Must We Really Be Careful What We Do Lest We Offend Extremists?

by Douglas Murray • February 27, 2019 at 5:00 am

What is striking and controversial are the repeated interventions into the debate made by the government's own 'extremism commissioner', Sara Khan. Over recent years Khan has been a hugely admirable figure. The founder and leader of the women's group 'Inspire', Khan has shown a generation of British people – including, most importantly, young Muslim women – that it is possible to be resilient against the fanatics in their faith and also to argue for the rights of women. She has been an unarguable force for good, and has had to withstand appalling pressure from Islamist groups in the UK.
"It is, I think, completely misconceived to suggest that we should change our foreign policy because it might cause some people to take up arms against us. That's a form of blackmail...." — Michael Howard, former Conservative party leader
In 2006 a small group of peers, MPs and Islamist groups sent an open letter to the then-Labour government. The signatories included the subsequently jailed Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, the subsequently disgraced (over expenses fraud) Baroness Uddin and the then-MP, now Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. This letter suggested to the UK government of the day that British foreign policy "risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad." This is a commonly heard argument of course, and is especially commonly heard from various extremist groups.

In the case of Shamima Begum, one of a number of girls who left London in 2015 to go and join ISIS, British politicians have -- unusually -- responded to the public mood. Home Secretary Sajid Javid (pictured) has announced that he is stripping Begum of her British citizenship. (Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Britain, in recent days, has had a rare distraction from its seemingly endless Brexit debate. The distraction, however, has not been an altogether welcome one. It involves the case of Shamima Begum, one of a number of girls who left their school in Bethnal Green in London in 2015 to go and join ISIS.

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Turkey: The Case of the Missing Priests

by Uzay Bulut • February 27, 2019 at 4:30 am

"Prior to the kidnapping, the bishops were on their way to Aleppo to secure the release of two other abducted priests.... When Paolo Dall'Oglio, an Italian Jesuit priest, went to Raqqa to secure their release, he too was kidnapped, and is still missing. I believe he was murdered." — Erkan Metin, an Istanbul-based Assyrian human-rights lawyer.
Metin noted that the Assyrian and other Christian peoples indigenous to the region are still awaiting justice for the kidnapped priests and other Christian victims of persecution in Syria.
"Unlike Turkey, which has failed to investigate the crimes committed against the clergymen, there is an ongoing investigation in the U.S. on their kidnappings and another is being conducted by Russia... and the U.N. is investigating the financing of terrorism in Syria." — Erkan Metin, an Istanbul-based Assyrian human-rights lawyer.

In 2013, Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Aleppo, was one of two archbishops abducted in Syria. He is still missing. (Image source: Austrian Foreign Ministry)

It has been six years since two archbishops and other members of the Christian clergy went missing in Syria; their whereabouts still are unknown. Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Aleppo, and Boulos Yazigi, head of the Greek Orthodox Church, also in Aleppo, were abducted from their car in 2013. Their driver was later found killed.

Erkan Metin, an Istanbul-based Assyrian human-rights lawyer who has been following these cases and written about them extensively, told Gatestone:

"Prior to the kidnapping, the bishops were on their way to Aleppo to secure the release of two other abducted priests – Father Michel Kayyal, an Armenian Catholic, and Father Maher Mahfouz, a Greek Orthodox – who are also still missing. When Paolo Dall'Oglio, an Italian Jesuit priest, went to Raqqa to secure their release, he too was kidnapped, and is still missing. I believe he was murdered."

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