Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Banned-in-USA Muslim cleric--and supporter of suicide bombings--headed to Britain in August

Pictured on the left are London Mayor Ken "The Red" Livingstone and Qatari Imam Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Last year, according to Tuesday's UK Telegraph, the Lord Mayor invited Yusuf to England to London, which infuriated many Gay and Jewish Brits.

Free registration may be required to view the entire Telegraph article.

Because he has links to the extremist group The Muslim Brotherhood, Qaradawi is banned from the USA.

Ken has been cozy with Palestinian, and more specifically, anti-Israel activists for years. To his credit, since 7/7 he's been sounding a bit more like President Bush of late, the same man the Leftist mayor once called "the greatest threat to life on this planet." It would be interesting to ask Livingstone if he's invite Yusuf back to London.

But many miles north of London, on August 7, Qaradawi is scheduled to speak at an Islamic conference in Manchester. Will the British government, in light of the 7/7 atrocities, let him back into England?

From the Telegraph:

But although Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, has the power to exclude individuals whose presence is judged not to be conducive to the public good, there is no suggestion that the controversial Qatar-based imam is to be banned.

Last Friday the Home Office outlined proposals aimed at restraining militants by making it a crime to glorify or condone terrorism. Ministers said that would cover statements suggesting that suicide bombers were martyrs.

The second paragraph seems quite reasonable. Now, about that first one...

Although Qaradawi's supporters said he had condemned the Tube and bus attacks, he has praised suicide bombings against Israel.

Last year he told the BBC's Newsnight: "It is not suicide; it is martyrdom in the name of God. I consider this type of martyrdom operation as an indication of the justice of Allah almighty. Allah is just.

"Through his infinite wisdom he has given the weak what the strong do not possess and that is the ability to turn their bodies into bombs as the Palestinians do."

The Telegraph finds a Muslim spokesman who belches out the tired apologist line that Qaradawi is a "moderate" and that his comments were, as radicals spewings usually are, "taken out of context."

My advice to Home Secretary Clarke? Have that Qatari plane bypass Manchester and divert it to further north to some God forsaken place such as the Faroe Islands.

And leave him there.

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