EXCLUSIVE: Baroness Tonge and terrorists

My JC column today refers to IslamExpo, which took place a fortnight ago. One of the speakers was Baroness Tonge, the LibDem peer whose empathy for suicide bombers and claims that the Board of Deputies of British Jews "take vindictive actions against people who oppose and criticise the lobby" are now infamous.

For some reason her words were not reported. This post is aimed at changing that. Although I was not there, and no recording seems to have been made, I have been given a detailed set of notes taken by someone in the audience.

She spoke on a panel disussing Palestinian Nakbah: A 60-Year Catastrophe. The other speakers were Azzam Tamimi, Ilan Pepe and Nur Masalha. To understand the gravity of the Baroness’ remarks, one needs first to know what the other panellists said.

Professor Masalha claimed that the "British and the Zionists are equally responsible for this catastrophe...Blair should make a public apology". He also said that the "Zionist lobby based in London created the Jewish homeland...Israel was created by Christian Zionists".  The Jewish National Fund, he went on, was the "most racist group in the Middle East." He concluded by saying that the "UK government is silencing the Palestinian Nakbah and apartheid...the apartheid in Israel is worse than that in South Africa” and that "Palestinian ethnic cleansing" is as bad as the holocaust was.

The next speaker was Azzam Tamimi, Hamas’ Special Envoy who praises suicide bombers and whose presence was one reason why the government boycotted IslamExpo. Mr Tammimi said that: "Zionism causes our pain...It is a western colonial project...in the same category as the Holocaust".  He referred to Hamas as "the resistance" and described it as "a national liberation movement, duly elected in the fairest elections in the Arab world." Palestinian suicide bombers and missile attacks were, he said, simply the actions of people "defending themselves and their country."

Then came the Baroness. She began by praising those who had spoken before her: "I would like to say a thank you to the three speakers before me...I hope you [the audience] realise how much guts it takes to speak like they have...They are very brave and deserve a tribute from all of us."

She went on to say that "we allowed the creation of Israel due to the holocaust"; and the west is now taking part in a "slow strangling" of the Palestinian people. Then she referred to the Israeli security precautions as an "apartheid infrastructure". She then moved to the subject of antisemitism and stated that it exists in the world today because of Israel's behaviour: "how can we stop antisemitism if they [Israel] keep treating the Palestinians like this?"  Her explanation of why Israel gets away with these "crimes" was the influence of the "Jewish lobby in the US" in the form of AIPAC, who "make all political parties obey the will of Israel".

The Palestinian issue, she said, was the main reason for international terrorism and the only difference between a suicide bomber and a bomber pilot was that "the bomber [pilot] is legitimised by his government and the suicide bomber gives his life for his cause."

Let there be no doubt now about what Baroness Tonge believes. She no longer even bothers hiding behind the ambiguity of ‘understanding' why people become suicide bombers. As her remarks at IslamExpo show, she now thinks that those who explicitly praise and honour suicide bombers “are very brave and deserve a tribute from all of us."

As for her remarks about the difference between terrorists and air forces being simply that the former make a sacrifice: I hope all those RAF pilots now and in the past make clear to the Baroness how they feel about her regarding them as being on a par with – indeed, in some senses less honourable than – terrorists.   

The day after IslamExpo, Jim Murphy, the Europe Minister, spoke at the inaugural meeting of the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. He was admirably clear in his condemnation of the likes of Baroness Tonge:

There can never be – never, never, never, never, never be – any excuse ever for suicide bombing ever under any circumstances whatsoever, regardless where, when or how. Never. And politicians that even give a whispered, implied understanding: it’s too loud when it comes to offering any sort of empathy for the motivation of suicide bombing.

Now that the Baroness' real views are known, will Nick Clegg take the appropriate step of removing the whip from her? There can, surely, be no place in a parliamentary party for a woman who thinks that those who support bombings "are very brave and deserve a tribute from all of us".

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What's the point of fiction?

There's a slightly odd feature in the Guardian about 'reader's block'. I can't say I understand what they're on about. I read books, and have never wanted not to.

But I did like the response of Germaine Greer in the accompanying feature. I never thought I'd write this, but: I feel exactly the same as Germaine Greer. 

Have you experienced reader's block?
It's just a different world. I read all the time; I can't stop reading. It might apply to my assistant, but she is on holiday, so she is probably reading like mad.

Could you recommend a book to get people reading again?
Oh God, I don't read novels! Why do people think that reading a book means reading a fucking novel? You finish reading the book and you think "Well, that's over. There's four hours down the drain." At least in non-fiction you might pick up some information you can trust. My whole world is built out of books, but they aren't Booker prize-winners, which I frankly always think are overrated.

