The EU should be stronger and more united. Great Britain should belong to the Union.
Die EU sollte stärker und geeinter sein. Großbritannien sollte der Union angehören.
L'UE devrait être plus forte et plus unie. La Grande-Bretagne devrait appartenir à l'Union.
Showing posts with label anti-Islam film Fitna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anti-Islam film Fitna. Show all posts
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Londonistan Rising
FRONTPAGEMAG.COM: Last month, the British government controversially refused entry to Geert Wilders, enforcing a ban it had placed on the Dutch parliamentarian for his anti-Islam film, Fitna. While Britain works to eliminate the “threat” from the critics of Islam, however, the British government is facing a far greater peril from the spread of radical Islam on its own territory.
The CIA reportedly has warned President Obama that Islamic extremists living in the United Kingdom are now viewed as the greatest threat to the United States. “Around 40 per cent of CIA activity on homeland threats is now in the UK. This is quite unprecedented,” one British official was quoted as saying in The Telegraph.
Further heightening the threat, these extremists are becoming ever more connected with overseas terrorist networks. Dozens of British citizens are believed to have traveled to Somalia, to fight alongside Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic militants seeking to seize the country from the current government. The Somali militants are reportedly receiving funding from the large Somali community in the United Kingdom. British Muslims have also been providing Taliban forces in Afghanistan with bomb parts, while others are thought to have joined the battlefield and fought against the British military.
Britain’s terrorist networks are vast. According to a joint intelligence report by Britain’s Defense Ministry, MI5 and Special Branch, there are thousands of terrorism supporters in the country. These findings echo an earlier warning from the director of MI-5 that there were at least 2,000 people in the country identified as posing a threat to national security. “It is also estimated that there are some 200 terrorist networks functioning in Britain today who are involved in at least 30 plots,” The Telegraph reported in November 2008.
The pool of potential terrorist recruits appears to be growing. In 2008, the non-partisan Center for Social Cohesion released a poll of 1,400 Muslim students in the United Kingdom and found some frightening results. While there was strong support for some moderate beliefs – including the notion that Islam is compatible with democracy and support for gender equality – some 24 percent felt that Allah did not view males and females equally, and 33 percent favored the construction of “a worldwide Caliphate based on Sharia law.” >>> By Ryan Mauro | Thursday, March 12, 2009
Charles Moore Is Way Off the Mark in His Assesment of Islam! But Right about Jacqui Smith’s Decision
The Home Secretary should instead stop the advocates of violence from entering Britain, argues Charles Moore
'The Secretary of State is satisfied" would be a good title for a satirical television drama. It is the favourite bureaucratic phrase used to convey a ministerial decision.
This week, the office of the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wrote to Geert Wilders, the Dutch MP who had been invited to the House of Lords to present his anti-Muslim film Fitna to MPs and peers there.
Miss Smith, said the letter, was "satisfied" that what Mr Wilders said "about Muslims and their beliefs… would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK".
So the Flying Dutchman reached Heathrow on Thursday, but was put on a plane back to Holland straightaway.
It is extremely unusual that an elected member of a European legislature is banned from this country when invited by members of our own Parliament. It contravenes a key democratic principle about the power of legislators to talk to one another, whether governments like it or not.
The Dutch authorities – though they greatly dislike Mr Wilders – saw this point at once, and protested to the British Government. Out of his respect for the rights of the elected, the Dutch ambassador went to Heathrow to meet Mr Wilders. It is typical of the collapse of our Parliament's self-belief that this aspect of the case has been ignored.
Anyway, the Secretary of State was satisfied. What satisfied her? I do not believe that it was the intrinsic nature of Mr Wilders's film or words. I have watched Fitna on YouTube. It takes the view that Islam is irredeemably evil. Mr Wilders has said elsewhere that "Islam is not another leaf on the tree of religion", but a totalitarian political ideology. Banning Wilders Plays into the Hands of Our Islamist Enemies >>> By Charles Moore | Friday, February 13, 2009
MAIL Online: A bitter diplomatic row erupted today after Britain banned a controversial Right-wing Dutch politician from the UK.
Geert Wilders had been invited by the Ukip peer Lord Pearson to show his anti-Islam film 'Fitna' and hold a Q&A session in Parliament tomorrow.
The 17-minute documentary features verses from the Koran - which it brands a 'fascist book' - alongside images of the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks.
It equates Islam's holy text with violence and ends with a call to Muslims to remove its 'hate-preaching' verses.
