Mt Two Cents: Terrorism

We need to get our words right.

In the wake of that mass hooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, last week we need to learn our words: terrorist.

See, I’ve noticed that when a brown man takes out an assault weapon and shoots up an office in San Bernardino, or a couple of brown men open fire at the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, they are called terrorists.

But when a white man murders fifty people in New Zealand, or a white man slaughters nine black people in a church in Charleston … or a white man shoots at concert goers, or movie goers or shoppers in a mall or students at school, when white people slaughter dozens they are called in the press, gunmen.

They are not. They are terrorists.

Slaughtering people is terror. People gathering to worship, or dance, or to listen to music, and who are murdered for no apparent reason other than hatred are victims of terror, no matter what the skin color is on the hand that pulls the trigger.

And we need to hold the press accountable; we need to remind the media that terrorism isn’t committed solely by brown-skinned people, but that most of the terror attacks, at least in this country lately, have been committed by white men.

Now, that doesn’t mean all white men are terrorists, but it does mean we need to broaden our scope and our language as to what makes a person a terrorist.

It isn’t who you shoot, it’s that you shoot.

It isn’t where you shoot, it’s that you shoot.

It isn’t the color of your skin, it’s that you think you have the right to take human life because you hate people.

It’s hate; and it’s hate speech. So maybe we need to start by combating hate speech, and that’s not so hard to do. When someone says something within earshot that is hateful, say something; call them out on their hate, their racism; shine a light on it. Cockroaches and racists run from the light.

But what do we do when the hate speech is coming from positions of power?

We have a president who has said that Muslims are terrorists, that Muslims hate “us,” that Muslims cheered in New Jersey on 9/11 as the towers came down. We have a president who has said that some white supremacists are “nice people,” even as Heather Heyer was being laid to rest after Charlottesville.

There are good people on both sides, he said, when people shouted death to Jews.

And, both men responsible for the mosque shootings in Quebec and Christchurch actually credited an American president for his views on Muslims. Those two men in opposite corners of the world, singled out the president, and his views, his opinions, his statements, as part of the reason why they opened fire and slaughtered innocent people.

That’s also terrorism.

Our president, while he may not carry a gun, and may not actually say the words, ‘Go out and kill,’ suggests that people are coming for us, to take our lives, our jobs, our loved ones, our country, and when a terrorist strikes, he has no anger toward the terrorist who echoes his white supremacist leanings, in fact he almost has to be coerced to even condemn the violence.

And then his words of sorrow weren’t for the people murdered, they were for New Zealand, because he couldn’t be bothered to say the word ‘Muslim’ lest he offend his base. In fact, as they were cleaning up the blood in that mosque in Christchurch, he said he didn’t think there was a rise in white supremacy at all, at least not in this country.

He’s forgotten Charlottesville, Quebec, Pittsburgh; he’s forgotten Las Vegas, Charleston, Orlando; he’s forgotten Parkland, Newtown, Christchurch.

He’s forgotten that, while the FBI defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people, not including the suspect, are killed, that there over 20 mass shootings in this country in 2018 … almost two a month. And there have been eight mass shootings in 2019 … and it’s only March. And that doesn’t include shootings where less than four people were murdered.

That’s terrorism, and until we start calling it by its real name, no matter the skin color of the perpetrator, we’ll never find a way to stop it. And that’s the greatest terror of all.

It’s not over ….

Muslims Are Not Terrorists ... Terrorists Are Terrorists

On March 22, 2017 52-year-old Briton Khalid Masood deliberately drove a car into pedestrians along the south side of Westminster Bridge and Bridge Street—near the British Parliament—injuring more than 50 people, three of them fatally.

After the car crashed into a perimeter fence, Masood abandoned it and ran into New Palace Yard where he fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer. He was subsequently shot and killed by another police officer.

The attack lasted barely a minute, but it once again raised the idea in people around the world—and in our own White House—of Muslim terrorists attacking decent honest, non-Muslim folks, even though police now say that while Masood had an interest in jihad, they have found no motive, no evidence of radicalization or any link with any known terrorist group.

Still, many said Muslims are terrorists ...

There was another man close by Parliament that day; he owns three restaurants in the area and as the attack and the aftermath spread, he was ordered to shutter his businesses and evacuate.

Instead, he decided to keep Troia, his cafe just yards from Westminster Bridge, open so police officers had a place to eat and keep warm.

