Because Donald Trump is not yet president of the United States, I think there must be more than we’ve learned so far about a Muslim family in the UK being denied permission by American officials to travel to Disneyland in California.
And while I appreciate that Labour MP Stella Creasy, in whose constituency the family lives, is demanding more information about why permission to travel to the US was denied, I think she goes too far in suggesting that Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric is affecting the US government’s decision-making.
Nonetheless American authorities need to be as transparent as possible about the reasons for this last-minute action.
(Creasy, if it matters to anyone, is not a Corbynite. She bravely voted with 65 other Labour MPs to authorize airstrikes against IS in Syria.)
Which brings us to the less-than-festive antisemitic Christmas card Creasy (who is not Jewish) received. (I really hope this one is not being printed in bulk.)
Ah Christmas- what makes that the trigger to send anti Semitic greeting cards I wonder…came today… #notok pic.twitter.com/tCYAWmyTxe
— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) December 22, 2015
Did somebody named Syd really sign that extraordinary artwork?
If this is somehow related to her raising questions about the denial of the Mahmood family’s travel rights, it’s another reminder that more than a few people believe there is some sort of sinister collusion between Muslims and Jews to undermine “the white race.”
Update: ITV reports:
Since their story was initially reported, ITV News has discovered that a Facebook page claiming links to radical Islamist groups was set up by someone who has lived at the family’s postal address.
The account, in the name of Hamza Hussain, lists the job titles “supervisor at Taliban and leader at al-Qaeda” – suggesting it may have been published as a joke.
Asked about the account, Mr Mahmood – whose son’s name is also Hamza – said hackers may be to blame, adding: “That could be anything, maybe a mistake.”
