Charles Moore And Islamophobia

The allegations of “Islamist infiltration” into a number of schools in Birmingham have been examined on Zelo Street before (see HERE and HERE), and the involvement of the Telegraph’s Muslim basher par excellence Andrew “transcription error” Gilligan has been noted. But now, the paper has taken its campaign to a whole new level, by allowing senior pundit Charles Moore to jump in with both feet.

Showing the crashing ignorance and prejudice inherent in his piece is the headline: “A weak establishment is letting Islamists threaten British freedoms ... Birmingham council and police must do all they can to uncover extremist subversion in the city's schools. All Islamist schools of thought are hostile to democracy”. That is bad, even for the routinely clueless and paranoid Moore.

Then he really sells the pass: “As always with stories about Islam in Britain, the details are incredibly opaque, although The Telegraph’s Andrew Gilligan is getting us closer to the truth”. Just f*** right off Charles, Gilligan wouldn’t know “the truth” if it jumped up and fly-hacked him in the undercarriage. Moore wants “the truth”? Well, one local school governor may be able to help him.

“I serve as Vice-Chair of Governors at Regents Park School in Birmingham, a school named in the press as being among those 'infiltrated'. I categorically refute those allegations, and have demonstrated their emptiness to HM Inspectors for Schools” tells Anglican priest Oliver Coss, who for some reason does not appear to have been contacted by Gilligan, or anyone else from the Tel.

And, as to the appointment by Michael “Oiky” Gove of a former head of counter-terrorism to investigate the allegations made by the likes of Gilligan, he has this to say: “Majority Islamic neighbourhoods are well used to the 'terror' maps produced by the police, with big red blotches strategically placed over my church to scare me into submission; they are used to the Counter-Terrorist 'Neighbourhood' Unit; and they are used to accusations of 'Islamism' or 'extremism' being hurled at them, not because such things exist, but for the simple crime of being Muslims”.

Moore, however, is not even on the same page: “In the Birmingham case, it seems we are dealing with a war within Islam, between the more articulate, extreme and mysteriously well-funded Salafists (or Wahhabis) and the quieter, more traditional and numerous Barelvis” he assumes without getting a second source.

Instead, he insists the Muslims are out to get us: “Everything to do with Islamism is a web of obscurity, designedly so. People who believe that the Western way of life is a lie which should be overthrown have no scruples about concealing their actions and motives”. This is dangerous rabble-rousing nonsense.

And Charles Moore is an utter disgrace who should leave this to the authorities.