“I went to one of the officers and said 'I can shut all the businesses, but I want you guys and all the emergency staff to use this place for food, drinks, and for warmth for free'.”

His name is Ibrahim Dogus; he’s Muslim.

“All these great people need our support. Some of them tried to give us money—one said, 'I'm a police officer, you have to take my money.' We said, 'We're not going to take any money from you.”

Dogus kept the restaurant open until 11:30PM “until the last officer was fed”. He estimates he fed between 300 and 500 emergency workers from the police, London Ambulance Service, and London Fire Brigade.

“We wanted to play our role in terms of supporting the emergency crew. This was happening right at our doorstep. If you walk two seconds on my doorstep I would be on the bridge. I use the bridge to take my kids to school, not on that day, but I live next to the area, I work next to the area.”

Think about Ibrahim Dogus the next time you, or anyone near you, says Muslims are terrorists.

And think about this, too ...

After the attack, a group of women, many of them Muslim women, gathered at the scene and linked arms as a show of solidarity with its victims.

Wearing blue as a symbol of hope, the women stood on the bridge where pedestrians were mown down by terrorist—not Muslim terrorist, just terrorist—Khalid Masood.

In an event, organized by Women's March On London, they formed a human chain by holding hands for five minutes as Big Ben chimed at 4PM.

Fariha Khan, joined by fellow Ahmadiyya Muslims, said she wanted to condemn the attack and stand up to the face of terrorism:

"The feeling of what happened here on Wednesday was really strong."

Sarah Waseem:

"When an attack happens in London, it is an attack on me. It is an attack on all of us. Islam totally condemns violence of any sort. This is abhorrent to us."

Ayesha Malik:

"As a visible Muslim I think it was important to show solidarity with the principles that we all hold dear, the principles of plurality, diversity and so on."

Again, remember, after this horrific attack, it was a Muslim man who stood up to help, and a group of Muslim women, who chose to stand in solidarity against terrorism, in the days after the attack.

Muslims are not terrorists.

Terrorists are terrorists.

Independent

Mirror

America Under Siege: President _____ Is A Terrorist

On the same day that White House Minister of Propaganda, Kellyanne Conway created the fake “Bowling Green Massacre” to justify Hair Furor’s Muslim ban, _____ actually said, out loud, that media outlets, you know, those fake news folks, are intentionally suppressing information about real terrorist attacks.

While speaking at U.S. Central Command this week, _____ said:

“You’ve seen what happened in Paris, and Nice. All over Europe, it’s happening. It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported. And in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that.”

And, as happens when President _____ stands up and blatantly lies, something he’s doing almost every single time he opens that flapping maw of his, White House Press Secretary Melissa McCarthy, er, Sean Spicer, announced that the White House would provide a list of those unmentioned, or little mentioned, attacks:

“We’ll provide a list later. There’s several instances … There’s a lot of instances that have occurred where I don’t think they’ve gotten the coverage it deserved.”

Here are some of the terrorist attacks that Hair Furor, the Minister of Propaganda, and MouthPiece Spicer, have said were not given adequate media attention:

The attack at the Bataclan nightclub in Paris ... yeah, I don’t remember that one at all.

The attack by Abdul Numan Haider, who wounded two police officers in a knife attack in Melbourne in September 2014.

The Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando; no press coverage.

The San Bernardino shootings—which the _____ White House, which has a problem with spelling, called the “San Bernadino” attack. The document also includes spelling mistakes such as “attaker” instead of “attacker” and “Denmakr” instead of “Denmark” ... spelling is hard for the _____ team.

The attack by Anis Amri, who drove a truck into a crowded market in Berlin last December, killing 12 and injuring 48.

The list includes terror attacks from Afghanistan to Algeria to Australia but never mentions Israel, where incidents included a bus bombing in Jerusalem that injured 20 people.

The murder of British backpacker Mia Ayliffe-Chung in Australia last year was included, even though it was not ruled a terror attack by police. And, after hearing about _____’s list, Mia Ayliffe-Chung’s mother, Rosie Ayliffe accused Hair Furor of using “fake news” about her daughter’s death to further the “persecution of innocent people” by falsely claiming she was the victim of a terrorist attack:

“My daughter’s death will not be used to further this insane persecution of innocent people.”

Seriously, _____ and his minions believe that if they say something, we’ll accept it as truth—and some folks do, but then there’s a serious lack of gray matter in the heads of _____ supporters—but we will not accept that. Anyone with access to the internet, a television, a radio, or any form of print media can attest to the fact that these terror attacks _____ listed have received mass media attention.

