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This month is #IslamophobiaAwarenessMonth. The ostensible goal of this initiative is to “deconstruct and challenge stereotypes about Islam and Muslims”. A noble aim you might think, as apparently do the organisations, institutions & individuals signalling their support. 1/9
However, Islamophobia Awareness Month was co-founded by the Islamist group MEND - an organisation closely tied to the terrorist support group CAGE and created with the purpose of “battering the Israel lobby” according to its founder Sufyan Ismail. 2/9
MEND’s idea of challenging stereotypes appears to consist of attacking liberal Muslims & partnering with Salafist hate preachers such as Haitham al Haddad & Shakeel Begg.
Haddad supports death for apostasy. Begg was found by a judge to have “encouraged religious violence.” 3/9
Haddad supports death for apostasy. Begg was found by a judge to have “encouraged religious violence.” 3/9
One of MEND’s former directors, the now CAGE-employed Azad Ali, is also no stranger to court cases. This unrepentant Hamas supporter launched a libel suit against the Daily Mail for describing him as a hardline extremist who supports the killing of UK troops in Iraq. He lost. 4/9
MEND’s founder has pushed the scare-mongering assertion that British society hates Muslims, and has falsely and irresponsibly claimed that UK law does not consider threatening or committing violence against Muslims to be a crime 5/9
Yet for a group who launched an anti-Islamophobia initiative, MEND are not keen on the infinitely more moderate group Tell Mama who exist for the same purpose. MEND have described them as being headed by a “pro-Zionist” & criticised their liberal position on homosexuality. 6/9
MEND were also less than enthused with the appointment of liberal Muslim Sara Kahn to lead the counter extremism commission, with one of their officials referring to her as “an Oreo” – a racist reference to those who are deemed brown on the outside but white underneath. 7/9
In 2018 head of counter-terrorism policing, Sir Mark Rowley, aptly criticised MEND’s undermining of efforts to tackle hate crime - referencing their absurd and divisive claim that Britain was "approaching the conditions that preceded the Holocaust". 8/9 https://www.expressandstar.com/news/politics/2020/11/11/labour-police-boss-candidate-under-fire-over-event/
It should be clear that partnering with extremists groups like MEND and their cohorts, or otherwise legitimising them, does nothing to challenge actual bigotry, and that anyone interested in actually making a difference in this area should be giving MEND a very wide berth. 9/9
