Harry's Place

The promises:

Pauline Neville-Jones, 2008 Conservative Party Conference Speech:

We will ban Hizb-ut-Tahrir – which has just called for American soldiers in the Gulf to be killed.

[...]

We all – Muslims and non-Muslims – must actively face down extremists.

Because the security of our society rests ultimately on the hard-nosed defence of our values and a shared loyalty to them.

Under the next Conservative Government, led by David Cameron, that’s what we will be doing.

Chris Grayling, December 2009 Speech:

We must also be willing to challenge and where necessary to ban groups that mask an ideology of hate behind a public veil of moderation. We have just such an issue with the radical group Hizb’ut Tahrir. Within the UK it takes extreme care about how it words its propaganda. And claims that those who want it banned are completely misplaced.

But anyone who doubts its true character should take a look at the website for its sister organisation in Bangladesh, which talks about evil American plans to subjugate Muslims, and about mobilising armed forces to eliminate the Jewish entity. We cannot allow such views free rein in our society.

We will not be afraid to take tough decisions with radical extremists who propagate hate.

We have been too willing to allow their groups to operate in Britain.

If we are in Government, that will stop.

David Cameron, Jewish Chronicle interview, March 12, 2010:

[W]e’ve got to deal with this and drain this poison. And there are three key things we need to do.

First, stop letting people like Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Ibrahim Moussawi into this country to spread hatred. Second, ban those extremist groups like Hizb-ut-Tahrir who are already here. And third, do more – much more – to tackle radicalisation in our universities.

The reality:

1. Hate preachers are still entering the UK.

2. Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain is alive and well.

3. Radical Islamists continue to appear on campus. For example, coming soon to the Roberts G08 Lecture Theatre, UCL, is Jalal Ibn Sa’eed, a Salafi preacher who has stated:

Most of us are guilty … We selfishly live like the Jews who only care about themselves and call the rest the goyim, those who are damned, those who are enslaved to them.

habibi adds: extremists are indeed still welcome on campus. For example, this Wednesday the Islamic Society of Queen Mary University in London will host Abu Usama at Thahabi of Birmingham’s Green Lane mosque. His wisdom was revealed in Undercover Mosque. Some samples:

Do you practice homosexuality with men? Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain.
…
They have given them [homosexuals] unprecedented rights, so that your child can be exposed and introduced to lesbians. Now they say “if you discriminate against that, you’re going to jail”. We’ll discriminate, but we’ll discriminate in a way where we don’t get in trouble. The Muslim is a dentist, one of those people come, you want to take a big, big needle and stick it in his gums.
…
If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs that should be murdered, that’s my freedom of speech isn’t it? They’ll say: “No”, I’m not tolerant. But they feel that it’s okay to say something about the Prophet.
…
The theme of today’s lecture is don’t believe in arrests of alleged terrorists without proof as non-Muslims are liars … I don’t believe them because they are kuffaar and lying is part of their religion. (Kuffaar is an Arabic word meaning non-believer or an infidel. Its contemporary usage in the UK is highly derogatory).

Those kuffaar, they do whatever they want to do. They are liars, they are terrorists themselves. They will come before the people and talk and they are lying, you can’t believe them … These are pathological liars.”
…
I don’t agree with those individuals (terrorists). But at the same time they’re closer to me than those criminals of the kufr… He’s better than a million George Bushes Osama bin Laden. He’s better than a thousand Tony Blairs, because he’s a Muslim.
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No one loves the kuffaar. No one loves the kuffaar! … Not a single person here from the Muslims loves the kuffaar. Whether these kuffaar are from the UK, or from the US … We love the people of Islam and we hate the people of the kufr. We hate the kuffaars.