After being alerted to the private screening, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith barred Mr Wilders on the grounds that his visit was a threat to 'community harmony and therefore public security'.
But the move brought a furious response from the Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen - a political opponent of Mr Wilders - who complained directly to the Foreign Secretary David Miliband in a 'curt' telephone call.
'The fact that a Dutch parliamentarian is refused entry to another EU country is highly regrettable,' he said.
However, Britain is refusing to give way, even though Mr Wilders is a democratically-elected politician and the leader of a legitimate political party.
A defiant Mr Wilders, who claims to have visited the House of Lords in December, called the decision 'cowardly' and vowed last night to go ahead with his visit.
'Let them try to detain me,' he said. 'I'll see what happens at the border. Let them put me in handcuffs. We are talking here about a European Union country, one of the oldest democracies in the Western world.'
While Mr Verhagen said the Dutch government would press Britain to reverse the ban, Lord Pearson said he was 'very surprised' to hear the news.
Under UK and EU immigration rules, a person can be refused entry to Britain, 'if his exclusion is justified on grounds of public policy, public security or public health.'
The Home Office refused to comment on the individual case of Mr Wilders.
But a spokesman said: 'The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. It will stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.
'We endorse the original condemnation of the film 'Fitna' by the Dutch Government, and feel that it serves no constructive purpose. >>> By Michael Lea | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: Wilders to Travel to Great Britain Despite Ban
The leader of the populist Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, says he will travel to Great Britain on Thursday in spite of a decision by the British government to refuse him entry. The British authorities say he is not welcome because his visit could pose a threat to public order. Mr Wilders had been invited by a member of the House of Lords to show his film Fitna. Members of the British Muslim community have protested against plans to show the film.
The British refusal to deny entry to a Dutch MP has been condemned by politicians from across the Dutch political spectrum. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has contacted his British counterpart David Milibrand and protested against the decision. [Source: RNW] Wednesday, February 11, 2009
AFP: Far-right Dutch MP Ignores Britain on Entry Refusal
THE HAGUE — A far-right Dutch politician facing trial after likening Islam to Nazism vowed Wednesday to press ahead with a planned trip to London despite Britain's refusal to grant him entry.
"I am going tomorrow. We will see what will happen," Geert Wilders, best known for his anti-Islam short film "Fitna", told AFP.
He said his plane was scheduled to land at Heathrow airport on Thursday at 1305 GMT.
Wilders, 45, is the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), which has nine seats in parliament.
British authorities informed Wilders on Tuesday that his presence in the United Kingdom would pose a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society".
"Your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film 'Fitna' and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security," said a letter addressed to Wilders and made available to AFP. >>> | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
If anyone had doubted the extent to which Britain has capitulated to Islamic terror, the banning of Geert Wilders a few hours ago should surely open their eyes. Wilders, the Dutch member of parliament who had made an uncompromising stand against the Koranic sources of Islamist extremism and violence, was due to give a screening of Fitna, his film on this subject, at the House of Lords on Thursday. This meeting had been postponed after Lord Ahmed had previously threatened the House of Lords authorities that he would bring a force of 10,000 Muslims to lay siege to the Lords if Wilders was allowed to speak. To their credit, the Lords authorities had stood firm and said extra police would be drafted in to meet this threat and the Wilders meeting should go ahead.
But now the government has announced that it is banning Wilders from the country. A letter from the Home Secretary’s office to Wilders, delivered via the British embassy in the Hague, said:
...the Secretary of State is of the view that your presence in the UK would pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society. The Secretary of State is satisfied that your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK.
So let’s get this straight. The British government allows people to march through British streets screaming support for Hamas, it allows Hizb ut Tahrir to recruit on campus for the jihad against Britain and the west, it takes no action against a Muslim peer who threatens mass intimidation of Parliament, but it bans from the country a member of parliament of a European democracy who wishes to address the British Parliament on the threat to life and liberty in the west from religious fascism.
It is he, not them, who is considered a ‘serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society’. Why? Because the result of this stand for life and liberty against those who would destroy them might be an attack by violent thugs. The response is not to face down such a threat of violence but to capitulate to it instead. >>> Melanie Phillips | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
EUROPE NEWS: Geert Wilders’ short film Fitna will soon be shown in the House of Lords despite the opposition of Lord Ahmed, who effectively threatened to encourage Muslims to protest the event. The scheduled screening on Thursday 29 January was postponed apparently due to opposing voices.