San Bernardino? That was on the news for days and days, is just one example. But one terror attack that received absolutely no attention, from President _____ and his White House was the recent murders at a Canadian mosque, perpetrated by a white supremacist _____ supporter.

Coincidence? Hardly, because while President _____  Tweets about Alec Baldwin, or Melissa McCarthy, or Meryl Streep or SNL or Hamilton, he couldn’t muster the strength to use his tiny fat digits to tweet condolences to the families of those who were gunned down during evening prayers.

But then, you know, those dead people were Muslim and this administration wants you to believe all Muslims are terrorists.

The only terrorist I see lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue because Hate and Fear are the two greatest weapons of a terrorist and this president [for now] uses them every chance he gets.

Think Progress

In The Age of _____, Speaking Arabic Gets You Kicked Off A Delta Flight

And, since, for now, we are in The Age of _____, let’s talk blatant hate and blatant fear and blatant stupidity ...

Adam Saleh, a YouTube vlogger whose prank videos have made him an internet star, is accusing Delta Air Lines of kicking him off flight because he spoke Arabic to his mom on the phone before takeoff. 

“I speak to my mom on the phone every flight. She only speaks Arabic.”—Adam Saleh

According to Saleh, a woman in the seat in front of him turned around and told him he should speak English. He told her he can speak whatever language he likes, and then her husband stood up and began screaming at him.

And from there the hate swarmed as about twenty other passengers said they were uncomfortable with Saleh and his “foreign” tongue. Saleh was then approached by the captain—whom Saleh said “seemed ashamed and embarrassed”—and asked Saleh to leave the plane because of passengers complaints.  

In a statement, Delta said: 

“Maintaining a safe, comfortable and orderly onboard environment is paramount for every flight and requires the cooperation of all of our customers in conjunction with adherence to directions from our crew members. This is a Delta policy and is required by U.S. regulations as well as others governing aviation worldwide.

Two customers were removed from Delta flight 1 departing London-Heathrow today after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort.

We have spoken with the customers who were removed; they were rebooked on another flight. Plans are in place to immediately speak with our crew and other passengers when the flight lands this afternoon. We will provide an update once we have more information.”

Okay, how do I put this delicately: fuck you, Delta. Why not remove the twenty bigots from the plane? Why not remove the people who started the disturbance by listening in on Saleh’s private conversation? Again, fuck you, Delta.

Saleh posted a video of his removal and posted it to YouTube; in that video, some passengers can be seen telling the Delta employees that they did not want Saleh removed, while others are seen waving and saying “bye” as he walks away.

Again, the disturbance was caused by that nosy woman and her loudmouthed husband; they should have been removed from the flight at once.

Some of the passengers on the flight spoke to CBS News after the plane landed at JFK, like Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson:

“It was clear that this guy knew what he was doing, because as he was leaving the plane he would stop, he would kind of make eye-contact with people. He would say ‘Delta, Delta is kicking me off the plane.’ He wasn’t alone; he was travelling with somebody else.”

Of course he knew, you idiot; he was being walked off the plane. And, what does it matter if he was travelling with someone else. This all started because he spoke Arabic and a handful of bigots got their feelings hurt.

Jacqueline Willemsen:

“I was sitting towards the front of the plane and just heard a lot of commotion actually. When he came up to the front he was just screaming that it was an injustice and that he was being kicked off for speaking loudly in Arabic. To be really honest it seemed like more of a scene than anything that actually happened.”

Um, Jacqueline, you moronic tool, something did happen. How else do you explain him being kicked off the plane? 

Chris Ashford:

“I think the guy was giving a bit of a prayer, just before take-off, which is not unusual. Somebody heard him speaking in Arabic and I think reported him ... whether Delta performed or acted in the manner they were supposed to, I’m assuming, for protocol, yes. There definitely seemed to be a bit of a misunderstanding.” 

Does Delta have a list of acceptable languages to be used on a plane? if not, then, again, Delta, fuck you, because, despite skepticism about Saleh’s account, Delta employees have been accused of discriminating against Muslims in recent years. 

In August, an Ohio Muslim couple said they were removed from a return flight from Europe after an airline employee allegedly singled them out because, ALLEGEDLY, the woman wearing a headscarf and talking on the phone, and with the husband sweating.

Delta issued them a full refund of their airfare.

