This is the headline to an article in the Daily Mail reporting claims that Israel has destroyed a Sudanese weapons factory in a bombing raid. The article itself suggests that "the raid acted as a 'dry run' for a forthcoming strike on Iran's nuclear facilities". The subeditor's substitution of "Islam" for "Iran" in the headline tells us a lot about the general mindset at the Mail.

Update:  The headline has now been amended.

Earlier this year the Mail reported that the existence of the Freudian slip had been confirmed by scientific research: "A new study has revealed how the theory, which forms part of the basis of psychoanalysis, is linked to the conscious symptoms of people with anxiety disorders such as phobias."

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Britain could have its first Sharia-controlled zone if plans for a mega-mosque more than four times the size of St Paul's Cathedral get the go-ahead.

The East London mosque, known as the Riverine Centre, will hold 9,312 worshippers, compared to 2,400 at St Paul's. The 16-acre site in West Ham will include 40ft minarets, an Islamic library, a dining hall, multi-use games areas, tennis courts, sports facilities and eight flats for visiting Muslim clerics.

Islamist group Tablighi Jamaat has submitted updated plans for what Cambridge-based architects NRAP are calling a "contemporary Islamic sacred space" the size of Battersea Power Station.

But last night campaigners against the proposal claimed the application was a smokescreen for wider intentions to create a hardline Islamic enclave in the capital. They also insisted facilities for the wider non-Muslim community in East London would be minimal and disguise Tablighi's real aim to establish a global base.

The group has been dubbed an "antechamber of fundamentalism" by French intelligence officials. Two of the July 7 bombers, Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan, and failed shoe bomber Richard Reid, left, are believed to have prayed at a Tablighi mosque in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

Alan Craig, campaign director of MegaMosque-NoThanks, said: "Newham Council wants a mixed use of the site with homes, shops and business units. The mosque trustees say they want to build a mosque the size of Battersea Power Station. Either way, it will be the UK's first custombuilt Sharia-controlled zone."

Daily Star Sunday, 7 October 2012

This is just the usual ignorant, misleading nonsense we have come to expect from the right-wing press on the subject of the Newham "mega-mosque" (which won't even be the largest mosque in London, as according to the present plan its capacity would be rather less than that of the Ahmadiyyas' Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden).

The fact that Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan may have attended the Dewsbury Markaz is statistically meaningless given that the mosque holds 3,000 worshippers, nor is there the slightest evidence that it influenced their turn to violent extremism. And the Star yet again rolls out the claim that Tablighi Jamaat is an "antechamber of fundamentalism", in order to suggest that a "fundamentalist" interpretation of religious belief necessarily constitutes a threat, while at the same time happily quoting Alan Craig, leader of the right-wing fundamentalist political party the Christian Peoples Alliance.

The reliability of Craig's views on the Newham project can be gauged by the fact that, when he stood as the Christian Choice candidate for London mayor in 2008, his original election broadcast was rejected by both the BBC and ITV who demanded that he remove his unsubstantiated accusations against Tablighi Jamaat.

In fact Craig's statements in that broadcast – he described TJ as "separatist" and implied that they were extremists – were quite mild by his standards. After the failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow in 2007, Craig issued a disgraceful press release declaring that the Newham mosque was "linked" to the bomb plots, in which he made the following inflammatory claim: "Tablighi Jamaat radicalises and dehumanises Muslim young men. They have a growing and ominous track record as further young men follow Tabligh teaching about Islam and then go on to plan horrendous atrocities."

Meanwhile, in a press release headed "Irate residents launch campaign against West Ham mega-mosque", Craig boasts that he and his sorry little gang of bigots (masquerading as concnerned "residents") have been out leafleting in Newham in an attempt to whip up fear and hatred over the mosque among the local non-Muslim population. Craig's actions have received the warm endorsement of the "counter-jihad" movement (see here and here).

The Daily Star Sunday report has also proved a source of inspiration to the far right. The English Defence League's Facebook page has provided a link to the article, provoking the following comments from EDL supporters:

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It looks like the right-wing press is resuming its hysterical campaign against the proposed Tablighi Jamaat markaz at the Riverine Centre in Newham. "Bomb fear at mega mosque" is the shock horror headline to an article in the Daily Star Sunday, which follows the recent scaremongering report in the Evening Standard.

According to the Star: "Security forces feared extremists could use boats to smuggle explosives on to the site of a proposed mega mosque in East London during the Games. Spooks conducted a series of boating missions to test the possibility of terrorists bringing bombs into the Stratford area. Anti-terror chiefs thought they might use the River Thames, River Lea and a tributary known as the Channelsea River, which runs adjacent to the planned 12,000-seater mosque site in West Ham, East London."

For confirmation of this dubious story, for which the Star offers no sources at all, the paper turns to local right-wing Christian bigot Alan Craig, who is quoted as saying: "No doubt the security forces have been watching it. I spoke some time ago to a number of anti-terror officers about it and they were certainly watching the situation with the Olympics coming up. This site is less than half a mile from Olympic stadia. They were quite concerned." Craig adds: "Officers had been out in rubber boats on the river assessing the possibility of getting ordnance in via the river."

It was Craig who issued a disgraceful press release in July 2007 claiming that Tablighi Jamaat had inspired the attempted terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London. I suppose it's possible that anti-terror officers discussed their operational plans with this fundamentalist crank, but it strikes me as highly unlikely.

Having stirred up its readers with unsubstantiated accusations of association with terrorism, the Star concludes its report by quoting the trustees of the Riverine Centre as stating: "There are no such security concerns regarding Tablighi Jamaat. These people are just interested in constructing a building that is suitable for their faith. There is nothing sinister going on."

