The behaviour of the Labour MP for Ilford North in the London Borough of Redbridge, Wes Streeting could best be described as ‘naïve’, especially when it comes to his dealings with Islamic groups. Mr Streeting is known to have had meetings, including one earlier this year at the Woodford Muslim Cultural Centre, with members of a known Islamic extremist group. This group Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) is attempting to influence politics in the Redbridge area by building links with politicians and by making possibly spurious and dishonest claims of ‘Islamophobia’. Mr Streeting has by his recent statements on the subject of ‘Islamophobia’ to one of the local newspapers that cover the Redbridge area, foolishly helped to give credence to some of MEND’s highly questionable claims that there has been a rise in ‘Islamophobia’ in the area.

Observers of the political situation in Redbridge, including this blog, have expressed surprise at the naivety of Wes Streeting in having contact with an Islamic group that according to the Daily Telegraph is a ‘front’ for Islamic extremists. It seems incongruous that Mr Streeting who is gay, should have anything to do with a group that has stated in the past that it wants to let British Muslims fight in Syria, where gay men are routinely murdered by throwing them off of roofs. Surely any sensible person involved in the world of politics would decide that they would have nothing to do with a group like MEND because their policies and positions are so inimical to those of a liberal democratic society? MEND have also been accused by the Telegraph of trying to use their network of contacts to influence UK elections in order to get the government to institute more Islam friendly policies. MEND are a group that should be kept at arm’s length and treated with a significant degree of suspicion because of their views and because of their aims.

Sadly, common sense and a justifiable distaste for groups like MEND seem to be thin on the ground when it comes to the political and journalistic Establishment in the London Borough of Redbridge. MEND seem to be treated uncritically by both Wes Streeting and by local journalists. This lack of judgement by politicians and journalists when it comes to MEND, has surfaced in a recent article in the Ilford Recorder written by reporter Elenna Cruse,

In the article MEND were allowed to spout without challenge or corroborating evidence, unprovable statements about a ‘massive’ rise in ‘Islamophobia’ in the Redbridge area. Before we move onto the article itself, along with this blog’s comments on it, it should be remembered that false or inflated claims of ‘Islamophobia’ are the stock in trade of many Islamic groups. Such false or inflated claims are often used by groups like MEND or provably dishonest entities such as the Tell Mama organisation, to back up claims for public funds or to get the police to punish Britons who make statements about Islam that may be factually true, but which some Muslims and Islamic groups find ‘offensive’. These shaky ‘Islamophobia’ claims are a form of ‘Lawfare’ where Islamic groups use and exploit laws brought in to protect people from attack because of their race or religion. The winners out of this Lawfare are the lawyers and Muslim groups who wish to impose their Islamic agenda on non-Muslims and the losers in all this are the rest of us.

Here’s the Ilford Recorder article by Ms Cruse. As is usual policy for this blog the original article from the Recorder is in italics whereas this blog’s comments are in plain text.

The Ilford Recorder said:

A charity has said “drastic action” is needed after police confirmed there were 16 reported Islamophobic incidents in Redbridge in June, more than in previous months combined.

The use of the word ‘charity’ is a little disingenuous here and could give the average reader of the article a false impression of MEND. Although MEND may indeed be in possession of charitable status, that doesn’t mean that its aims or policies are in alignment with what could be called the public good. MEND are an overtly political entity pushing a political view and are engaged in actions that attempt to influence the decisions of politicians. However, they are not ‘party political’ which is why they are able to obtain and keep their charitable status.

Data seen by the Recorder shows that the spike in hate crime occurred after the London Bridge terror attack.

This statement by the journalist doesn’t make it clear where this data has come from or who is behind it? Is it police data or is it data from MEND themselves? If it is MEND data then, owing to the nature of the MEND group, this information should be taken with a very large pinch of salt.

According to Redbridge Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) three residents have reported incidents to them since the start of July alone.

This statement may look convincing to the casual reader, but let’s put it into context shall we? Currently, according to census statistics, the current population of the borough is 278,970 out of which 23.3% of that is Muslim. Therefore the Muslim population in Redbridge is approximately 65,000. If there is, as MEND via the Ilford Recorder claims, a ‘spike’ in ‘Islamophobia’ resulting in three, yes you read that right, three incidents of ‘Islamophobia’ reported to MEND in July, following 16 in June, then that’s not really a lot of incidents is it? It’s one incident for every 21,000 Muslims in July, and one for every 4,000 in June. That’s hardly a massive amount of incidents by anyone’s reckoning. As for drawing links between these alleged attacks and the London Bridge attack, then all I can say is the Muslims of Redbridge seem to be getting off very lightly indeed when it comes to retaliatory attacks. Maybe MEND should be more concerned with the large numbers of Muslims who support Jihad or other forms of Islamic extremism, rather than worrying about these minuscule numbers of anti Islamic attacks? It’s possible that any hostility towards Muslims might be reduced if Muslims stopped murdering and raping Britons with their current enthusiasm. The first rule of living as a minority among those who differ in belief systems to yourself is to not piss off your hosts. Sadly it seems that the Muslims of Redbridge find it difficult if not impossible to learn that lesson, a lesson that has been successfully learned by many other migrant groups in the past.