Look, was there a kerfuffle between Saleh and some passengers? It seems very likely, but was Saleh loud and shouting profanities? Maybe. But then remove all of those involved, not you Saleh and his friend. Was Saleh being the prankster on the flight? Maybe; but he didn't start the brouhaha.

Remove the woman and her husband who started the mess; remove every person who joined in. I wouldn’t feel unsafe hearing a person speaking Arabic on a flight but I’d be scared shitless of the people, who verbally assaulted the person speaking Arabic.

They are the problem, but, in the Age of _____, they are acting like the victims.

CBS News

I Am Muslim

They try to spin it but the words are out there ...

Jason Miller, the communications director for the _____ transition team, says Donald _____ never advocated for a Muslim registry:

“President-elect _____ has never advocated for any registry or system that tracks individuals based on their religion, and to imply otherwise is completely false.”

But ... there is a video of Candidate _____ in Newton, Iowa, from 2015, in which he was asked by a reporter if he would implement a database of Muslims and ____ said:

“I would certainly implement that. Absolutely.”

That seems pretty clear, Jason. And when pushed further, that same day, and asked if Muslims would be legally obligated to sign in to the database, _____ responded:

“They have to be.”

His views on a Muslim registry caused a big kerfuffle back then drawing criticism from the Council on Islamic-American Relations and political opponents, including Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton. It didn’t get better when ____ was then asked what the difference was between a Muslim registry and the registration of Jews by Nazis in Germany.

“You tell me. You tell me. Why don’t you tell me.”

The answer is, there is no difference, which is why, very early on in his campaign, ____ was likened to Hitler and suddenly celebrated by the KKK, Nazi groups, and the Alt-Right; and, for the record, let’s be clear, when someone says “Alt-Right” they mean white supremacist ... don’t get it twisted.

And then, while spokesperson Jason Miller was trying to walk back the idea that _____ called for all Muslims to register with the government, Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state and an anti-immigration hardliner and advisor to _____s transition team, announced this week that the president-elect’s policy advisers were considering instating a Muslim immigrant registry.

So, again, let’s be clear: Donald _____ called for a Muslim registry as part of his campaign and now his own transition team is saying it’s an idea worth considering. And not only is this akin to what was done to the Jews during WWII, in Europe, you know, over there, but it’s quite similar to what was done in America at that same time when thousands upon thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during the war. We’ve seen what happens when this kind of hate and intolerance is enacted both in Europe and America; should we really be allowing this to happen again?

Carl Higbie, a former Navy SEAL and a spokesperson for the pro-Trump Great America PAC, even used the idea of Japanese-American internment camps as a reason for starting a Muslim registry while speaking with Megyn Kelly on Fox “News”:

Higbie: “[The registry] is legal. They say it’ll hold Constitutional muster. I know the ACLU is going to challenge it, but I think it’ll pass. And we’ve done it with Iran back — back a while ago, we did it during World War II with Japanese, which, you know, call it what you will, may be — may be wrong.”

Kelly: “You can’t be citing Japanese internment camps as precedent for anything the president-elect is going to do.”

Higbie: “The president needs to protect America first. And if that means having people that are not protected under our Constitution have some sort of registry, so we can understand, until we can identify the true threat and where it’s coming from, I support it.”

True threat. All Muslims are a threat; all others are threats. So let’s take all others who don’t look like us or sound like us or worship like us and make them sign a list and check in so we can see what they’re up to every moment of every day and if, when, that fails, well, you know we did it to Japanese-Americans so there is a precedent ...

But President-elect _____’s Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, when asked if _____ or his administration would rule out a Muslim registry said:

“Look, I’m not going to rule out anything. But, we’re not going to have a registry based on a religion. But, what I think we’re trying to do is say that there are some people that are radicalized and there are some people that have to be prevented from coming into this country. [President-elect _____] believes that no faith in and of itself should be judged as a whole but there are some people in countries abroad that need to be prevented from coming into this country.”

No faith should be judged, but, well, they’re Muslim so let’s just start taking names ...

What can we do before we goosestep our way into history? Well, one thing we have on our side is strength in numbers; one thing we have on our side is that most of us are not fear-based; one thing we have on our sides is memory.

We know what happened to the Jews during WWII; and we know how painful it was for Japanese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, to be wrenched away from their lives and sent to camps to live because they were others.

