Displaying items by tag: counterterrorism

On 21 March, five mosques in Birmingham were targeted in a string of violent attacks overnight and into the morning. Reports of a man smashing windows with a sledgehammer were received at 2:30 am. Officers were then alerted to four similar attacks nearby. West Midlands police said it has yet to establish a motive, and officers from its counter-terrorism unit are investigating. Since the tragic events in New Zealand, police officers and staff have been working closely with their faith partners across the region to offer reassurance and support at churches, mosques and places of prayer.

On 31 July a Hamas-affiliated TV station was shut down, and the four Palestinians operating it were arrested. Israel had said Al-Quds TV was a terror organisation, and the four suspects are charged with incitement to terrorism as the station was a Hamas mouthpiece. One of the driving forces behind Palestinian aggression is incitement by clergy and Palestinian leadership through its state and local media. Israel is now shutting down all Palestinian media outlets and publications that incite against Israelis and promote terror attacks. The Hamas student groups in Hebron universities were also raided and incitement materials were confiscated. The students’ families were given a warning and told to stay away from terrorism. Twenty wanted Palestinians were arrested.

The jihadists’ fetish for anniversaries should not go unnoticed. The barbarity on 3 June in London was four years to the day after Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder by terrorists. Haras Rafiq of the Quilliam Foundation (an Islamic thinktank) has called on political parties to take terrorism threats more seriously, with strong, committed leadership. He said: ‘Barely thirty words appear on counter-terror in the three major parties’ manifestos - not the razor-sharp focus that the single biggest threat to our way of life warrants. It is time for British Muslims to self-diagnose the malaise seeping through our community. It is not enough simply to distance our faith from these monsters: we must categorically refute the Islamist ideology that fuels their twisted worldview. We must hold our community, our religious leaders and our mosques accountable when they say something that just doesn’t sound right. We must work together and collaborate on counter-extremism programmes such as Prevent.’ (See article below, on Prevent)

Islamist groups in Britain are undermining the fight against terrorism by peddling ‘myths’ about the government’s key anti-radicalisation policy, according to the country’s most prominent Muslim lawyer. Nazir Afzal, a former chief crown prosecutor, warned that some groups were spreading misinformation about the Prevent strategy, set up by the Blair government to intervene early and to provide support for those deemed at risk of being drawn into violent extremism. Prevent is estimated to have an annual budget of £40 million, but has faced criticism for implying that Muslims are a ‘suspect community’ full of potential terrorists. Mr Afzal condemned ‘self-appointed’ community leaders who present Muslims as victims and not as those who are potentially becoming radicals. He singled out the Islamist-dominated Muslim Council of Britain, saying its annual general meeting last year stated ‘nothing about radicalisation and nothing about the threat of people going to Syria’.