The Ilford Recorder added:

Vaseem Ahmed, chairman of Redbridge MEND, said the police and Redbridge Council need to make hate crime a priority issue.

How about making Muslims stop killing people, raping children, employing Islamic extremists in their schools and stealing community facilities as a priority? It might do more good than listening to taqiyya spouting, snake oil salesmen like Vaseem Ahmed.

“Residents have reached the level where they are scared to get on a tube for fear of being a victim,” he said.

Hmmm! Now if this statement is true (something that I doubt) then all that’s happening is some Muslims are getting a teensy weensy taste of what is like for non-Muslims to live in Islam-dominated areas and have to face violence and threat because they are Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu or whatever. Therefore I’m going to call ‘bullshit’ on Ahmed’s statement.

The Ilford Recorder continued:

“These cowards seem to particularly attack women who are dressed in a visibly Muslim way. Police and the council need to take ownership of this and do something about it – confident, educated women are scared to go out.”

This statement is almost word for word identical to the sort of statements put out by the disgraced Tell Mama organisation. In this article Tell Mama are even using words and data supplied to them by the Hamas-linked Council on American Islamic Relations to try to convince people that Muslim women are especially at risk. MEND like Tell Mama are using Muslim women as a form of ‘baby seal’ or heart string puller in order to emotionally manipulate readers into thinking that there are lots of vulnerable wide eyed innocent Muslim women being attacked in the Redbridge area. Nice try Ahmed but some of us see through your BS.

MEND has discovered that Ilford Lane has become a “hotspot” for attacks.

Could there be some other explanation for this? What about the idea that an area with a lot of Muslims in it and also a lot of street crime will produce victims who are predominantly Muslim? I note that there are no hard numbers attached to this claim, which gives me reason to think that this claim is also very much divorced from the truth.

Mr Ahmed said police need a quicker response times to hate crime as victims can be seen four or five days after an incident has occurred and more third party reporting centres should be set up.

I think Mr Ahmed will find that most non-urgent crime reports such as burglaries are dealt with by the police in an equally tardy manner. Yet again we see a Muslim group trying to play the victimhood card. As for these ‘third party’ reporting centres would they be ones run by MEND or similar groups by any chance? Third party reporting, while it may seem like a nice idea, has the capacity to channel dishonesty, with Islamic groups creating false claims of Islamophobia in order to advance their own group’s narrative.

The Ilford Recorder then quoted the words of a senior police officer for the area which said:

Det Insp Robin Peel, who covers hate crime for the East Area Command Unit, reviewed four of the crimes from June and only one had a victim willing to attend court.

So out of four crimes, only once did an alleged victim consider the matter serious enough to attend court. Such a figure will lead many to wonder whether these alleged attacks were very minor in nature, or they didn’t occur at all and the allegations were false. The fact that only one alleged victim went to court, despite all the pandering that goes on to ‘hate crime’ claimants by the police, doesn’t really back up MEND’s claims does it?

DI Peel speaking to the Recorder journalist added:

“Regrettably, there is always a significant spike in Islamophobia following any terrorist activity, particularly if those attacks are in the capital,” he said.

Well colour me surprised. Muslims killing people makes people dislike Muslims, who would have thought it? Maybe if Muslims stopped killing people in the UK and elsewhere, in numbers far and away greater than members of other religions murder people, then this animus towards Muslims might go away?

DI Peel said:

“Whilst we can take some heart from the knowledge that the manifestation of Islamophobia is short lived, it is crucial that we get onto the front foot after these events to bring our communities together.”

That’s a nice bit of empty ‘Bramshill Bullshit‘ isn’t it. Usual guff about ‘communities’ and ‘getting onto the front foot’ from this officer. Maybe DI Peel should be immediately removed from waste of resources that is ‘hate crime’ work and set to doing some proper policing?

“Most of our prosecution attempts will fail for want of evidence to take an allegation beyond a word-against-word scenario which will not overcome the burden of proof.”

In other words the ‘hate crime’ claims that have been made to Redbridge police are likely to have little or no foundation.

Det Insp Peel made an appeal for more hate crime witnesses to come forward

It would have helped if he had added: ‘especially if the hate crime allegations are true’.

