Call to action: Tell TfL to say NO to al-Quds Day
This is a guest-post from Stop the Bomb.
Londoners should be worried that the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), a khomeinist organisation, has advertisements running on London buses advertising the upcoming al-Quds day march on Friday 17th August. The IHRC is a charity in the United Kingdom. Its accounts are 95 days overdue.
Transport for London should redact any further advertising from the IHRC. Contrary to its name, its interests have little to do with the promotion of human rights and much to do with the advancement of Islamism and groups like the terrorist proxy-army of Iran, Hizbullah.
Consider the following:
For some time, the IHRC has been campaigning for the “Blind Sheikh”, Omar Abdel Rahman: the spiritual leader of, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, which later were consolidated into Al Qaeda. He was an associate of Bin Laden, and his teacher, Abdullah Azzam. Having moved to New York to fundraise for Al Qaeda, the Blind Sheikh was convicted of various charges arising from the the World Trade Center 1993 bombings.
Here’s what they say about the man:
Action Alert: Egypt – IHRC calls for the release of Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman and his return to Egypt
…
Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman is an elderly Egyptian sheikh, imprisoned in the United States in 1995 through sedition laws last used during the American civil war. He is now 73 years of age, and his health has deteriorated significantly. There is a high chance that he may die soon, and his family have requested for him to be able to spend his last moments with them in Egypt.…
Sheikh Abdul Rahman was imprisoned several times in Egypt in 1970 and 1981 for 3 years. He left Egypt in 1990 after facing security restrictions and being put under house arrest for a year. Three years after arriving to the US, he was arrested on de-contextualised evidences and sentenced to a life sentence.
The elderly Islamic scholar, educated at the prestigious al-Azhar University in Cairo, and unceremoniously dubbed by the media as the Godfather of the Islamic Group, has been a harsh critic of the regime of Hosni Mubarak. He has welcomed initiatives by the Islamic Group to stop the violence currently taking place in Egypt.
Sheikh Abdul Rahman spent 18 years under solitary confinement, and is restricted from being having visitors.
His lawyer Lyne Stuart [sic], the only person granted permission to visit the elderly Sheikh, was also convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for relaying messages between the Sheikh and his family.
The fact that the Blind Sheikh is the IHRC’s Prisoner of Conscience tells you everything you need to know about this organisation.
The IHRC’s fanaticism isn’t just based on Islamic supremacism. The gay-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has documented how the Islamic Human Rights Commission promoted the speaking tour of the hate preacher Abdullah Hakim Quick. Tatchell identified that Quick was on record in saying the following:
• AIDS is caused by the “filthy practices” of homosexuals
• Homosexuals are dropping dead from AIDS and “they want to take us all down with them”
• The Islamic position on homosexuality is “death”
• Homosexuals are “sick” and “not natural”
• “Muslims are going to have to take a stand [against homosexuals] and it’s not enough to call names”.
There is a precedent for cancelling advertisements on London’s buses. Earlier this year, Mayor of London Boris Johnson personally intervened to stop a bus poster campaign claiming to ‘cure gays’. The Mayor of London should intervene to stop the IHRC from claiming legitimacy by advertising on the TfL network.
The IHRC’s flagship campaign is its promotion of al-Quds day. al-Quds day was founded by the Iranian theocrat Ayotollah Khomeini to express ‘solidarity’ with the Palestinian people. In reality, it’s a day dedicated to fanatical Israel hatred.
In al-Quds day 2011, have a look at what was being paraded:
The picture shows an IHRC poster with “We are all Hizbullah”. Hizbullah is the proxy terrorist organisation that takes its orders from Iran. Its job is to destabilise Lebanon and its border with Israel.
Most prominently a UN tribunal investigating the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri found Hezbollah at the centre of their investigation. The United States, amongst other Western nations, as well as countries including Egypt and Bahrain consider Hizbullah a terrorist organisation.
The IHRC allowed the Hizbullah flag to be paraded. The flag carries the iconic picture of an assault rifle.
Here is a picture of the IHRC going some-way in fulfilling its charitable objective: “To promote Human Rights and equality and diversity (in particular good race relations) throughout the world”:
Here is a picture of an IHRC endorsed banner comparing Zionism to Apartheid and Nazism. The flag of Israel is crossed out and one of the holders has a ‘Palestinian Solidarity Campaign’ label on his top:
In a previous al-Quds day, the IHRC allowed Taji Mustafa, a spokesperson for the Islamist group Hizb-ut-tahir to be given an unchallenged platform. Here’s a taste of what Mustafa said to the crowd:
This ummah needs a ruler who will stand up for Islam. Who will unite us behind Qur’an. Who will follow the words of the prophet and who will send an army. The army of Egypt is not the army of Egypt. The army of Iran is not the army of Iran. The army of Jordan is not the army of Jordan. These are the armies of Islam. These are the armies of the Muslim ummah. These are the armies that have to move. Takbir! Takbir! Takbir!
…
Yes, give your charity, may Allah accept it. Yes, make duaa (prayer) for the Palestinians, may Allah accept it. But you have to call, you have to demand, you have to march, that the Muslim armies, they have to disobey their orders. The Muslim armies in Egypt, Jordan and Syria, they have to disobey their presidents and these puppets of the West. They have to move across the borders. They have to liberate Gaza. They have to liberate Palestine, the whole of the land again. Takbir! Takbir! Takbir!
