The dangers of criticising Islam

Ed Miliband got plenty of things wrong in his election campaign but he got unfairly singled out for his plan to "outlaw Islamaphobia" under a Labour Government. In fact  Miliband was simply following a commitment  made two months earlier by the Conservative Party.

Moreover, the criminalisation of 'Islamaphobia' (including 'displaying posters critical of Islam' and 'tearing pages from a Koran') had already been put into practice many times by the last Conservative-led government, as can be seen from the examples here and here.


Of course in the USA criticising Islam could never by criminalised because of the First Amendement. And that is why the American (and world-wide) response to the Jihad attack against Pamela Geller's "Draw Muhamed" event was so appalling (basically Geller - and not the Jihadists - got the blame).

Mark Steyn has a fantastic article "Stay Quiet and You'll BeOkay" on the attacks on Geller but I was prompted from what he wrote to do this piece because even Steyn made the mistake of assuming that Milliband and the Labour Party were somehow unique in the UK in their intent to criminalise "Islamaphobia". Not only was this official Conservative and LibDem policy before Labour announced it but it is also supported by the SNP, the Greens and the Welsh Nationalists. In other words everyone (except UKIP). 

Incidentally I reproduce below an appeal I received from Pamela Geller. I don't normally do this sort of thing but this woman is one of the bravest people in the world and (as proven by the small number in the West who have challenged sharia law publicly) her life is in imminent danger. The Obama administration has made it clear they will do nothing to protect her (I suspect they will be rather relieved if she is murdered) and she needs money for security.

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Appeal from Pamela Geller

Look. I am sure you have heard about what happened in Garland, Texas. Two jihadists wanted to replicate and ramp up what happened in Paris, by murdering scores of patriotic Americans who were standing in defense of free speech. They were met with an utterly authentic response. The media has been waging jihad against the defenders of freedom, primarily me, but that's only a device they are using to destroy anyone who speaks against the sharia and jihad. In the wake of our Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest, ISIS issued a death threat against me. They called me khanzaar -- pig -- which is the word Muhammad used of his victims before he slaughtered Jews. They threatened to murder also anyone associated with me, anyone who defends me, and anyone who supports our work
In other words, they've declared war against America.

The media, on the other hand, is aligned with the jihad force. They're cheering and agitating for my demise -- some news outlets have even asked me for my posthumous remarks. They have been viciously attacking me and Robert Spencer, blaming us for the attack on us.

They are not going to win. We are not going to let them win. If we had a responsible media, it would report on the positive developments in light of this terrorist attack: the jihadists were killed. By drawing them out, we exposed their network, without getting anyone killed. The FBI is now going after sources. They are gleaning intel from their computers as we speak. We smoked out a terror structure. The FBI has put more American terror suspects under constant surveillance following the deadly attack. Every city across the U.S. has "subjects of concern" under heightened scrutiny, and the military is taking the threat seriously enough to raise the threat level to Bravo -- the highest level since 9/11. The terror network that hit us has now expanded to include roots in Minneapolis.

People say we "provoked" the jihadis. But it has since come out that they were already looking for targets to hit. If they hadn't hit us, they would have hit a much less protected target, as did the jihadist Amedy Coulibaly in the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris, and the jihadist Man Haron Monis in the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in Sydney, Australia. The jihadis in Garland weren't provoked by us -- they are already provoked. Our event just smoked them out. If we had not had such extensive security, many more people would have died -- either at our event or somewhere else. Instead, the only dead were two jihadis, and a jihad network is exposed.
All that from one little art exhibit.
With just one small, relatively obscure presentation, America has been made aware that the threat is here. America has been made aware of the virulence of the war on free speech. Obama cannot ignore and excuse terrorism that is committed in the name of Islam, and we exposed the quislings and apologists for jihad terror among the political, cultural and media elites.

This has come with an enormous cost.
We are now marked. Marked for life. And we need to take extraordinary measures to protect ourselves, and above all, our work for freedom. This involves costs that are so far beyond astronomical, they take our breath away.
Yet this is not negotiable. The NYPD and our own security team have told us in no uncertain terms that specific measures must be taken.
We cannot rely on the Obama administration. The FBI has not even bothered to contact us. Clearly, if we held positions the administration favored, we would be under guard sent by the government right now. But we do not.
That means that it's on us. And that means you, because we cannot do it without you. If you support our work, if you support the stand we have taken, we need your help now more than we ever did before. This is going to require a small army. And not just for the next month, but for the foreseeable future.
This is not just about protecting some people from being attacked and killed. This is about taking a stand and showing the world that violence, murder and threats will not win. 

We need your help now more than ever. Now is the time. This is a gamechanger. This is a new era. Few have realized just how different everything is after Garland: now Americans will have to watch their back every time they do anything that Muslim fanatics think "offends Islam."

Strike a blow against that. Strike a blow for freedom. Every dime will be used for security -- nothing else. Send your tax-deductible donation via Paypal to americanfreedomdefense@aol.com -- go here. Or send to:
AFDI
1040 1st Ave. #121
New York, NY 10022

Cartoon from http://comicallyincorrect.com/2015/05/13/pam-geller/