We can take the example set by Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who has pledged to register as a Muslim on the national database if President _____ were to create one; Greenblatt made the vow at the ADL’s Never Is Now conference on anti-Semitism the day after Carl Higbie appeared on Fox “News” and cited the alleged effectiveness of Japanese internment camps:

“In the past we were not able to live, work or learn anywhere we wanted to. Anti-Semitism was acceptable in society. Those were days that were much darker in this country. At that most difficult moment the founders of the ADL said that we American Jews, a group that lacked power and had no real standing, whose future was shaky and uncertain, would use our power for good.

We need to speak out wherever we see anti-Semitism and bigotry, whether it’s a publicly traded company or high ranking official. No one has an excuse for excusing intolerance. We must stand with our fellow Americans who may be singled out for how they look, where they’re from, who they love or how they pray.

The new administration plans to force Muslims to register on some master list. As Jews we know what it means to be forced to register.

I pledge to you that because I am committed to the fight against anti-Semitism that if one day Muslim Americans are forced to register their identities, that is the day that this proud Jew will register as Muslim.”

That’s what we do ... we all register as Muslim; we register as Mexican, too, if _____ rolls out the deportation squads; we stand with women who make lose the right to choose their own healthcare options under a President ____; we stand with the LGBT community when President _____ appoints a justice to the Supreme Court who wants to overturn marriage equality. We stand for every group that is faced with oppression and intolerance and bigotry and hate. We register before it's too late to do anything at all ...

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me

—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

If a registry occurs .... I am Muslim.

The Guardian

CBS News
Politico
HAARETZ

Sadiq Khan Rejects [t]Rump’s Offer To Be The ‘Exception’ To Muslim Ban

Remember when Donald [t]Rump said we should ban all Muslims from entering the country because Muslims are terrorists and we need to protect ourselves from “them”?

Yeah, that was shortly before the people of London elected Sadiq Khan, a :::gasp::: Muslim, as their mayor.

And so, of course, [t]Rump instantly backtracked and said there would always be “exceptions” to his discrimination; I guess, like Hispanics, he believes there are some good Muslims?

But Mayor Khan isn’t having it:

 “This isn’t just about me. It’s about my friends, my family, and everyone who comes from a background similar to mine, anywhere in the world. … ”Donald Trump’s ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe.”

And Sadiq Khan goes further, saying that [t]Rump risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and playing into the hands of the extremists.

“Donald Trump and those around him think that western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam – London has proved him wrong.”

And hopefully America will agree with Sadiq Khan come November when we overwhelmingly send him back to the reality TV shows, the bankruptcy and divorce courts from whence he came.

Just sayin’.

Muslims are not terrorists; Donald [t]Rump is more terror-inducing.

Politico

Texas Teacher Calls Student A Terrorist In Class

Yesterday I posted about the Muslim family that was removed from a United Airlines flight for “safety” issues, though no one truly explained what safety issues caused the removal, and Raybeard commented:

”This sort of thing gets uglier by the day. Where will it pop up next?”

Well, it looks like it popped u next at First colony Middle School in Sugar Land, Texas, where Waleed Abushaaban is a 12-year-old honor student. But, he has, you know, one of those names and so apparently his teacher called him a terrorist in class one day.

The students were watching "Bend it Like Beckham" in class one Thursday after taking an exam and Waleed laughed at a joke in the film and his teacher said:

“I wouldn’t be laughing if I was you.”

When Waleed asked why, the teacher said it was “because we all think you’re a terrorist.”

And so naturally the jokes began about Waleed carrying bombs into school; other kids made fun of him, laughed at him, teased him. The teacher was removed from the classroom after the accusations, but now Waleed’s family wants her gone for good.

“Just because my son is a Muslim doesn’t mean he is a terrorist. He’s as American as anybody else. He was born here ... that’s all he knows is how to be an American.” —  Malek Abushaaban, Waleed’s mother

The Fort Bend school district released a statement about the accusations saying they do “not support the teacher’s actions”:

“While the teacher reports her statements were made in the context of trying to make a point about negative stereotypes, District officials do not believe that the teacher exercised the appropriate sensitivity expected of the District’s educators.”

Um, how does calling a twelve-year-old a terrorist work into a point about negative stereotypes? If he’d been Latino would she have called him a rapist and drug dealer to make her point? If Waleed was gay would it be okay for the teacher to call him a “faggot”?

This teacher needs to go; this is not teaching; this is projecting fear into a space where fear need not be. Her actions were terrorism, in  my mind, because she terrorized that young boy and she instilled fear into each and every student who may now look at Waleed Abushaaban, or anyone who looks like him, has a name like him, sounds like him, a little differently.

