Posted on 01/22/2005 4:45:50 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
BRITISH Muslims are to boycott this week’s commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz because they claim it is not racially inclusive and does not commemorate the victims of the Palestinian conflict.
Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, has written to Charles Clarke, the home secretary, saying the body will not attend the event unless it includes the “holocaust” of the Palestinian intifada.
He said similar events held in other European countries was an “inclusive day” that commemorated deaths in Palestine, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, as well as the former Nazi death camps.
“We wrote to the Home Office three or four weeks ago. We said the issue of the Holocaust is not really the concern. But we have now expressed our unwillingness to attend the ceremony because it excludes ongoing genocide and human rights abuses around the world and in the occupied territories of Palestine,” he said.
Home Office officials have told the council, which represents more than 350 Muslim organisations, that they are considering the request. But officials have no plans to broaden the remit of the occasion because they fear it would infuriate the Jewish community.
The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Tony Blair will attend the ceremony in Westminster Hall this Thursday to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps, in which more than 6m Jews were exterminated.
More than 600 Holocaust survivors living in Britain, together with British soldiers who helped liberate the Bergen-Belsen death camp, will be at the event. Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, and Prince Edward will fly to Poland for a ceremony at Auschwitz.
This weekend the boycott by the leaders of Britain’s 1.2m Muslims was condemned by Khalid Mahmood, the MP for Birmingham Perry Barr. “I’m proud to be a Muslim. But if people are boycotting this then I think it’s a mistake. People who were exterminated in the Holocaust were not just Jews. There were Romany gypsies as well. Anybody who is interested in human rights should support this remembrance.”
The boycott is an embarrassment for Clarke, who as the cabinet minister responsible for “faith communities” is the event’s official host. It has also angered the Jewish community, which sees it as a snub to the memories of Holocaust victims and to survivors.
Blair said: “It is our hope that Holocaust Memorial Day will provide a focus for reflecting on that tragic event, and on our shared and individual responsibility to work for a more just and tolerant world.”
You need to learn your history.
Yes. Arafat's uncle was the Mufti of Jersulem (his title). His name was something like Haj Mohammed al-Husseini.
Racially inclusive??? Since when is Muslim a race?
Commemorate the "victims" of the Palestinian conflict??? You can't be serious. This is about the holocost. Oh, that's right. You British Muslims will be mourning Hitler's loss, not the Jews killed by Hitler.
What do you contribute to this world but hatred, death and distruction? Just remember, what goes around, comes around. And that can't soon enough for you bunch of evil, hate mongering losers.
There were nazi death camps in which 800,000 Christians and Jews died. I cannot remember the totals but is was something like 20,000 Jews and the rest were Christians.
Keyword: Muslim Hanjar SS division. Try Google.
Germany always maintained close ties to Islamic powers.
Remember in the First World War they were allied with
the Ottoman Empire (which was what is now Iraq, Jordan,
Syria, etc.) We forget that they were therefore OUR enemy then. Hitler's anti-Semitism was very
appealing to the mutual anti-Semitism of the Arab world
and they provided much clandestine assistance to the
NAZI's, e.g. Rommel in Africa.
Which Muslims opposed Hitler? Waiting.
Exactly! Some of my non-Jewish Polish relatives were killed in the holocaust.
Technically a Arab Can't be an anti-semite.
Welcome to the Religion of Peace
</sarcasm>
Serbian Orthodox Christians by the thousands and their Patriarch, Russian P.O.W.s, Orthodox Christans from all Eastern European countries and their clergy, Lutherans and their clergy from Germany, Lutherans from Hungary, Baptists from Germany and just about ANY Christians who dared speak out or act contrary to hitler's goals.
Take a look when you get a chance at the web site for the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. I recommend it highly.
One thing that so many folks miss when discussing the murder of millions by hitler and his supporters: HITLER WANTED TO TOTALLY ELIMINATE THE JEWS AS A PEOPLE AND A RELIGION. THIS WAS THE ONLY ORGANIZED GROUP FOR WHICH HE HAD SUCH PLANS.
He wanted the slavs to be SLAVES. The gypsies were to be eliminated but they were not of one single religion like the Jews.
And, that my friend, is why.... when people start to write or talk about the holocaust, THEY ALWAYS MENTION THE TERROR OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JEWS IN SUCH A FORCEFUL WAY!!
Entire families, generations destoyed in such cruel ways. Yes, the Jews deserve to be mentioned FIRST and foremost when we remember the holocaust. That mention does not lessen the value of the sacrifice of all of hitler's victims.
NEVER FORGET!!
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