Dhimmi* Britain

'Melanie Phillips Diary' ^ | January 4, 2005 | Melanie Phillips

[quidnunc]

An article in Muslim Weekly ( Link ) by the Labour MP Mike O'Brien makes crystal clear something that has been apparent for some time for those who have eyes to see. The Labour party is bending over backwards to appease Muslim sentiment. Now, there's nothing wrong with trying to please one electoral constituency or another. And there's certainly nothing wrong with trying to remove genuine obstacles or discrimination from one group or another. But the fact is that there is relatively little genuine prejudice against Muslims. What there is instead is a lot of irrational and unreasonable Muslim rage against anyone who tells the truth about Islamic violence and threats around the world, and an attempt to intimidate people into silence on the subject.

O'Brien's article goes further and more explicitly down that alarming road. The Labour government is not trying to suck up to any other minority group in the same way. Nor is it driving the proverbial coach and horses through fundamental British values to do so. O'Brien's article is written in a craven, cringing manner which sounds alarm bells from the start. Effectively imploring Muslims to forgive the government for the war in Iraq, he throws bone after bone their way.

One of the most disgraceful and disquieting passages is about Israel. Passing up the opportunity to deliver some home truths about the nnever-ending war waged upon Israel and the fact that it is merely trying to defend itself, he plays to this particular gallery in a way which can only incite further ignorant prejudice against Israel in the minds of those who desperately need instead to be educated in the truth and away from the propaganda of lies. Thus he writes:

'The reality is that the only way a Palestinian state will be created is if Israel is prepared to concede land it currently occupies on the West Bank and Gaza. Whether we in Britain like it or not, the reality of the modern world is that only the Americans can influence Israel. And it seems only Tony Blair has any influence with the Americans.'

In other words, he is pandering to the view that the Middle East impasse is Israel's fault — the opposite of the truth. No mention here of the need to stop Arab and Muslim terror as a precondition to peace and a Palestinian state. Instead, there is a weaselly attempt to argue that only Blair is worth voting for because only Blair can put pressure on the Americans to dump Israel. What a disgusting and cynical argument. Stupid too, since no Muslim is likely to buy that preposterous logic for an instant.

-snip-

The next revealing passage is this:

'The Muslim Council of Britain has been at the forefront of lobbying the Government on issues to help Muslims. Recently Iqbal Sacranie, the General Secretary of the Council, asked Tony Blair to declare that the Government would introduce a new law banning religious discrimination. Two weeks later, in the middle of his speech to the Labour Party Conference, Tony Blair promised that the next Labour Government would ban religious discrimination. It was a major victory for the Muslim community in Britain.

'But this is not the first and only time that Labour Party has delivered for Muslims. When I was a Home Office Minister in 1997, the MCB lobbied me to introduce not only a new law which would increase sentences for racial violence and harassment but also to recognise the particular problems faced by Muslims. As a result we were able to amend the law to make religion a factor in any violence and harassment. Today, new Crime Bill, announced in the Queens Speech is coming before Parliament to toughen the laws on incitement to religious hatred. This has upset some M.P.`s such as Evan Harris MP, the Liberal Democrat spokesman, who has said he will oppose it because it is unnecessary!'

So there it is in black and white — proof that the law against incitement to religious hatred, which has the power to shut down legitimate comment about Islam, potentially put Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, secularists and others in the dock for speaking the truth, and make the giving of offence a greater offence than intimidating Britons into silence (and in so doing destroy a fundamental British liberal tradition) is being introduced to buy Muslim votes. The price to be paid for invading Iraq, in other words, is to be Britain's freedom of speech.

-snip-

* 'Dhimmi' is the status of infidels under Islam who are permitted to live in Muslim jurisdictions but only with restrictions as second-class citizens.

[steplock]

The islamic jihadist will find a much more direct response if they try that here in the USA

[miltonim]

93% of Muslims voting for Kerry?

[fire_eye]

So... Zat mean Britain will now start prosecuting Moolahs who exhort their devotees to hate Jews and Christians?? Huh?