The Charity Commission found nothing wrong with this.
What you can do
Contact TfL’s partner for advertising on London’s buses, CBS Outdoor. You can contact Aiden Dunning, the Director of Legal & Business Affairs, at:aiden.dunning@cbsoutdoor.co.uk (telephone: 020 7428 2874) and feel free to Cc in Mike Hemmings, their head of Marketing, at:mike.hemmings@cbsoutdoor.co.uk (telephone: 020 7428 2852).
If you’re a Londoner, contact your MP, local councillors and assembly members – you can find out who they are and how to contact them, here.
Attempts to advertise their events by other extremist organisations including the English Defence League would be rightly crushed. A five minute phone call with your elected representative and a polite e-mail to the gentleman above could be all this needed to get the IHRC off the buses of London.
Would Boris permit these advertisements to appear on London's buses, especially during the Olympic Games? No? Perhaps they are a little too much in-your-face, and somewhat insensitive during the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre. But TfL have approved this advertisement for Al-Quds Day, which amounts to the same thing (just not so in-your-face):
The moment the Mayor of London stepped in to censor the perfectly legal advertisements of Anglican Mainstream for their alleged 'homophobia', there was a danger of his intervention being perceived as personal disapprobation, and any future inaction as tacit endorsement of a campaign. Boris said of the Anglican Mainstream advertisements: "London is one of the most tolerant cities in the world and intolerant of intolerance. It is clearly offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness that someone recovers from and I am not prepared to have that suggestion driven around London on our buses."
Perhaps so. But is it not just as 'clearly offensive' to advertise an Islamist day of fanatical celebration which opposes a homeland for the Jewish people (ie Zionism) as well as Israel's control of Jerusalem? Al-Quds Day was inaugurated by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, who declared the liberation of Jerusalem a religious duty to all Muslims (ie Jihad). It is celebrated fervently by Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement, who are a little more extreme than Anglican Mainstream.
Yet here we are, with TfL promoting a manifestly anti-Semitic event, and Boris endorsing it through inertia and silence. For His Grace, he is all for such freedom of expression: it is his judgment that society is all the better for such vigorous expressions being permitted and crushed through sound argument. Freedom reigns while people spout their views, so he stands foursquare with Lord Justice Sedley, who championed the rights of people to express such views, quoting Socrates and two famous Quakers in doing so. There is no breach of the peace if what is said is merely offensive. He said: “Free speech includes not only the offensive, but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative, providing it does not tend to provoke violence.”
But Boris has a problem because he set a precedent: the official position of TfL in its acceptance of advertising is that it is intolerant of the intolerant. Yet the Islamic Human Rights Commission gladly entertains Islamists who spout such incitement as this:
This ummah needs a ruler who will stand up for Islam. Who will unite us behind Qur’an. Who will follow the words of the prophet and who will send an army. The army of Egypt is not the army of Egypt. The army of Iran is not the army of Iran. The army of Jordan is not the army of Jordan. These are the armies of Islam. These are the armies of the Muslim ummah. These are the armies that have to move. Takbir! Takbir! Takbir!This sounds pretty intolerant to His Grace. You can get further details over at Harry's Place.
...Yes, give your charity, may Allah accept it. Yes, make duaa (prayer) for the Palestinians, may Allah accept it. But you have to call, you have to demand, you have to march, that the Muslim armies, they have to disobey their orders. The Muslim armies in Egypt, Jordan and Syria, they have to disobey their presidents and these puppets of the West. They have to move across the borders. They have to liberate Gaza. They have to liberate Palestine, the whole of the land again. Takbir! Takbir! Takbir!
His Grace decided to write to Aiden Dunning, Director of Legal and Business Affairs, and to Mike Hemmings, head of Marketing. He received this response:
Thank you for your email regarding the Islamic Human Rights Commission campaign.Well, as readers and communicants will know, His Grace isn't overly fond of the ASA, and has zero confidence in the impartiality of their judgment. So he responded to Mr McDonald thus:
CBS Outdoor UK sought advice from the Committee of Advertising Practice and the advert complies with Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidelines and does not breach any UK ad regulations.
If you wish to make a formal complaint regarding the campaign, please contact the ASA directly.
Advertising Standards Authority
Mid City Place
71 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6QT
Tel: 020 7492 2222
http://www.asa.org.uk/
The ASA will confirm receipt of the complaint and advise you on how it will be proceeding.
Thank you for taking the time to contact CBS Outdoor UK
Regards
Nigel McDonald
Head of Sales Administration
Dear Mr McDonald,His Grace has received no further response, hence this post (of which they were given due notice). If anyone wishes to take this up with the ASA, His Grace would be (mildly) interested to hear how you get on. In the meantime, Nigel McDonald can be contacted at Nigel.McDonald@cbsoutdoor.co.uk.
With respect, this isn't a matter for the ASA but for you.
A few months ago you pulled (at very short notice) the perfectly legal advertising campaign by a Christian group who happen to believe that homosexuality might be cured.
It was (and is) undoubtledly the case that 'the Committee of Advertising Practice and the advert complie(d) with Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidelines and (did) not breach any UK ad regulations'.
Please could you explain why TfL permits the promotion of a manifestly anti-Semitic event but not that which is deemed to constitute 'homophobia'?
Yours sincerely,
++Cranmer
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