A story that perfectly captures everything you need to know about the Islamic problem in the UK

A very interesting story in today's Sun perfectly captures many aspects about the Islamic threat in the UK and how the politically correct establishment deals with it. The local council (which is so short of cash it is closing nurseries and day centres) pays known Islamic thugs to go on a holiday in order to stop them violently disrupting a peacful demonstration. Then when the thugs violently assault a white man in an unprovoked racial attack on that holiday, they try to fabricate evidence that they were acting in self-defence (this part of the story is not included in the online version - what the paper says is that Hussain got one of his mates to bruise him to pretend he had been attacked first).  Despite all of this the Race Equality boss claims the whole thing was a success. Oh .. and finally not once in the reporting of this does the Sun actually state that the thugs are Muslims:

FIVE thugs sent on a £2,000 trip to keep them out of trouble ended up attacking a man during the jaunt. They were among 19 known troublemakers taken away to avoid clashes with English Defence League marchers near their homes.

Town hall bosses spent more than £2,100 on the day trip, which was supervised by a cop and five council staff, a court heard. The group, aged 17 to 19, were taken to Blackpool Pleasure Beach amid fears they could become embroiled in the EDL march in Dudley, West Midlands.

But soon after arriving at the Lancashire resort, the Asian yobs began aiming racist chants at dad-of-two Derek Brownhill, 30. Then Riad Hussain, 19, punched him so hard both his "feet left the ground" and he was knocked unconscious, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard. Prosecutor David Swinnerton said Sandwell Council organised the trip to "distract the 19 from anti-social behaviour" during the march against plans for a mosque in Dudley. Hussain was locked up for ten months. Raja Rashid and Fahad Atiq, who were on bail at the time over a separate hammer attack, were given 21 months and 16 months. Wasim Telhat and Mazahar Taheir received community orders. All five admitted assault.

Last night Race Equality Sandwell boss Derrick Campbell said: "I would not say the trip had failed. Its purpose was to keep them away from the march."

Jewish Chronicle still sinking lower

I've posted several times before about the Jewish Chronicle's increasingly ambivalent attitude toward Israel. Gina in Golders Green has an interesting post about  the Chairman of the JC (Anthony Julius) defending free ads posted by the Palestine Solidarity Committe on the JC website. Julius spews out the usual 'freedom of speech' mantra (pretty bizarre in this case) which, together with the words 'need for balance' has been used by numerous JC editorial staff in my own dealings with them to justify, for example, the frequent articles posted by writers who are openly hostile to Israel. I have never understood the notion of  'need for balance' in this context. The analogy I like to use for this is to imagine that a shop sells dozens of different Arsenal football club calenders but never stocks a single Spurs calender. Finally, someone produces a Spurs calender but is told they cannot sell it unless - in the interest of 'balance' - at least 3 out of the 12 pictures are of Arsenal players. Insane of course, but that is exactly the game the JC is playing. The fact that anti-Israel articles dominate every other main stream newspaper and magazine does not seem to have registered in the minds of JC editors.

Ihave also noticed that almost every article about Israel in the JC is now written by Anschel Pfeffer who is not only a typical left-wing Haaretz hack, always desparate to see things from the 'other side', but is actually remarkably ill-informed about everything he writes. On last week's front-page article "Bombing back, but not as we know it" which carried over to page 2, Pfeffer insultingly claimed the recent spate of Palestinian terrorist attacks were really nothing to worry about and nothing to do with Hamas (compare his plodding lack of incite about this with real experts such as Barry Rubin, Sultan Knish or Caroline Glick). Pfeffer has two other massive articles in the same edition - the titles of which tell you everything you need to know about his attitude: "IDF braces for Arab Spring" on page 18 and "Nakba law prevents free expression" on page 23.

At a time when Israel is under unprecedented assault physically and spiritually, and when not a single national UK newpaper or TV News programme is prepared even to let somebody tell Israel's side of the story, UK Jews expect the Jewish Chronicle at least to make a stand. Instead, in the shop of 100 Arsenal calenders the Jewish Chronicle is offering the one Spurs calender, but with Arsenal pictures on 7 of the 12 pages 'for balance' and 'free speech'.

