“Islamophobia”

On the evening of July 7, 2005, Tony Blair sought to reassure a shattered nation with the following promise. The terrorists, he vowed, would never win. “When they try to intimidate us, we will not be intimidated,” declared the then prime minister. “When they seek to change our country or our way of life by these methods, we will not be changed.”

Stirring words. Sadly, however, they proved to be flatly untrue. Two decades later, it’s becoming ever clearer that the terrorists are indeed winning, that we are indeed intimidated, and that they have indeed succeeded in changing our country and our way of life. And if anyone doubts it, let me point out that we are about to pass the fifth anniversary of one of the most contemptible episodes in modern British history: the driving from public life of the Batley schoolteacher.

Not worried enough yet by the government’s new definition of ‘anti-Muslim hostility’? Here’s another red flag: the mild, nuanced, or downright supportive responses it’s received from some of the worst people in Britain.

In the week or so since the definition was published, I’ve been tracking reactions across British Islam’s vast cosmos of professional offence-takers and grievance-mongers – sorry, diverse’n’vibrant civil society groups.

“It can happen that a civilization disappears; it wouldn’t be the first time. Civilizations disappear-it is the norm. Our successors will arrive at an indefinite moment; we don’t know when. And it may be that the civilization will have already vanished. The collapse can occur violently or slowly”.

So speaks Michel Houellebecq to the German newspaper Die Welt this week. It seems “the successors” are arriving on horseback.

A former UK ambassador has said it is undeniable that “Islamist entryism” is creating anti-Israel sentiment within the Civil Service.

Edmund Fitton-Brown, who was a British diplomat for more than 30 years, claimed that rising hostility towards the Jewish state in wider society was being mirrored across Whitehall.

His comments come after The Telegraph revealed Foreign Office staff attended an event at the Iranian embassy in London to celebrate the Islamic revolution, just weeks after the regime massacred thousands of its own people.

Ten years after jihadist bombings tore through Brussels, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds, survivors and officials gathered near Maelbeek station to mark an anniversary that remains unresolved for many of those who lived through it.

The tribute took place just metres from the metro stop where one of the explosions struck during the morning rush hour on March 22, 2016, when coordinated attacks on Zaventem airport and the city’s underground network brought the Belgian capital to a halt.

THE spectre of the Batley Grammar School teacher-in-hiding debacle has once again raised its ugly head, with further guidance imposed on schools by Labour councils which deem that children’s illustrations in art lessons ‘might be idolatrous’ under Islamic law. Laura Trott, the Shadow Education Secretary, is right to demand that such guidance is withdrawn.

Since when was Islamic law imposed on this country? And how is it that the teacher involved in the catastrophe over images drawn of the Prophet Muhammad is still in hiding, in fear of his life four years after the event? Why are those involved in the threats and fearmongering not dealt with under British law? What happened to real equality?