Airstrip One

How to say a lot about very little - 15th May 2003, 19.58

Jack Straw, Britain's Foreign Secretary, met Silvan Shalom, Israeli Foreign Minister, and beyond stating support for the current embryonic peace process, the so-called "roadmap", managed to avoid commitment or condemnation beyond support for the states of Israel and Palestine.

We in the United Kingdom are completely committed to the State of Israel and completely committed to getting to a point where the people of Israel are able to live in peace and security, without the terrible scourge of terrorism....We then discussed the issue of the road map, and as the Prime Minister said, the British government is committed to a State of Israel living in peace and security alongside a viable State of Palestine.

Straw's primary goal was to ease strained relations with Israel after two Britons were discovered to be suicide bombers and Blair campaigned to link the Iraqi conflict with the Palestinian issues. Ariel Sharon accused Britain of "unnecessary intervention" in Israel's affairs in a newspaper interview prior to Shalom's visit, and the Israeli Foreign Minister called upon Britain to curb anti-semitic organisations that encouraged terrorism.

The succour and space that British governments have given to organisations like Al-Muhajiroun has resulted in British individual sembracing their nihilistic ideology and carrying out terrorist acts. The Stephen Roth Institute at Tel Aviv University publishes an annual report on anti-semitism and racism that does not fall into the politicised insulting match equating anti-Zionism with anti-semitism. For their 2001/2002 report, they clearly state:

Most antisemitism in the UK today emanates from militant Islamist and other Muslim groups.

These are as follows:

Militant Islamist and Other Muslim Groups
Most open antisemitism in the UK now emanates from extreme Muslim groups. The most active in the UK is al-Muhajiroun (The Emigrants – AM) which, while claiming not to support terrorism, nevertheless continued to champion Usama bin Ladin, al-Qa‘ida and the Taliban prior to and after 11 September. AM are extremely hostile toward Israel and speakers at AM eventsdeny the Holocaust and have often called for the killing of Jews. AM promote their public activities by extensive illegal flyer-posting and by faxing regular press releases to other Muslim groups, the Jewish community and the media. In October the director of public prosecutions dropped charges against five AM members arrested in October 2000 whilst distributing leaflets advocating the killing of Jews. However, two other members of AM were to face similar charges during 2002. In November founder Omar Bakri Muhammad and current leader Anjem Choudhary stated that the Muslim world was happy with the events of 11 September and expressed satisfaction, at an AM meeting in Willesden, North London, in November, that the Jews were cursed in the Qur‘an. However, their rhetoric, open support for terrorism training and their claims to have sent volunteers to Afghanistan and other countries of jihad have been toned down as a consequence of new laws banning support for terrorism and making illegal calls for the murder of religious minorities abroad (see below).

In April the National Union of Students voted to ban AM from university campuses despite an attempt by the Trotskyite Socialist Workers Student Society to block the motion.

Sakina Security Services, associated with AM and other Islamist groups, ceased activity following the arrest in September and October of its leaders, who were imprisoned pending trial on terrorism charges.

Hizb ut-Tahrir (HUT), from which AM split in 1996 under the leadership of Omar Bakri Muhammad, recommenced public activity during the latter part of 2001. Like AM, HUT promotes the establishment of an Islamic state encompassing all the Muslim umma and supports the activities of violent Islamist groups in other countries. It is antisemitic, homophobic, anti-Hindu and anti-Sikh.

The tiny Islamic Party of Britain, which comprises mainly converts to Islam, campaigns primarily through its website, although members address public meetings held by other organizations. It continues to propagate antisemitism.
Supporters of Shariah (SOS), led by Egyptian Shaykh Mustafa Kamil, aka Abu Hamza al-Masri, continues its activity but at a much reduced level. Abu Hamza’s use of his North London mosque at Finsbury Park for recruitment to al-Qa‘ida, and the revelations that a number of al-Qa‘ida detainees apprehended in Afghanistan were enlisted through the mosque, have led to media calls for his arrest. SOS remains implacably anti-Zionist, promoting an antisemitism which combines traditional religious anti-Judaism with Protocols of the Elders of Zion-style conspiracy theories.

The Islamic Observation Center (IOC), led by Egyptian Islamist Yasir al-Sirri, aka Abu ‘Ammar (who was sentenced to death in Egypt), ceased activity following his arrest in October in connection with facilitating the murder of Afghan Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Mas‘ud. He is also the subject of an American government extradition request relating to terrorism charges.

Since these organisations are allowed to operate, collect money and support terrorism abroad through financial aid and useful idiots to martyr, how can we condemn Noraid in the United States without cleaning up our shores? The blood of innocent Israelis lies shamefully on British hands.