Sky News declares war on Israel

I just sent the following self-explanatory complaint to Sky News:

Dear Sirs

When Palestinian terrorists committed one of the worst atrocities in recent history on 11 March - slaughtering a family of five Israelis in their home including a baby aged three months who was decapitated, Sky News TV - a 24-hour news channel - chose not to inform its viewers of the story. Not even in ticker tape form. And not even when the terrorist attack was claimed by the Palestine Authority's own 'military wing', and with celebrations of the attack taking place throughout the Palestinian territories. Any claim that the story could not be covered due to the Japan earthquake were destroyed two days later when Sky News did find time to post a story criticising Israel for announcing plans to build 400 news homes. Sky News was also completely silent last week after Israel's discovery of a major Iranian arms shipment to Hamas on the ship 'Victoria'. This shipment was an act of war by Iran and was one of the most dangerous international incidents of recent years. But it will never be known to Sky viewers. Then on 19 March Hamas launched a major attack against Israel - over 50 rockets fired including Iranian grad rockets into the city of Ashkelon. Again Sky News chose not to cover this story in any way at all.

Yet this morning - while Britain is involved in its new war against Libya - Sky News TV has somehow found the space, time and incentive to provide not one but two 'breaking news' stories about Israel. In fact, as of 9.00am, these were two of only three stories running on the ticker tape of Sky News TV. One of these stories, headlined "17 Palestinians injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza" fails, of course, not only fails to mention the attacks against Israel which preceded this, but also fails to mention the accuracy of the Israelis in pinpointing terrorists arms smuggling tunnels and terrorist arms caches. The second story headlined "Former Israeli President Katzav imprisoned for 7 years for rape", is certainly an important story in Israel, but it is not exactly of great interest to any viewers outside Israel.

It seems clear that Sky News has effectively declared war against Israel. A 'war' whose rules of engagement are that: only stories that cast Israel in a purely negative light can be presented. And any story, no matter how big, which demonstrates that Israel - and not the Palestinians - are the true victims must be ignored.

Sky News used to be considered as fair and objective in its coverage of the Middle East. It is sad that it has now degenerated into a propaganda tool of the Hamas terrorists. How exactly does Sky News expect its viewers to make informed decisions when it is so selective and biased in its coverage?

"Nothing must be done to 'burnish' the image of Israel"

In 2007 Prince Charles's senior aide sent a memo explaining why neither Prince Charles nor the Queen would make a state visit to Israel. The memo famously stated that Prince Charles would not want "to help burnish [Israel's] international image." 

I've been thinking about that statement, and the attitude behind it, in connection with the media's refusal to cover the two big stories from Israel in the last week. The massacre at Itamar and the discovery of the major Iranian arms shipment to Hamas, demonstrate unequivocably the twin threats Israel faces.

• The Itamar attack, and subsequent Palestinian celebrations of it, demonstrated the nature of the enemy that Israel is expected to negotiate and ultimately surrender to. An enemy unparalled in the world in its depravity, which glories in chopping the head off a 3-month old baby and which will never be satisfied until every Jew has been slaughtered.
• The Iranian arms shipment, which happened as a direct result of the Egyptians allowing Iranian warships through the Suez Canal for the first time in 30 years, included state-of-the-art missiles and demonstrated not just the extent to which Iran contiunually lies about its ambitions and the extent to which it is prepared to go to destroy Israel through its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, but also the unique threat posed by the new Eyptian regime.

In a normal world these two stories alone should have been sufficient to put an end to the entire anti-Israel narrative that dominates Western society and media. I genuinely believe that if these two stories had simply been given the coverage that they deserved, most people would immediately have seen the 'Israel problem' from a very different perspective. But of course they were not covered at all by the Western media. And that has nothing to do with the Japanese earthquake or the Libyan crisis;  the media did, after all, find plenty of time to condemn Israel for planning to build some houses two days after the Itamar attack. And each of these stories was FAR more important than the Gaza flotilla incident which totally dominated every news media for four days because, despite the video evidence in that case, the media decided it fitted their anti-Israel narrative.

But it is precisely because these two stories were obvious 'game-changers' that they were ignored.

And the attitude from which this results is perfectly captured by the Prince Charles memo. Never mind about real evils committed by the dozens of countries that the Queen and Prince Charles visit every year. And just as the Queen must not be allowed to visit Israel in case there is a chance it might show the country in something less than the purely negative light in which it is otherwise portrayed by the media narrative, so it is important to suppress any story - no matter how big - which demonstrates that Israel - and not the Palestinians - are the true victims.