And, once again, since people aren't getting it:

Muslims are not terrorists; terrorists are terrorists.

NY Daily News

Muslim Family Booted Off United Flight For "Safety" Issues?

A mother and father and their three children boarded a plane in Chicago bound for Washington DC.  The mother asked if the stewardess could provide five-point harness safety seats for their children.

And then they were asked to leave the plane … oh yeah, they’re Muslims. And the pilot of that United Airlines flight cited "safety" issues as the reason for removing the family.

Eaman-Amy Saad Shebley, the mother, filmed two separate videos showing the stewardess and then the pilot asking them to leave. When Shebley asked is this was some “discriminatory” decision he simply said it was a “flight safety issue” and nothing more.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to United Airlines:

“We are tired of Muslim-looking passengers being removed from flights for the flimsiest reasons, under a cryptic claim of ‘security’. Security means securing passengers, not harassing and humiliating them and booting them off their flight for, of all things, actually asking for security.”

Eaman-Amy Saad Shebley wrote on Facebook:

“Shame on you ‪#‎UnitedAirlines for profiling my family and me for no reason other than how we look and kicking us off the plane for "safety flight issues" on our flight to DC for the kids spring break. My three kids are too young to have experienced this.”

The airline apologized multiple times to the Shebley family and rebooked them on another, perhaps less intolerant, flight, saying that the family was removed from their original flight because of concerns about their child’s safety seat, which did not comply with federal safety regulations.” They added that the airline has “zero tolerance for discrimination”.

Huh. Then why wasn’t that explained to the family? I mean, it sounds logical, so why not simply tell them that? United airlines, that pilot, and that flight attendant, should be ashamed of themselves.

Feeding into fear; spreading fear; just behaving badly. Whatever the excuse, they should be ashamed.

Independent

#MuslimsAreNotTerrorists: I Am Your Protector Remembers

Muslims are terrorists, right? I mean, we all know that; the ones who are here already are just plotting and waiting to kill us so we need to get Them out of the country and keep the Others from coming in; it’s the only way we’ll be safe.

And Muslims hate Jews, right? It says so in the Qur’an where Muslims are instructed to attack Jews who refuse to convert to Islam, and yet the Qur’an also teaches Muslims to treat Jews as brothers.

It’s all very confusing; Muslims are terrorists; Muslims hate Jews. And then there’s this …

a new campaign, organized by I Am Your Protector [IAYP] seeks to honor Muslims who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, like Islamic diplomat, Abdol Hossein Sardari, also known as the “Iranian Schindler”, who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazi regime by confusing the fascist group with their own propaganda.

When the Nazis began implementing anti-Jewish laws in occupied France, Sardari, head of the Iranian Consulate in Paris, used the Nazis’ own racial purity laws to convince them that Iranian Jews were actually Aryan and not subject to the Reich’s racial laws. And he then issued Iranian passports to over 2,000 Jews, without the consent of his superiors which enabled them to leave Europe and flee to safety.

IAYP describe themselves as “a community of people who speak up and stand up for each other across religion, race, gender and beliefs” and are spreading the stories, oftentimes forgotten, of Muslims who helped Jews escape the genocide.

As with the story of British Muslim war heroine — yes, a Muslim woman — Noor Inayat Khan, who served as a wireless operator during World War II and was recruited to spy for the Allied forces in Nazi-occupied France until her arrest. 

Noor Inayat Khan was executed at the Dachau Concentration Camp for her “crimes”.

And we are learning of Selahattin Ulkumen who was a Turkish diplomat in Greece; Ulkumen organized a series of boats to carry Jews to safety in Turkey.

Ulkumen is credited with saving at least fifty lives.

Kaddour Benghabrit was the founder of the Muslim Institute at the Great Mosque of Paris but he was more than that.

Benghabrit was also a very good forger, and would forge travel documents and passports for Jews to certify them as Muslims and save them from deportation during the war.

Si Ali Sakkat was both a former mayor in Tunisia and a descendant of Prophet Mohammed.

He protected 60 Jewish escapees from a labor camp by hiding them on his estate.

And Khaled Abdul Wahab is remembered for saving two Jewish families by sheltering them in stables on his farm in Tunisia.

These are just a few stories, and there are many others, that were commemorated last week on Holocaust Memorial Day.

Memorial. Remembrance. Remember. 

Muslims are not terrorists.

Independent