Now we come to Mr Streeting’s involvement in MEND’s ‘Islamophobia’ smokescreen and their political ruse.

The Ilford Recorder said:

Ilford North MP Wes Streeting said: “I have picked up upon a high amount of fear and anxiety with the local community and I am concerned about the impact of recent (hate crime) attacks.

Picked up from whom? People who’ve walked into your surgery? Police figures? The experiences of personal acquaintances who’ve had problems? Or is he just regurgitating the words of those Islamic groups and Muslim individuals who have an agenda here?

“I have been working with the council and police to shape an action plan and in the summer I am going to be holding a public meeting about this.

Let me guess what the outcome will be. I reckon that the result of Mr Streetings ‘work’ with the council and the police will be yet more pandering to and appeasing of Islam by the police and the political establishment in Redbridge. Why does someone who, because of his lifestyle and sexual orientation, is a prime candidate for attack by Muslims pander to them so? It may be in order to build up a vote bank among Muslims? Or does he think that if he appeases the local Muslims enough, then the more extreme ones among this community may not throw him from the roof of Ilford’s Exchange Shopping Centre?

“(In terms of recent acid attacks) Police need to give out more information and I have spoken to the Met commissioner and it is my understanding that a lot of the acid attack have been gang related and not targeting the public.”

I agree with Mr Streeting on this point at least. The police should be giving out more information about these acid attacks but the information must be honest and truthful. It is well known that the majority of acid attacks in London occur in areas that are dominated by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis and both these countries have a long and ignominious history of acid attacks against women and children. I’m not exactly brimming with confidence about the assurance given to Mr Streeting by the current Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, bearing in mind that in a previous role the armed officers under her command could not tell the difference between an Islamic terrorist and an innocent and plainly unarmed Brazilian electrician. Mr Streeting is very much mistaken if he believes that the majority of acid attacks are ‘gang related’ as there have been a number of attacks in East London where no gang related motive has been uncovered.

It’s now time to make comment on the content and style of the Recorder article itself. As a former professional reporter working in various fields including the London Courts, I have a profound sense of disappointment in this article by Ms Cruse. I’m disappointed because she should have done a bit of cursory digging when it came to MEND but it doesn’t look as though she has done this. Although I appreciate the pressures imposed on journalists by deadlines and editorial policy, she should not have accepted at face value the words of a group like MEND. It took a very short amount of time to find trustworthy information that painted MEND in a completely different light to that which MEND like to show themselves. Maybe Ms Cruse should have undertaken similar checking of MEND and their policies and motives as I have done. It makes me wonder if the National Council for the Training of Journalists and other entities which are training reporters are more concerned with ‘diversity’ issues than in teaching journalists the art of fact checking and by imparting that vital sense of cynicism that is required when dealing with groups like MEND.

To conclude: It looks very much like MEND is trying to play the Islamophobia card in Redbridge in order to gain political advantage themselves and to advance the cause of Islam itself. This attempt to portray the situation in Redbridge as being one of intolerable oppression for Muslims, when only three incidents were reported to MEND themselves and the police can’t even find alleged victims who are willing to go to court, needs to be called out for what it is, which is outright dishonesty on the part of MEND. Sadly neither local politicians such as Streeting nor the local press appears capable of seeing the sharp political operators of MEND for the liars that they truly are.

 

Links

Original Ilford Recorder article by Elenna Cruse on the claims by MEND that there has been an outbreak of ‘Islamophobia’ in Redbridge.

http://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/crime-court/drastic-action-needed-after-large-spike-in-islamophobic-incidents-in-redbridge-after-terror-attack-1-5134652

Daily Telegraph article from 2015 alleging that MEND are linked to extremism

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11515630/Muslim-group-with-links-to-extremists-boasts-of-influencing-election.html

Census Data for Redbridge from the 2011 Census

http://localstats.co.uk/census-demographics/england/london/redbridge

Tell Mama quote Hamas-linked group in order to promote the narrative that Muslim women are especially at risk from ‘Islamophobes’ when in reality the greatest threat to Muslim women is often Muslim men.

https://tellmamauk.org/us-muslim-women-strike-back-hate-crimes/

MEND website

https://mend.org.uk

More on MEND

The dispute between two highly questionable Islamic groups MEND and Tell Mama

https://www.fahrenheit211.net/2017/04/04/why-cant-they-both-lose-or-alternatively-when-tds-collide-mend-group-lays-into-fiyaz-mughal-in-evidence-to-parliament/

The road to the Manchester bombing was paved by political correctness.

https://www.fahrenheit211.net/2017/05/24/from-elsewhere-the-police-chiefs-the-islamists-the-mendacious-grievance-mongers-and-those-who-perverted-justice-they-all-are-guilty/