Stir up fear and anger among Muslims to advance the cause – this is an Islamist maxim. People who feel abandoned and endangered want protection and can be convinced that the agitators will provide it.
Lies are normally a key part of the process.
Sufyan Ismail, the CEO of the Islamist outfit MEND, does just this. In the same talk where he railed about the 300 year old Israeli lobby, one finds him lying about the suspected arson attack at a community centre in Muswell Hill in 2013:
Did you hear one politician condemn it? Did you hear one politician condemn it?
He quickly follows with moaning about Jews, as he so often does. The Muswell Hill fire is treated the same way on the MEND website:
The JC also quotes Security Minister, James Brokenshire, who said, “The Home Secretary has recently met representatives from the Crown Prosecution service and the College of Policing to make sure the law is enforced when it comes to antisemitic hate crime.”
The Government’s generosity is to be contrasted with the position taken on mosque security in recent years, following the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby, for example, when an Islamic centre in London’s Muswell Hill was partially burnt to the ground and three mosques in Tipton, Wolverhampton and Walsall were targeted with bombs. It took the Home Secretary a month before a statement was issued assuring the Muslim community that Muslim lives matter.
There are several more lies and distortions in Ismail’s talk and MEND’s work, as you will see in a new report in the Telegraph. But let’s focus here on what actually happened in Muswell Hill.
First of all, just two days after the fire, Home Office security minister James Brokenshire visited the site. He called the fire “appalling” and said his visit was meant to show the government was
“…standing against any forms of extremism or any forms of aggression or violence.”
Boris Johnson was blunt:
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “I was shocked to learn of the fire at the Bravanese Community Centre in Muswell Hill. There is no place in an open, tolerant and diverse city like London for hate, for prejudice, for violence.
“I would urge people to give the police the time and space to investigate this incident fully. I have no doubt the Met will bring those responsible to justice.
“London is a city built on the strength of its communities. Londoners will see this for what it is – cowardly, pathetic and utterly pointless.”
Local MP Theresa Villiers was as clear as can be:
Tory MP Theresa Villiers, who represents Chipping Barnet, said: “I am shocked by this attack in my constituency. This kind of hate crime is absolutely despicable. It is not just an attack on the Muslim community. It is an attack on all of us and our values.
“We are a highly diverse, multi-ethnic borough with excellent community cohesion in Barnet. We should under no circumstances allow violent extremists to divide us with this kind of outrage.”
Eric Pickles spoke up too:
Like you I have been dismayed by the recent criminal attacks on Mosques in Tipton and Walsall, as well as the arson attacks on a Mosque in Muswell Hill and an Islamic school in Chislehurst. When I or Baroness Warsi have spoken to the leaders in those communities, we have been impressed by their resilience. They told us of their resolve to keep going and how much support they had received from the wider community. This practical expression of support, by people of other faiths and none, clearly shows that we won’t let extremists from any community divide us. These are attacks on all of us and in our most challenging moments we find greater unity with each other.
Pickles also visited the centre a few months later and said:
What was particularly heartening was the defiance of this community, whose centre was burnt down last month, who showed that they would carry on celebrating and sharing this holy festival despite their setback.
“I am deeply concerned at the impact this disgraceful crime will have on those who use the centre. They have all my sympathies at this difficult time.“
Shadow communities secretary Hilary Benn also visited the centre after the fire.
For their part, some members of the 300 year old Israeli lobby pitched in to help.
A north London synagogue has won an award from an Islamic organisation for its support of a Muslim group whose community centre was destroyed in an arson attack.
The Islamic Society of Britain has recognised Muswell Hill Synagogue’s efforts with the community cohesion award as part of its Celebrating Excellence initiative. The awards, divided into 12 categories and presented for the first time this year, mark the work of those who have striven “to achieve cohesion and partnerships in challenging circumstances”.
The Muswell Hill lie is but one of many distortions and falsehoods in Sufyan Ismail’s fearmongering talk. This is his style, this is MEND’s way.
It is to be hoped that fewer and fewer people believe MEND lies in future and see it for what it is: another Islamist group which is part of the problem.
