking up when your alarm goes off in the morning. A jihad might be putting up with an annoying relative on a holiday.

A jihad might be turning the other cheek when blatantly Islamophobic groups like BAIR openly call for the murder of Muslims.

It’s true there is an offensive or “violent” form of jihad, but it’s for purposes of self-defense.  The Quran, the Islamic holy book, calls on Muslims to “jihad” against the use of violence. The Quran (5:32) states, “if anyone slew a person unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land it would be as if he slew the whole of humanity: and if anyone saved a life it would be as if he saved the life of the whole of humanity”. In another Quranic passage (2:190), Muslims are told, “fight in the case of God those who start fighting you, but do not transgress limits (or start the attack); for God loveth not transgressors”.

Full article

A Hard Look at Islamophobia in America

Jail for Leeds thug who threw can of alcohol over Muslim woman

 

AN ISLAMOPHOBIC thug who threw a can of alcohol over a Muslim woman and her child as they walked along the street has been sent to jail.

Kravier Freeman hurled foul-mouthed racist abuse and threatened the woman with a butcher’s knife during the incident in Leeds.

Leeds Crown Court heard that the victim was a young white woman who had converted to Islam and married a Muslim man.

Freeman targeted the 21-year-old as she walked past his home on Berkeley View, Harehills, on July 5, this year.

Freeman, 31, was out of prison at the time of the incident and had been drinking heavily throughout the day with others.

The victim was walking home with her son after getting food from a takeaway at around 8.30pm.

Nick Addlington, prosecuting, said Freeman approached the woman and said: “Why are you with a p***? Why are you wearing those clothes? You are not a Muslim!”

Freeman then followed her down the street and called her a “Muslim bitch” before throwing the can of alcohol over her and her child.

The woman asked Freeman why he was behaving like that and he replied: “Because I hate Muslims.”

Freeman then produced a sliver butcher’s knife and began waving it around as children stood close by.

He then said: “Watch what I am going to do when your husband comes out.”

 

Police were contacted and went to the house. Mr Addlington said there was a “total lack of co-operation” from anyone at the party despite what had happened.

They arrested Freeman and seized the weapon. Freeman was returned to prison after the incident.

He pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault, affray and possession of a bladed weapon in a public place.

Nick Hammond, mitigating, said: “This was on anybody’s account a thoroughly unpleasant incident.

“It is right to say that this defendant is thoroughly embarrassed about what has happened. He cannot explain why he did what he did. The fact that he was heavily intoxicated is no excuse. It is an aggravating feature.”

Mr Hammond said Freeman had apologised to the victim and pleaded guilty to the offences at an early opportunity.

Jailing him for 12 months, judge Ray Singh said: “You behaved in a vile, nasty and racist manner. For a Muslim to be doused in alcohol – we can only imagine what was going through her mind.”

Source