In any case, Lord Ahmed may have done the counter jihad cause a favour. The publicity that has surrounded the apparent House of Lord’s capitulation will ensure that the event gets even more widespread coverage than it would otherwise have received. The decision to show the film after all has demonstrated the sovereignty of Parliament and to some degree restored its tarnished honour. >>> Beernsandwiches | Thursday, February 5, 2009
THE SPECTATOR: I have been travelling during the past few days and so have built up a bit of a backlog of events upon which I have not yet commented. One of these is the apparently gross abuse of Parliament by Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, which remarkably has not been covered at all in the mainstream British media. Another member of the House of Lords invited the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who is currently facing prosecution in the Netherlands for his outspoken analysis of the Islamist war on civilisation, to screen his controversial film ‘Fitna’ in the Lords on January 29 and discuss his views.
But various representatives of the British Muslim community protested; and Lord Ahmed issued a threat that he would personally mobilise 10,000 Muslims to prevent Wilders from entering the Upper House and would take the peer organising the event to court. In the face of such threats, the meeting was cancelled. >>> Melanie Phillips | Tuesday, February 3, 2009
THE CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE: Lords 'Caved In to Muslims' Over Film
A House of Lords screening of a film linking Islam to violent extremism was blocked after pressure from Muslim groups, according to reports.
The screening, planned for last Thursday, was cancelled after a meeting between Lord Nazir Ahmed, senior House of Lords figures and Muslim leaders, according to a Pakistani news agency.
The Associated Press of Pakistan quotes Lord Ahmed terming the cancellation “a victory for the Muslim community”.
The decision to cancel the Lords showing was reportedly reached after Lord Ahmed met with the Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords and Leader of the House of Lords.
Representatives from the Muslim Council of Britain, British Muslim Forum and others from the British Muslim community were also present at the meeting.
The film, Fitna, was made by Dutch MP Geert Wilders. It juxtaposes quotations from the Koran with footage of terrorist atrocities and speeches by Muslim preachers. >>> | Tuesday, February 3, 2009
PRESS TV: The European Parliament has banned the screening of an anti-Islam film made by a right-wing Dutch lawmaker saying it incites hatred.
Leaders of various blocs in the European Parliament said Wednesday that they would not allow the film Fitna by MP Geert Wilders to be shown, reiterating their earlier decision taken in March.
EU Parliament President, Hans-Gert Poettering, and leaders made the decision after the film caused "problems" when shown in the Netherlands, said a spokeswoman for the parliament's presidency.
Earlier, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said the movie was “offensively anti-Islamic.”
The screening of the film in the Netherlands sparked protests by world Muslims.
Wilders who is also the leader of the Dutch far-right Freedom Party (PVV), called the decision a kind of "censorship."
He had earlier expressed concern over the rapid pace of the growth of Islam in the West. [Source: PRESS TV] RZS/RE | Thursday, December 18, 2008
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: The Netherlands and Dutch interests abroad have become key targets for international terrorist networks. This is mainly down to the film Fitna, made by right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders.
This conclusion emerges from the latest threat assessment by the National Coordinator for Counter-terrorism. It is based on information gleaned from a range of sources over the past few months.
Recent developments have raised the profile of the international threat to the Netherlands. The main reason appears be the film Fitna, which many Muslims see as deeply insulting and provocative, and which extremists see as warranting a violent response. Terrorists See Netherlands as a Prime Target >>> By Michael Blass | September 10, 2008
The Netherlands: Radical Imam Claims Damages for Fitna
ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL: Amsterdam - The radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Imam Fawaz Jneid is claiming 55,000 euros in damages from far-right Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders for allegedly damaging his reputation in a controversial anti-Koran film.
The cleric was shown in Wilders' film 'Fitna'. The 17-minute film features verses of the Koran against images of terrorist attacks.
Wilders, quoted by Radio Netherlands says Jneid's claim "is the world upside down."
His film sparked protests in Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia and has led to calls in some countries for a boycott of Dutch products.
Wilders says the imam "has cursed" Somali feminist and author, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and late Dutch filmmaker,Theo van Gogh.
Hirsi Ali received death threats after writing the script for van Gogh's short film 'Submission' criticising women's treatment in Muslim society.
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: The Jordanian justice authorities are preparing a criminal case against right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders because of his anti-Islam film, Fitna. A Jordanian judge has ruled that there is a case to answer. A number of procedures will have to be followed before any indictment is issued and this is likely to take a considerable time.
