Category Archives: Education

a few good rabbis?

By bananabrain | Published: January 18, 2010

for those of you who aren’t aware of it, this has not been a good couple of years for the orthodox, “strictly-”orthodox and ultra-orthodox communities. corruption around kosher slaughterhouses and conversions, sex scandals, money-laundering, drug smuggling, you name it. all the usual justifications are made, of course, all the usual people accept them and all the usual people sneer at them.

in such an environment, it’s extremely helpful to be able to point to people who can stand up and say in no uncertain terms: this isn’t right. excusing it is even worse. as it says in the Mishnah: where there are no men, at least you should try and act like a man. i am encouraged to see at least some orthodox rabbis swimming against the tide of denial although, of course, not that surprised to see the perennial awkward squad-nik and contrarian (and my own much revered teacher) rabbi jeremy rosen, writing in haaretz:

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Also posted in Activism, Ethics, Interfaith, Politics | 3 Comments

The North Wind and the Sun

By Effendi | Published: January 3, 2010

Here is an unsettling fact:

[Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab] is the fourth president of a London student Islamic society to face terrorist charges in three years. One is facing a retrial on charges that he was involved in the 2006 liquid bomb plot to blow up airliners. Two others have been convicted of terrorist offences since 2007.

In light of this, compare two pieces by two Muslim commentators on solving Islamic radicalisation in UK universities.

The first by CiF’s favourite faux-liberal Muslim and former Islam Channel “pundit”, Inayat Bunglawala:

Rather than trying to demonise student Islamic societies for their supposed radicalism, our counter-terrorism efforts will surely bear greater fruit if they focused more on building genuine partnerships with local communities and gaining their trust.

The second by Rashad Ali, formerly a senior member of Hizb ut Tahrir:

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Also posted in Islamism | 3 Comments

Newsnight: Close Links Between Hizb ut Tahrir and the ISF School

By Effendi | Published: November 28, 2009

Newsnight presents the compelling evidence of the close links between the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation and Hizb ut Tahrir.

It really is time for the Government to act.

How did OFSTED miss what was obvious to anybody with any knowledge of this dangerous jihadist cult?

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This is cross-posted from Harry’s Place:

Also posted in Islamism | 7 Comments

The Shakhsiyah Balls Up

By Guest | Published: November 27, 2009

This is a guest post by Abdul Hamid al Manchesteri

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Who actually benefits from obscuring the facts on the Islam Shakhsiyah Foundation (ISF)? If this were a BNP-run foundation overseeing two schools, there is no way any Secretary of State for Education could have contemplated scoring political points at the expense of the oppostion’s fumbling research. But when it is Hizb-ut-Tahrir in the spotlight, the government plays the “divisive smears” race card and the Tories run meekly for cover.

But when the facts are ineveitably going to surface concerning the direct links between the Hizb and ISF, there will be no place to hide for those who doing their best to deny them; step forward Ed Balls, ISF and the Hizb.

Andrew Gilligan hits all the right notes on Ed Balls’ role in the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation scandal:

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Why Is Hizb ut Tahrir Receiving Government Funding?

By Guest | Published: November 25, 2009

This is a press release by the Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC)

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In today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative Party Leader David Cameron challenged Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the findings of the Centre for Social Cohesion’s (CSC) latest report, Hizb ut-Tahrir: Ideology and Strategy.
Cameron, who has promised to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), asked the Prime Minister why the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation (ISF), a charity run by HT members that manages two primary schools and a nursery in London, has received over £113,000 in government grants – a fact revealed by the CSC in the last month. Following the revelations, Haringey Council suspended ISF’s funding.

As the CSC report shows, HT is a revolutionary Islamist group that supports violent jihad and is using front groups to embed its divisive ideology into local communities. Cameron stated today that HT is a group that says

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Also posted in Islamism, UK Politics | 20 Comments

An Iranian Education

By Guest | Published: November 24, 2009

This is a guest-post by Robin Simcox

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The merits of Columbia University hosting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2007 have always been somewhat dubious. So it is interesting that it has now emerged that the university was paid $100,000 by the Alavi Foundation, an alleged Iranian front group, two months before agreeing to host the dictator.

The Alavi Foundation – an organisation based in the United States which declares itself ‘devoted to the promotion and support of Islamic culture and Persian language, literature and civilization’ – is accused by the US government of funnelling money to Iranian spies based in Europe and Islamic schools backed by the Iranian government. Federal prosecutors are currently attempting to seize up to $650m in assets from the foundation, with Adam Kaufmann, investigations chief at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, saying that they have ‘found evidence that the government of Iran really controlled everything about the foundation’. Alavi also regularly donated to Harvard, Portland State and Rutgers. The latter received $351,600 from the foundation between 2005-2007 to fund its Persian Studies Program.

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Also posted in Islamism | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Slam Dunk

By Effendi | Published: November 3, 2009

First, the bad news: Last week a report in the Sunday Telegraph highlighted the Shakhsiyah Foundation, an Hizb ut-Tahrir front organisation which runs three schools in north London, had received in excess of £113,000 from government grants. The foundation’s lead trustee, Yusra Hamilton, is a leading Hizb activist who is married to Taji Mustafa, the group’s chief spokesman in Britain.

Now, for the good news: Within seven days of this information going public, Haringey Council has axed funding to the Shakhsiyah Foundation:

The public money – from the Government’s Early Years Fund – was paid to help run the nursery school and two Islamic primary schools where children are taught key elements of Hizb’s ideology from the age of five. It was administered by the local authority, Haringey.

In a statement, the Home Office said: “Haringey Council has decided to suspend its allocation of Early Years Funding, to the schools concerned, pending an investigation.”

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Also posted in Islamism | Tagged | Leave a comment

Hizb awarded £113,000 of public money

By Effendi | Published: October 26, 2009

This article in the Sunday Telegraph made my blood run cold:

Accounts filed at the Charity Commission show that the Government paid a total of £113,411 last year to a foundation run by senior members and activists of Hizb ut-Tahrir — a notorious Islamic extremist group that ministers promised to ban.

The article focuses attention on three Hizb-ut-Tahrir dominated schools in which pupils are being indoctrinated into Hizbi ideology from the age of three. The Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation, which runs the three schools in question, has been responsible for securing the public funding. The foundation’s lead trustee is Yusra Hamilton, a leading Hizb activist who is married to Taji Mustafa (real name Urutajirinere Fombo), the group’s chief spokesman in Britain.

At least three of the four trustees are Hizb members or activists, including Farah Ahmed, the head teacher of the Slough school, who has written in a Hizb journal condemning the “corrupt Western concepts of materialism and freedom”.

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Also posted in Islamism | 47 Comments

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