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The Daily Mail reports that a drunken couple of Polish origin, Beata Jopek and her partner Maciej Matysniak, racially abused two hijab-wearing Muslim women, Hana Farah and Ithil Ibrahim, on a Leeds-Sheffield train.

It was Matysniak who first approached the two women and told them: "Shut the f*** up", why are you so "f****** loud, aren't you embarrassed about how loud you are? You can't even speak English."

Jopek then told the women to "go back to your own country", screaming "no-one wants you here, you are f****** disgusting". She shouted at one of them: "Take that f****** thing off, a white person wouldn't do what you are doing." She ripped the headscarf from one of the women and when restrained by a guard said: "If I lose the baby I'm going to kill the black b****."

Jopek narrowly escaped a prison sentence at Sheffield Crown Court after both women said they would prefer that their assailants be made to recognise what they did was wrong rather than go to jail. Jopek was given a three-month sentence suspended for 12 months and 120 hours of unpaid community work. Matysniak was given a 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work.

So what headline did the Mail choose for their report? "White bigots launched racist tirade against Muslims", perhaps? Of course not. Instead, we get: "Pregnant Polish migrant told British Muslim women wearing hijabs to 'go back to your own country' in drunken tirade."

Bloody Poles, coming over here and abusing our Muslims. Don't they realise this is the job of decent British newspapers like the Daily Mail?

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ENGAGE refers us to an article on the Political Scrapbook blog reporting the Daily Mail's attempt to blame travel problems during the Olympics on, yes you guessed, Muslims. Apparently they will cause chaos when they "squeeze into non-Games lanes to worship at the many mosques that surround the Olympic Park".

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Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman has refuted allegations that the borough has banned pork sausages from being served in schools.

Mayor Rahman responded on his blog to an article in the Daily Mail which claimed the council has banned sausages due to "religious reasons." The article stated that 85 out of 90 schools in Tower Hamlets do not offer pupils a pork option, a figure which Mayor Rahman attributed to a lack of demand.

He wrote: "The facts are that pork sausages are available to the minority of schools where there is a continuing demand for them.

"However, it is the case that in a majority of our schools there isn't any demand for them. Clearly there is no demand for pork sausages for Muslim and Jewish school pupils, but that is hardly a new development.

"At a time when there are severe pressures on local authority budgets, why should our council be obliged to waste money on unwanted pork sausages?"

East London Advertiser, 18 June 2012

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A high-flying businessman was hauled before the court for a tirade of religious abuse at a Muslim immigration official waiting to check his passport.

Anthony Holt, 65, had become wound up after reading an article in the Daily Mail about the "victimisation of Christianity" on a flight into Manchester. When he landed, the retired consultant refused to go through a desk where Sayima Mohammed was on duty.

He astonished witnesses by pointing at her and saying: "I don't want to be seen by that. I don't want to be seen by any Muslim in a position of authority. I want to be seen by someone who's English. This is England. This is my country. I'm not into all this Islam."

As Ms Mohammed burst into tears, her colleagues refused to check Mr Holt's documents and ordered him to calm down. When police arrived, Holt turned his attention to a cop, saying: "That's Islam. I'm not going to that. This is my country." The 15-minute row only ended when he was arrested.

During a police interview Holt claimed the abuse was not "personal". He said: "The problem I have is with Islam as a whole. It's threat to the British population and the British way of life. I wanted to take a stand."

Holt, of Railway Road, Urmston, pleaded guilty to using religiously aggravated threatening words or behaviour. He was ordered to pay £100 compensation and a £145 fine.

Trafford magistrates heard he had worked as a consultant advising lawyers about the purchase of railway stock until his retirement earlier this month.

The court heard the outburst took place in front of a queue of witnesses, including children. In a statement to police, Ms Mohammed said: "I felt threatened, shocked and humiliated to be treated in that manner for no apparent reason."

Praveen Sethi, defending, said Holt had been flying into Manchester at the end of "a stressful week". He had been reading an article in the Mail in which the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey spoke of the "victimisation of Christians and Christianity".

Mr Sethi said: "He took his frustrations out on the first person he saw. Mr Holt is a man of previous good character. He's not a racist nor against any religion what-so-ever, which makes it even more surprising he carried out this act."

The court heard Holt suffered from a neurological disorder which meant he could "explode" at any time.

Holt told magistrates his comments were not directed to Ms Mohammed, but at the fact she was wearing a scarf. He said: "I have pleaded guilty because I am. It's totally out of character for me. I deeply regret it and deeply regret any offence or distress I caused the lady. Nothing I said was directed to her personally."

Geoff Homer, chairman of the bench, told Holt: "You have said to this court this is a one off incident and we accept that."

Manchester Evening News, 2 June 2012

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They settle domestic disputes, rule on financial disagreements and even grant marriages and divorces. But Sharia courts that dish out verdicts based on hardline Islamic law operate outside our justice system. Recent attempts by the Ministry of Justice to investigate the courts were abandoned following a lack of co-operation from Muslim elders.

The Daily Star Sunday gained unprecedented access to this secretive network, accused by Baroness Cox of using "intimidation backed by death threats". Last month the cross-bencher claimed they could eventually lead to the destruction of democracy, with stonings, whippings and amputations becoming common punishments.

Daily Star on Sunday, 6 May 2012

And which "hidden Sharia courts" did the Star get "exclusive access" to? Just the one, in Whitechapel, run by none other than Anjem Choudary, at whose invitation the paper obviously acquired this access. Yet again we have a case of Choudary collaborating with the right-wing press in their campaign to misrepresent and whip up hostility towards the Muslim community.

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