The complaint has been brought by organisations which believe the film constitutes an incitement to hatred of Muslims. They have already launched a campaign to boycott Dutch products, blaming the government in The Hague for not prosecuting Mr Wilders. Jordan to Prosecute Dutch MP over Anti-Islam Film >>> By Mike Wilcox | July 1, 2008
Indonesia: Islam Film by Dutch MP 'Mistaken Interpretation' Says Expert
ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL: Jakarta - An Indonesian expert on the Koran has released a book attacking Fitna, the controversial film by Dutch MP Geert Wilders that challenges Islamic teaching.
Quraish Shibab released the book entitled "The verses of Fitna, a small part of Islamic culture in the middle of prejudice" on Sunday.
He said the Dutch film was based on a number of errors and a misinterpretation of Islamic teaching.
"The film of Geert Wilders, Fitna, is a collection of mistaken koranic interpretations."
In 90 pages, Quraish Shibab claims that Wilders has used quotes out of context to give weight to the film's argument that equates Islam and terrorism.
The book, distributed free of charge in several mosques in the capital and available on the Internet, adopts a calm tone and calls on Muslims "to respond to Fitna in a decisive way but avoiding any behaviour that is harmful to Islam or Muslims".
Indonesia, the country with the largest number of Muslims in the world, has recorded the greatest interest in the film Fitna, according to Google Trends, an online tool which monitors Internet traffic.
Fitna has received a moderate response in Indonesia where almost 90 percent of the country's 240 million people is Muslim.
AFP: KARACHI — Thousands of Islamists rallied in southern Pakistan Saturday to condemn an anti-Koran film by a Dutch lawmaker and cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Danish newspapers, witnesses said.
About 4,000 supporters of a conservative Islamic movement marched in the southern port city of Karachi demanding that Islamabad cut diplomatic ties with Denmark and The Netherlands.
"We are ready to lay our lives to protect the honour of our great prophet," the emotional crowd shouted as speakers demanded the government snap ties with the two European nations. Pakistanis Protest Dutch Anti-Koran Film >>> | May 3, 2008
INDIA eNEWS: Iran is to counter the anti-Islamic video Fitna (Discord) made by Dutch legislator Geert Wilders with two documentary films, Fars news agency reported Monday.
The Iranian films are titled Reply to Fitna and Beyond Fitna and aimed at what the filmmakers call neutralizing the 'plot' by the Dutch against Islam.
The two Iranian filmmakers have also declared their readiness to have a debate with Wilders over his film.
Tehran has condemned the anti-Islamic video, terming it 'insulting and anti-Islamic' and symbolic for the 'deep antagonism' of some Western states towards Islam and Muslims.
AFP: KARACHI — Thousands of Pakistani women rallied here Saturday to protest against Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and a Dutch film said to insult Islam, witnesses said.
The women shouted "death to Denmark and death to Netherlands," as they marched about a kilometre (less than a mile) on a busy street.
Police said up to 4,000 women, mostly from an Islamic party, took part in the noisy demonstration, venting anger against the Internet release of a 15-minute film last month by far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders and publication of the Prophet caricatures.
In a resolution the rally urged the government to cease diplomatic ties with Denmark and the Netherlands and expel their envoys.
"We will defend the honour of our prophet and our religion at the cost of our lives," the fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami party said.
The Pakistan foreign ministry last month summoned the Dutch ambassador and lodged a "strong protest" over Wilders's film, which it said "deeply offended the sentiments of Muslims all over the world."
The cartoons originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in September 2005, sparking anger and protests across the Muslim world. Five people died in Pakistan in February 2006 during violent protests against the drawings.
At least 17 Danish dailies reprinted one of the cartoons in February, vowing to defend freedom of expression a day after police in Denmark foiled a plot to murder the cartoonist. [Source: Pakistani Islamic Women Protest 'Anti-Islam' Film, Cartoons]
Wilders Must Pay Rapper €3,000 in Fines for Using His Picture in Fitna
EXPATICA: AMSTERDAM - An Amsterdam court has ordered Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders to pay EUR 3,000 to the rapper Salah Edin for using his picture in his anti-Qur'an film Fitna.
The picture was used by mistake to portray Mohammed Bouyeri, the Islamic extremist who killed film producer Theo van Gogh. The rapper bears a remarkable resemblance to Bouyeri.
Parliamentary Press Chairman Suspended for Anti-Wilders Bias
NIS NEWS BULLETIN: Rutger van Santen, chairman of the Parliamentary Press Association (PPV), has been suspended by Radio Netherlands World Service (RNW) on grounds of his prejudice against MP Geert Wilders.
