While we rage at the many distortions of the truth about this Israeli massacre in Gaza, an interesting story has missed the Muslim radar. Told by none other than our favourite paper, the Daily Mail – the case of the British Christian missionaries jailed for sedition in the Gambia is not as we imagined.

Far from the myth of harmless people doing God’s work in a savage land, the reality was of two hypocrites – spewing ever increasing hatred, as their increasing internal guilt grew! Continue reading Everything but the truth

“All it took to avoid this suffering was for Hamas to stop firing rockets on Israeli citizens.” This was according to the learned and distinguished religious leader of secular Jews in Britain, at the pro-Israeli rally in Trafalgar Square today. Though not a politician, Dr Sir Jonathan Sacks - the Chief Rabbi, seems eager to make the case for Israel. Like all other uncritical supporters of Israel, he too is promoting the same lie.

The truth and facts are: 1) Israel started restricting access to Gaza three years ago, before Hamas won any elections. The Palestinians had to beg US Secretary of Sate Condoleezza Rice and James Wolfensohn (World Bank) for Israel to allow more trucks of goods into Gaza! “If there wasn’t already a closure policy, why did we need Rice and Wolfensohn to try to broker an agreement?” says Diana Buttu, a PLO lawyer. Continue reading Chief Rabbi Sacks promotes the same Israeli lies

What use is there for a ceasefire which strengthens the grip of the Israeli blockade of Gaza? Hamas must not accept this gimmick of a ceasefire. Better to die as defiant human beings than live as caged animals, left to slowly wither away.

The apparent Egyptian ceasefire proposal is to destroy ’smuggling’ tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, and the international enforcement of this, plus the stopping of rockets fired into Israel. In return, Israel will stop the attacks and invasion. That also just happens to be the war aims of Israel! Continue reading Cry ‘havoc!’ and let loose the dogs of war

I came across Gideon Rachman’s blog on the FT and he makes a few interesting observations on Gaza. He noted the world’s reaction to the Gaza bombing to be ‘milder and more sympathetic’ (to Israel) than anticipated. He asks whether this is ‘because the major powers at the UN and the Quartet – in particular, Russia and the US – want to maintain the freedom to take similar military actions themselves, whether in Chechnya, Georgia or Pakistan?’ So there you have it, real-politik at the expense of innocent Palestinian lives.

And what about our own British government’s actions? If you thought Blair was bad enough – if I remember correctly we usually left it to the US to defend Israel at the UN, while we abstained. It seems that all pretence is now over and we’re twining with the US in defending Israel’s corner. Continue reading Observations on the Gaza slaughter

It’s not often I write a post in response to a comment – but there’s always a first time! I’ve been following the dialogue between Azad Ali and ‘Sid’, and the interjections by ‘Abdullah’ on the issue of Aqeeda. While Sid’s main discussion with Azad is an an area of legitimate debate, he (assuming Sid is a he) has seriously erred on the issue of whether the Mumbai terrorists were Muslim or became Murtad (apostate).

I sincerely hope Sid is a real person and not the result of Azad Ali’s escapades with his ‘Habibi’ et al. It wouldn’t be the first time certain ‘reformists’ enter into discussions with Muslims, introducing doubt with the objective of ‘modernising’ Islam. Continue reading To be or not to be – is the wrong question

No doubt we’ve all seen media images of the bodies of the Bali bombers being greeted as martyrs, whether they are accurate depictions or media exaggerations is a different matter. The real question for me is, should they have been executed for the bombings?

On balance, I think it was right they paid for their crimes in this way Continue reading Execution of Bali bombers was right