Europe's biggest Islamic cultural event, IslamExpo, opened in London yesterday to reach out and "build bridges" to show that Islam is "not a danger or a threat."
Though the event coincides with last year's bombing of that city, organizers say the four-day festival was planned in 2002.
Now let me ask you: If you're putting together a "good will" image campaign, wouldn't you have the decency, taste, sensitivity or
humility to adjust the timing a little? Should Americans expect an IslamExpo telling us that Islam is "not a danger or a threat" on
the fifth anniversary of September 11th?
I guess this ongoing pattern was set in motion just two months after 9/11, when Muslims raised a ruckus that the U.S. Post Office
forgot to include in its
holiday-stamp poster the new Eid al-Fitr stamp (an Islamic winter holiday). The Russian language has a word that's a stronger
version of "gall" or "chutzpah." The term is "naglost," and it's when you defecate on someone's doorstep then ring the bell to ask for
toilet paper.
ArabicNews.com reports:
"Speakers from 22 countries around the world are attending the festival, representing Christian and Jewish faiths as well as an array
of cultural, ethnic, professional and ideological trends. London Mayor Ken Livingstone, former Iraq hostage Norman Kember and the
BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner, who survived an attack in Saudi Arabia, are among those sharing the platform with
many prominent Muslims."
So all these chumps are converging on London this week to dutifully assuage Western suspicions and insist that there's no need for
whatever vigilance we may have left in us, proving that Islam isn't a threat, but merely our future. The Muslims should keep killing us
just for being stupid.
"A corresponding economic conference to promote London as a center for investment for the Islamic world is also being held in
Carnary Wharf in east London."
Which is just grand. With Western nations already dependent on Muslim countries for oil, let's make our economies hinge
on Muslims even more, so we have even less wiggle room to piss them off by fighting terror. (For example, a 116-page report by the London-based
Islamic Human Rights Commission released this week equates the British government's anti-terror measures to a "latter-day
witch-hunt" of Muslims, and recommends repealing existing anti-terrorism legislation, disallowing ethnic profiling and not using
words like "extremism.")
Ihtisham Hibatullah, of the Muslims Association of Britain, which planned IslamExpo, said that mainstream Muslims would be
"condemning terrorist atrocities taking place in London and elsewhere against innocents...There will be a strong message from the
mainstream Muslim community against all violence by extremists."
Just as the new UN Human Rights Council has done this very week! The body yesterday voted on a resolution that condemns Israel and dispatches a special fact-finding mission to Gaza.
To wit, among IslamExpo's main speakers will be Palestinian-born Azzam Tamimi, who in a 2004 BBC interview said that he would sacrifice himself for the "noble cause" of Palestine if he "had the opportunity….Millions of
people say this around the world."
Expo spokesman Anas Altikriti reiterated that the conference is intended to "build bridges" between Muslims and non-Muslims,
adding "I think I speak on behalf of all at IslamExpo in saying we are extremely proud to have Dr. Tamimi involved." I guess we know
at least one bridge they want to build with the non-Muslim world. (The 116-page report likewise calls for the British government to
stop its occasional objections to Israel-bashing.)
The only Brit who didn't play nicely this week was Tony Blair who, according to BBC, "called on moderate Muslim leaders to speak
out more against extremists within their communities. But Muslim Council of Britain secretary general Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari
accused Mr Blair of playing an 'unhelpful blame game' by suggesting moderate Muslims were doing too little to challenge extreme
views."
So just when Blair mustered a testicle to tell Muslims instead of being told by Muslims, the new rule is you
can't even say that Muslims don't speak out enough against Islamic violence.
Western nations will prevail in the War on Terror, and they'll be very peaceful Islamic countries.