Would they stage a play about it?

Following on from my previous correspondence with Sam Walters, the Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre which staged the anti-Israel play "Reading Hebron" I thought it was worth following up with another letter in the light of the Itamar massacre:

Dear Sam

We were in correspondence recently about the play "Reading Hebron" staged in your theatre about the 1994 Hebron massacre.

You are probably not aware of it, since the main stream media in this country has chosen to cover it up, but last Sabbath Palestinian terrorists massacred a family of 5 Israelis (the Fogels) in their home, including a 3-month old baby and a 3-year-old whose throats were slashed. The attack was claimed by the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade who are the 'military wing' of Israel's supposed 'peace partners' - the Palestinian Authority.  You can see the pictures of the slaughter released by the grandparents here:

Whereas the 1994 Hebron massacre was one of the only ever documented deliberate killings by a Jew of Arab civilians - and was carried out by a single deranged individual -  deliberate massacres of Jewish civilians (especially children) by Arabs have been carried out in their thousands since the original massacre of all the Jews of Hebron in 1929.  Moreover, whereas the 1994 massacre was condemned by all Israelis, the massacres of Jews have not only been organised by the Palestinian authorities, but have been celebrated by their masses. These celebrations happened again after the latest massacre.

In the light of this I'd be interested to know if you would stage a play about the Fogel massacre if one was written, especially as your vigourous support for an anti-Israel narrative in the theatre ultimately gives the Palestinians exactly the kind of support and encouragement to continue their massacres of Jews.

Yours

I will post any response I get.
Some powerful pieces about the Itamar massacre are here and here.

Another massacre of Jews that the world will never know about

scene from the Fogel home

I woke up today in Tel Aviv to hear of the appalling terrorist attack that took place in Itamar overnight. A young family of five, including a 3-month old baby, children aged 3 and 11, and both parents were killed by having  their throats cut in their own home by two Palestinian terrorists. Pamela Geller has posted pictures here.

Although the Japanese tsunami is obvously still dominating the news I checked today to find that Sky News and CNN were carrying plenty of other stories from around the world, but a massacre of Jewish children apparently does not count as news. If they had got planning permission to build an extension on their home, then being in 'the West Bank' that would certainly have made the news.  If any Arab child was murdered by an Israeli in this way then the Japanese tsunami would immediately have been demoted to second place, while the world lined up to condemn Israel and a generation of writers would have started working on plays to explain why all Jews are ultimately responsible for the act. Even if a guard had shot and killed the terrorists before committing this atrocity Sky News and CNN would have been all over the story posting claims of Israel murdering innocent Palestinian 'farmers'. So what you will never find out is that the attack has been claimed by none other than the Al Aqsa Martyr's brigade who are the 'military wing' of Fatah - Israel's 'peace partners'. Hamas has hailed the attack as 'heroic' and there have been the usual celebrations and fireworks in Palestinian towns. And, perhaps most importantly, the attack is likely the direct result of Israel being forced to drop certain security checks at the insistance of the Americans and British. Remember that the next time you are lectured about the poor Palestinians having to go through Israeli security checks.

Palestinian terrorists have a long history of murdering Jewish children in cold blood. There is no recorded incident in history of an Israeli deliberately killing an Arab child, let alone in an act organised by official representatives. Yet placards calling Israelis 'baby killers' are more common place on UK campusus and high streets than prostitute calling cards in Soho. If the Nazi Holocaust were taking place today then the main stream media and the UN would be citing only the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw ghetto as a crime against humanity - calling it a bloody massacre of innocent Germans.

UPDATE: As if they are trying to self-parody, the main stream media has this morning triggered into life .... to report for example:

• Israel approves settlement increase after family killed (CNN) 
• Israel police on alert as settlers react to killings (AFP)

Note the tone of the AFP report. Israeli children massacred - no story (and note also no perpetrators). But claims by Palestinians that Jews threw stones at them - that is headline news.

UPDATE: I am appalled to also report on how depraved leftists in Israel really are. In discussions about the massacre several people here have said they feel little sympathy because the Fogels were 'ultra-orthadox fanatics' or because  'they had it coming to them' for living in Itamar.

BBC covering up Islamist violence in Egypt

I have just sent the following self-explanatory letter to the BBC.