Van Santen is not allowed to write anything for a month. After that, he is not allowed to report on Dutch politics for another three months, newspaper De Volkskrant reported yesterday.
The measure was prompted by an interview the reporter had with leftwing Green (GroenLinks) MP Tofik Dibi for TV channel Het Gesprek (The Interview). Van Santen asked Dibi to call Wilders a racist. Despite refusals by the young MP, Van Santen continued to press him to use this term.
According to RNW chief editor Wim Jansen, Van Santen is "too emotionally involved in his subject, has become too much an interested party and can no longer take care to take a journalistic distance." His behaviour therefore damages the reputation of RNW, a government-subsidised broadcaster.
Van Santen had already been warned twice by RNW earlier, in August 2007 and last March, not to continually display his aversion to Wilders.
In the past, Van Santen was active on behalf of the far-left Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP) and of the pro-Palestine movement Palestina Komittee. Nonetheless, he worked his way up to chairman of the parliamentary press. Recently, he made a complaint on behalf of the PPV when Wilders was chosen by the population as politician of the year 2007. [Source: Parliamentary Press Chairman Suspended for Anti-Wilders Bias]
PRAGUE DAILY MONITOR: Hradec Kralove, East Bohemia, April 15 (CTK) - The Czech extra-parliamentary extremist National Party (NS) presented the controversial anti-Islamic film Fitna of Dutch ultra-right MP Geert Wilders in Hradec Kralove Tuesday.
Over 20 people attended the screening.
On this occasion, Pavel Sedlacek from the NS pointed to the alleged danger of Islamisation and he mentioned demonstrations in the Czech Republic and abroad against it.
Only several people took part in the debate. One of them said problems with the Islamisation of society should be solved on the official level.
"You must call on politicians to start dealing with it," he said.
Muslim Countries Want the Netherlands to ‘Take Steps’ Against Geert Wilders
DUTCH NEWS: Muslim members of the human rights commission of the United Nations want the Netherlands to take steps against Geert Wilders and his anti-Koran film Fitna, reports Trouw on Wednesday.
The comments came during a two-week meeting of the commission in which countries are being judged on their human rights.
Junior justice minister Nebahat Albayrak, who is part of the Dutch delegation, said the public prosecution department is looking into whether the film broke any laws.
Egypt had harsh words for the Dutch judge who said that as an MP Wilders had the right to criticise radical Islam and the Koran and that he was not inciting racial hatred. The judge's comments showed a lack of feeling for the duties and jurisprudence on human rights, the Egyptian delegate said.
The commission plans to hold three meetings each year until all 192 UN member countries have been judged on their human rights. The Netherlands is in the first batch of 16 countries. [Source: Muslim Countries Call for Action on Wilders]
Pakistan Parliament Slams Anti-Koran Film and Cartoon
REUTERS: ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's parliament passed a resolution on Tuesday denouncing an anti-Koran film made by a Dutch politician and the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers.
Titled "Fitna", a Koranic term sometimes translated as "strife", the film by anti-immigration lawmaker Geert Wilders accuses the Koran of inciting violence and has drawn condemnation from many Muslim countries, including Pakistan.
Small protests have also been held by hardline Islamic groups in Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim nation of 160 million people, against both the film and the republication of one of the 12 cartoons of the Prophet in Danish newspapers in February.
At least 50 people were killed during violent protests in the Muslim countries in 2006 over the cartoons, which were first published in late 2005. Five of were killed in Pakistan.
"This House strongly condemns the printing and reprinting of the sacrilegious and blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet of Islam and release of an offensive and derogatory documentary on Islam titled 'Fitna'," read the resolution adopted by the National Assembly, parliament's lower house.
IOL: The Hague - The Sudan cancelled at the last minute a planned visit by Dutch Defence Minister Eimart van Middelkoop without giving a reason, The Hague said on Tuesday.
The Dutch Defence Ministry said the Sudan informed the government that it would not provide an entry visa to van Middelkoop, whose visit was to have begun on Tuesday.
No reason for the move was given. But Dutch media speculated that the recent anti-Islamic film of rightist politician Geert Wilders was behind the decision.
In his film Wilders, who is known for his anti-Islamic views, argues for a ban on the Koran and cites passages in it which he claims incites [sic] violence by Islamic extremists. [Source: Sudan Calls Off Dutch Minister’s Visit]