Yes, I know it's me who's losing out from some of the planet's greatest literature, and I would never dream of urging others not to read them if they enjoy them. It's just that I have no desire to read fiction, so I don't. And, like Germaine Greer. when I do, at the end I always think I've wasted my time.

We all have blind spots. What's yours?

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Daniel Kawczynski MP - idiot or incompetent?

Oh dear. The Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski lays into Melanie on CentreRight:

This person lambasts me on the report published yesterday from the International Development Select Committee of which I am a member without even bothering to pick up a phone to check her facts. Why do people accept such lazy and inaccurate reporting. I enclose below two communications I have had with the Chairman of this Committee.

Oh dear.  I fear Mr Kawczynski is either an idiot or incompetent, and probably both. The thing is...he signed the report. He put his name to it. He supported its recommendations. Clearly, and unambiguously.

And here's what Melanie wrote:

Depressingly, the Commons International Development Select Committee -- with one sole dissenting voice -- has followed the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee by calling in a report today for Britain and the west to start talking to Hamas.

...In short the report is a disgrace. Labour and the LibDems are beyond redemption when it comes to attitudes to Israel -- but what does David Cameron think about this? Does he agree that we should be talking to Hamas? Does he go along with the report’s agit-prop vilification of Israel and minimising of Arab violence which two of his MPs have endorsed?

If he says nothing, we can take it that he does.

These are the MPs who signed this report:

Malcolm Bruce MP (Liberal Democrat, Gordon) (Chairman)
John Battle MP (Labour, Leeds West)
Hugh Bayley MP (Labour, City of York)
John Bercow MP (Conservative, Buckingham)
Richard Burden MP (Labour, Birmingham Northfield)
Daniel Kawczynski MP (Conservative, Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Ann McKechin MP (Labour, Glasgow North)
Jim Sheridan MP (Labour, Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Mr Marsha Singh MP (Labour, Bradford West)
Sir Robert Smith MP (Liberal Democrat, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

Shame on all of them.

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The lesson is screamingly clear

If I hear another Labour MP say they are going to learn the lessons from Glasgow East I'll thwceam and thwceam and make myself sick!

Douglas Alexander has just joined in, saying that he promises to learn the lessons. In which case we now know for certain that he breaks his promises.

Because the lesson is written in 80' high scarlet neon lights, and it is made up of four words: Brown is a loser.

Any response other than getting rid of Brown does not involve learning any lesson at all. Every time any electorate has been given the chance to speak - whether in by-elections or local elections, or even the much-derided polls - they have said one thing, loudly: Brown is a loser.

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Why are we still fêting radicals? (Jewish Chronicle)

I have a piece in today's Jewish Chronicle on dealing with Islamism. (Link provided asap.) Here it is:

There are, apparently, two ways to interpret the Hamas Covenant:

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: 'The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him...’

According to some, signatories to that genocidal call to arms against Jews are not all extremists. They are, in fact, the very people we should embrace to defeat militant Islamists.

Two weeks ago, IslamExpo was staged at Olympia in London. It was, the organisers maintained: “Europe’s largest celebration of Islamic culture, tradition, innovation and art.” Among those not joining the celebrations, however, were government ministers who had accepted invitations to speak. At the last minute, Stephen Timms and Shahid Malik, aswell as Conservative politicians due to attend, pulled out.

Why? Because the British Muslim Initiative - the organiser of IslamExpo - is effectively the British franchise of Hamas and its father organization, the Muslim Brotherhood. And, at last, the penny has started to drop that embracing those who sign up to the murder of the Jews and who seek to establish the caliphate in Britain is not the most sensible approach to defeating Islamism and the threat it poses.

IslamExpo is the brainchild of Mohammed Sawalha, the President of the British Muslim Initiative. But Mr Sawalha is not just that; the Muslim Brotherhood’s website describes him as: “manager of the political committee of the International Organization of the Brothers [the Muslim Brotherhood] in Britain”. And, as the BBC’s Panorama showed in 2006, he is also a key Hamas activist. The documentary revealed that he “master minded much of Hamas’ political and military strategy” and in London “is alleged to have directed funds, both for Hamas’ armed wing, and for spreading its missionary dawah”.

The tactic is simple. Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are pushing the notion that there are two types of Islamism – moderate and extreme. They represent, they would have us believe, the moderates. IslamExpo has all sorts of fun activities – art, football and lovely food. It supposedly shows how peaceable and unthreatening they are. And if that is not persuasive enough, there is also an implicit threat: if we don’t throw in our lot with them, we’ll be left only with the real extremists: Al Qaeda.