During the recent Egyptian uprising the BBC decided to censor the many stories and images that did not support its own narrative (that the demonstrators were universally peaceful democracy seekers). Thus, for example, the BBC failed to show the many blood curdling anti-Semitic images and interviews (widely available on the internet) prominent among the demonstrators; they failed to cover the story of reporter Lara Logan’s rape by dozens of ‘celebrating’ demonstrators chanting “Jew, Jew” at her, and most of all they covered up the significance and extremism of the Muslim Brotherhood, including the speech made by their fanatical anti-Semitic spiritual leader Al Qaradawi on his ‘victorious’ return from exile.

Now it seems the BBC is covering up the wave of Islamist violence targeted at Coptic Christians and secular Egyptians that have exploded in the last few days. For example, I would have thought that the story of a Muslim mob burning down a church in Helwan would have been prominent on the BBC News, especially as there was widely available and compelling film of it happening. Moreover, the fact that today  10 Christians protesting the church burning were murdered by another Muslim mob also strikes me as being a story of major significance that should be leading the BBC News (rather then being buried deeply in the BBC website and ignored elsewhere). Nor did the story yesterday of the attack by Islamists on secular women in Cairo, who were marching for International Women’s Day, make the BBC News. If even remotely similar violence occurred, let us say in Israel, the BBC News would cover nothing else for several days. So why the double standards?

The country where Israel is regarded most positively.....

By a VERY long way it is Russia, as you can see here.

More than twice as many people in Russia view Israel as having a positive influence compared with those viewing it negatively (35% to 17%).

The only other countries where the positives even outscore the negatives are India (21% to 18%) which, like Russia has its own problems with Islamic terrorism, Ghana (32% to 27%) and the USA. But the USA results are extremely concerning as it appears to be the most polarised - 43% positive but an incredible 41% of Americans regard Israel negatively. That is what years of main stream media lies can achieve.

The UK of course is one of the most anti-Israel countries in the world now - almost as anti-Israel as Turkey.

A reminder to avoid buying a red nose

It's that 'red nose' time of year again in the UK when cast-off celebrities and the BBC offer their services 'for free' to promote Comic Relief. This 'charity' raises millions for 'good causes'. So what's wrong with that? The fact that people giving their hard earned cash are not aware that in recent years the four biggest beneficiaries by far just happen to be the four charities (War on Want, Christian Aid, Save the Children, and Oxfam) who spend the most significant amounts of money funding anti-Israel political propaganda, and funding projects in Gaza that invariably end up under the control of Hamas. War on Want in particular is a 'charity' that, since it was led by George Galloway, has become almost exclusively dedicated to the deligitimization of Israel.

For some previous articles giving the details of this see the following:

• http://hurryupharry.org/2009/03/07/a-nose-job/
• https://richardmillett.wordpress.com/tag/comic-relief/
• http://edgar1981.blogspot.com/2010/06/funding-poor-palestinians.html
• http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/war_on_want_wages_war_on_israel_update_
• http://blog.ngo-monitor.org/boycottdivestment/no-laughing-matter-uk-comic-relief-funding-radical-ngo-war-on-want/
• http://edgar1981.blogspot.com/2009/01/letter-to-hypocrites-of-save-children.html
• http://philosemitism.blogspot.com/2008/10/oxfam-anti-israel-campaigns-taste.html

The usual BBC and society elitists are using the generosity of the British public to hoodwink them into giving hard-earned cash in order to divert a substantial proportion of the funding to projects that support their own politically motived agenda. And it also comes at a heavy price to other genuinely worthy charities who suffer reduced donations because of the free publicity the BBC gets for its farcical jamboree.

He's gone

Sir Howard Davies, who told me "Your comments are not worthy of reply" in response to my complaints about the impact of Arab funding on LSE politics has resigned. The only shame is that the official reason for resignation seems to be focused solely on the Libyan money. The scandal surrounding the LSE's anti-Israel  Middle East Centre, and the much greater funding from the United Arab Emirates for this, has been ignored in his resignation letter. The irony is that - as far as Libya is concerned - the LSE was only doing exactly what the British Government was doing in recent years. And while the £300K from Libya effectively 'bought' Gadaffi's son a PhD, the many millions from the UAR has bought far worse:  long term damage to the academic credibility of the LSE through a 'research centre' whose primary agenda is to deligitimize Israel and boycott its academics; and anti-semitic fear on the campus through the promotion of anti-Israel activity that would even shame Hamas.