Libel! cries the MCB.

An interesting row has been brewing between the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and the Department of Communities and Local Government culminating in a threatened libel action against Secretary of State, Hazel Blears by the MCB’s deputy general-secretary, Dr. Daud Abdullah.

Ms. Blears has alleged that Dr. Abdullah attended a conference earlier this year where he signed a declaration that calls for violence against British and other troops as well as Jewish communities all around the world. Although Dr. Abdullah admits that he attended and signed the Declaration, at the misleadingly named Global Anti-Aggression Campaign conference in Istanbul, earlier this year, he denies the claim made by Ms. Blears.

In support of him, the MCB’s general secretary Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari has stated “All our office bearers without exception stand resolutely against all forms of indiscriminate violence. We are completely opposed to all forms of prejudice including Anti-Semitism.....”

These are some of the most disingenuous words I’ve heard in a long time. The Declaration, essentially one of support for the Hamas terrorist organisation in Gaza, is saturated with paranoia, delusion and anti-Semitic bile.

But, has Dr Abdullah been defamed?

On the call to support violence against British and other troops, there can be no doubt that clause 8 of the affirmation of legal judgments within the declaration sanction violence against any military force sent, even if by the United Nations, to the Eastern Mediterranean for the execution of peacekeeping duties. At the time the declaration was made, Dr Abdullah will have known that the British government was considering this option.

Clearly on this point, there is no case to answer.

The call to support violence against Jewish communities is however, more indirect, but it is there.

Clause 8 of the affirmation of legal judgments, effectively declares that anyone who supports the State of Israel, puts himself in the same position as the State of Israel itself. The vast majority of Jews who are among State of Israel’s supporters are therefore in the same position as the “usurping entity”. However this clause in itself is not a call to arms against the “usurping entity.” This is to be found elsewhere in the document.

The first is the support given to Hamas throughout the declaration. Hamas is a terrorist organisation that regards the entire state of Israel as Muslim land and is committed to its destruction through violent means.

The second, but most crucially is in the conclusion of the declaration which calls for “seizing control of the instruments of power that will make possible its supremacy and the preservation of its holy places and provisions.” This is effectively is a declaration of war against Israel by virtue of its annexation of East Jerusalem, which includes the site, the third holiest in Islam, where according to tradition the Prophet Mohammed ascended to Heaven.

If Dr. Abdullah is hell bent on the publicity his libel action will generate, it is his right, one he won’t have in most Muslim countries around the world and certainly not in the Sharia super-state or Ummah that he appears to yearn. But, if he wants to promote good community relations at home in the UK, he had better shut up, put up and hope that the police don’t come knocking on his door carrying questions about suspected terrorist and hate related crimes he may have committed.

Extracts from the declaration

Praise to Allah who strengthened His troops, aided his servants and alone routed the Zionist Jews.

We congratulate the whole family of Islam on the manifest victory which Allah has granted us in the land of Gaza over the Zionist Jewish occupiers.

We affirm that this manifest victory has clearly disclosed the volume of international and local military and political conspiracy against the jihad and the mujahidin in Gaza, as represented by:
· The aggressive pressure put on the mujahidin to break their will and force them to agree to the conspirator’s terms and the stipulation of the Zionist enemy.
· The attempt to present the Hamas government as the cause of this malicious Jewish Zionist war over Gaza

Affirmation of legal judgments:
7. The obligation of the Islamic Nation to regard everyone standing with the Zionist entity, whether countries, institutions or individuals, as providing a substantial contribution to the crimes and brutality of this entity, the position towards him is the same as towards this usurping entity.
8. The obligation of the Islamic Nation to regard the sending of foreign warships into Muslim waters, claiming to control the borders and prevent the smuggling of arms to Gaza, as a declaration of war, a new occupation, sinful aggression, and a clear violation of the sovereignty of the Nation. This must be rejected and fought by all ways and means.

To conclude: WE remind the Islamic Nation of the necessity of... seizing control of the instruments of power that will make possible its supremacy and the preservation of its holy places and provisions.