Until recently, their tactic seemed to be working. Ministers such as Tessa Jowell and Mr Timms spoke at the original IslamExpo in 2006, even though the organisers’ links was known. But Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are not an ally against extremism; they are the extremists.

This year, however, the penny seems to have dropped that moderate Islamism is a contradiction in terms; some Islamists wish to establish Islamic rule through force while others simply use a more wily tactic. Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has been clear that there is no such thing as a moderate who supports the murder of Jews. In a speech the day after IslamExpo, she explained why IslamExpo had to be shunned: “Because of the views of some of the organisers, and because of the nature of some of the exhibitors, this was an event that no Minister should attend. Organisers like Anas Altikriti, who believes in boycotting Holocaust Memorial Day. Or speakers like Azzam Tamimi, who has sought to justify suicide bombing.”

But there remain many mainstream politicians who will readily treat with terror supporters. The Scottish Administration recently gave a £215,000 grant to the Scottish Islamic Foundation, which is headed by Osama Saeed, an adviser to Alex Salmond and one of the leading Scottish Islamists. He believes that Hamas suicide murderers are carrying out “martyrdom operations” and has called for the creation of a modern caliphate. Mr Saeed was a speaker at Islam Expo.

Two weeks ago, the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism was launched in the House of Commons with a lecture by Jim Murphy, the Minister for Europe. He was asked about Baroness Tonge, the infamous suicide-bomber empathising Lib Dem peer, who was happy to share a platform at IslamExpo with Azzam Tamimi, described by the Malaysian news agency as “Hamas’ Special Envoy”. Mr Murphy was admirably unambiguous. As he put it: “There can never be – never, never, never, never, never be – any excuse ever for suicide bombing ever under any circumstances whatsoever, regardless where, when or how. Never. And politicians that even give a whispered, implied understanding: it’s too loud when it comes to offering any sort of empathy for the motivation of suicide bombing.”

There does seem to be a realisation that there can be no compromise with Islamism. But there are weak links: British Satellite News, funded by Mr Murphy’s own Foreign Office, pushed a gushing image of IslamExpo for overseas viewers.

The battle to defend liberty – and our lives - is too important to allow any such slips. If we are to defeat the threat of Islamism, there is only room for outright rejection of Islamists.

 

 

 

 

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No!

Mystifying. Utterly mystifying. Mamma Mia is simply unadulterated crap.

Mind you, I often seem to find myself at odds with the received wisdom. On which note, I was looking forward to seeing the adaptation of Amanda Foreman's wonderful biography of Georgiana until I discovcered that the title role is being played by the awful Keira Knightley, whose very name depresses me.

BTW, apologies for the rather frothy posts today. I'm on the penultimate day of the final chapter of my new book, so my focus is elsewhere!

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Why oh why?

Meanwhile, the Times has an interview with Gillian Anderson about her decision to reprise her role in the new X Files film. She explains, as the Times2 headline puts it:

Why I went back to my X

The money.

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Asking the tough questions

Lord Hattersley asks a difficult question in the Guardian:

And why do senior ministers give broadcast interviews that can be interpreted as criticisms of Brown?

As Hattersely writes himself:

The cabinet should remember that if Labour loses in 2010, most of them will never be heard of again...

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Who cares?

It seems it's not just Mr B who is going round the world stirring up apathy. A friend reports on this sight at Dublin airport: 

I spotted Sarko's Republique Francaise aircraft parked on the ground below Pier D, replete with red carpet. I must have just missed his grand departure a little after 5pm but there wasn't a sight nor sound of any stewards, let alone dignitaries to send him off.

All I could make out was two Dublin airport workers sitting in the van beside the aircraft - one was munching on a bacon sarnie, the second seemed to be enjoying 40 winks. Guess it summed up his trip in a nutshell really!

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Balls up

I'm watching Ed Balls' statement on ETS. The sheer gall of the man! He has just lectured David Laws, the (impressive) LibDem spokesman about the need to keep quiet about contractual commercial matters.

Ed Ball's pre-political career amounted to three years as an economic leader writer at the FT before going to work for Gordon Brown.

David Laws was Vice President of JP Morgan from 1987-92 and then Managing Director, Head of US Dollar and Sterling Treasuries, at Barclays de Zoete Wedd, before going to the LibDems.

One of those men has had first hand experience of commerce. He is not Ed Balls.

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