BRITAIN: MUSLIM POLICE OFFICER "WINS RIGHT" NOT TO PROTECT ISRAELI EMBASSY

Muslim PC wins right not to protect Israeli Embassy. (This is London)

A Muslim police officer has been excused from guarding London’s Israeli Embassy after he objected to the duty on ‘moral grounds’.  PC Alexander Omar Basha - a member of the Metropolitan Police’s Diplomatic Protection Group - refused to be posted there because he objected to Israeli bombings in Lebanon and the resulting civilian casualties of fellow Muslims. In a move which has caused widespread astonishment at Scotland Yard, senior officers in the DPG agreed that that PC Basha should be given an alternative posting. The officer, who carries a gun, is now thought to be guarding another embassy. 

Critics accused Met chiefs of bowing to political correctness, saying the decision set a dangerous precedent. A senior source in the Metropolitan Police Federation said: ‘We are expected to serve people without fear or favour. You treat them according to their needs whether you agree with their political or religious views or not. Officers should not be allowed to pick and choose where they work in this way.’ Richard Barnes, a Tory member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, accused senior officers of lacking tact. He said: ‘I think it was crass management in the first place. They should have recognised there could have been a problem and not suggested this officer be posted at this embassy.’ ‘The Met keep banging on about diversity, but this case shows they have learned very little at all.’