Monday, January 28, 2013

IW News Brief: Muslim Patrol, Halal Housing, and More

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IW News Brief: Muslim Patrol, Halal Housing, and More

by David J. Rusin • Jan 28, 2013 at 10:46 am

http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2013/01/iw-news-brief-muslim-patrol-halal-housing-and-more

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Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage.
The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database:
Islamist gang enforces Shari'a on London streets
Disturbing videos have been posted online by the "Muslim patrol," a group of thugs who harass Londoners about obeying the rules of their self-proclaimed "Muslim area." In one clip, they berate a woman for her attire, bully men into relinquishing their alcohol, chase a couple away from a mosque, and use a bicycle accident to promote Islam; the hoodlums describe themselves as "vigilantes implementing Islam upon your own necks." Another clip focuses on the destruction of bra ads, and each video is punctuated by a soundtrack of chanting and gunfire. Five have been arrested after the emergence of new footage in which a man whom the Islamists suspect to be gay is peppered with insults in East London. "You are walking through a Muslim area dressed like a fag," one is heard saying. "You need to get out of here."
None of this is surprising. Over the past few years, stickers have declared certain London neighborhoods to be Shari'a zones and gay-free zones, while radicals dubbed the "Tower Hamlets Taliban" have threatened women and homosexuals.

Left: Told she "cannot dress like that in a Muslim area," a woman wearing a short skirt protests that she lives in Great Britain and is free to do as she wants. A member of the Muslim gang replies, "It's not-so-great Britain." Right: An artist's conception of a tree-lined "halal housing" complex proposed for the Sydney suburb of Riverstone.

"Halal housing" fosters segregation
Qartaba Homes plans to offer "100 per cent halal housing to the growing Muslim community of Australia" on land in the Sydney suburbs. "It's very divisive and I'm sure it will be viewed that way by the majority of fair-minded Australians," one politician asserted. A historic building on the site already is being utilized as prayer space. Though the company insists that everybody will be welcome to purchase a lot — under Islamic financing, of course — others foresee a Muslim enclave. Self-segregation is a common Islamist goal, as explored previously by IW.
A separate controversy over "halal homes" erupted late last year, with the BBC reporting that "about 180 apartments in Amsterdam have been given special makeovers which suit the wishes of Muslim residents. Features include individual taps that can be used for ritual cleansing before prayers and sliding doors to keep men and women apart." Dutch MP Geert Wilders slammed officials for subsidizing "medieval gender apartheid" with taxpayer money.
Islamist wants media to dump the word "Islamist"
A column by Ibrahim Hooper of the Hamas-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) asks journalists to "drop the term 'Islamist'" unless the people being discussed explicitly label themselves in that manner. "Unfortunately, the term 'Islamist' has become shorthand for 'Muslims we don't like,'" he reasons. "It is currently used in an almost exclusively pejorative context and is often coupled with the term 'extremist,' giving it an even more negative slant." Hooper risibly laments that "there are few, if any, positive references to 'Islamist' in news articles."
The Investigative Project on Terrorism's analysis of the piece reminds us that participants in the Philadelphia meeting that spurred the creation of CAIR were recorded calling themselves and their allies "Islamists." Furthermore, an article by Ryan Mauro states that "a search of the word 'Islamist' on the Muslim Brotherhood website, IkhwanWeb.com, yields 3,046 results." Thus, Hooper's feigned offense is simple obfuscation. "When a title or name becomes problematic," Mauro writes, "the Islamists try to run away from it." Someone should advise Hooper that attempting to browbeat others into not employing certain language is itself a hallmark of Islamism.

Left: Ibrahim Hooper, who has said that "I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future," is urging media to avoid the word "Islamist" when reporting on Islamists such as him. Right: Top Obama counterterrorism aide John Brennan whitewashes jihad at New York University in 2010.

Obama nominates "Jihad" John Brennan for CIA director
This is how John Brennan, President Barack Obama's choice to head the Central Intelligence Agency, once explained why the administration does not define America's Islamist adversaries in religious terms: "They are not jihadists, for jihad is a holy struggle, an effort to purify for a legitimate purpose, and there is nothing — absolutely nothing — holy or pure or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women, and children." Such willful blindness is merely the first of many concerns being expressed regarding his fitness for the job.
IW director Marc Fink has helped expose another troubling appointee: Chuck Hagel, Obama's selection for defense secretary. Readers looking to voice their opinions about Brennan and Hagel can use this webpage to obtain contact information for their senators, who will be voting on the nominations soon.

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For additional news and analysis, please visit the IW website.