UNIV. OF MANCHESTER TWINNED WITH WEST BANK TERROR SCHOOL

UK, West Bank universities twinned. (YNet)
The University of Manchester in northern England has been “twinned” with al-Najah University in the West Bank following the passing of a motion filled with anti-Israel rhetoric by the student’s union last week.

Some 19 Palestinian suicide bombers have originated from al-Najah, and in 2001, the university organized a display to celebrate and recreate the suicide bomb attack on the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, which killed 15 Israelis.

The motion stated that “Palestinian education has been severely hindered since the outbreak of the second Intifada in September 2000 by blanket curfews, the presence of roadblocks and recently the erection of the wall. The cumulative effects of these measures have put the future of many Palestinian universities at grave risk.“ ...

The motion was introduced by a student group called ”Palestine Action," a subsidiary of the British Respect Party, itself made up of an alliance between Islamists and far-Left activists, and supported by the university’s Islamic Society, a Jewish student representative told Ynetnews.

U.K. JOURNO CRITICIZED FOR HOLOCAUST COMMENTS

Sewell's Scourge (BackSpin)
Brian Sewell, an art critic for the Evening Standard got himself in hot water with Holocaust surivivors for an article about a London exhibition commemorating slavery. In the middle of his 1,800 word article, Sewell writes:

The historical slave trade was a business at least as appalling as the Holocaust, with many, many, more victims, and like the Holocaust its memory has been hijacked by the descendants of those victims and turned into a scourge with which to whip guilt into society.

The Evening Standard's managing editor, Doug Wills, told the European Jewish Press that Sewell's critics took the sentence out of context.

EUROPE SELF CENSORS; BOWS TO ISLAMOFASCISTS

The Closing of the European Mind by Daniel Johnson (Contentions)

The Times of London reports today on yet another episode in the closing of the European mind—in this instance, a shocking case of academic censorship.

Matthias Küntzel, a German political scientist from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was invited by the German department at Leeds University for three days of lectures and seminars this week. His lecture on “Hitler’s Legacy: Islamic Anti-Semitism in the Middle East” was expected to draw a large audience. Then the university’s student Islamic society complained about the lecture’s “provocative” title. Last Tuesday, at the behest of university authorities, the words “Hitler” and “Islamic” were excised and the title was amended to read: “The Nazi Legacy: The Export of Anti-Semitism to the Middle East.” But when Küntzel arrived at Leeds this Wednesday, he was informed that his lecture and the rest of his program had been cancelled “on security grounds.” Küntzel was understandably indignant: “I value the integrity of academic debate, and I feel that it really is in danger here.”

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HALF OF STUDENTS AT ENGLISH JEWISH SCHOOL ARE MUSLIMS

Jewish school, Muslim students (Indenpendent UK)
King David, in Birmingham, is a state primary where the children learn Hebrew, recite Jewish prayers, eat kosher food and wave Israeli flags. So how come the majority of pupils are followers of Islam?

It's infant prize day at King David School, a state primary in Moseley, Birmingham. The children sit cross-legged on the floor, their parents fiddling with their video cameras. The head, Steve Langford, is wearing a Sesame Street tie.

A typical end-of-term school event, then. But at King David there's a twist that gives it a claim to be one of the most extraordinary schools in the country: King David is a strictly Jewish school. Judaism is the only religion taught. There's a synagogue on site. The children learn modern Hebrew - Ivrit - the language of Israel. And they celebrate Israeli independence day.

But half the 247 pupils at the 40-year-old local authority-supported school are Muslim, and apparently the Muslim parents go through all sorts of hoops, including moving into the school's catchment area, to get their children into King David to learn Hebrew, wave Israeli flags on independence day and hang out with the people some would have us believe that they hate more than anyone in the world.

The Muslim parents, mostly devout and many of the women wearing the hijab, say they love the ethos of the school, and even the kosher school lunches, which are suitable because halal and kosher dietary rules are virtually identical. The school is also respectful to Islam, setting aside a prayer room for the children and supplying Muslim teachers during Ramadan. At Eid, the Muslim children are wished Eid Mubarak in assembly, and all year round, if they wish, can wear a kufi (hat). Amazingly, dozens of the Muslim children choose instead to wear the Jewish kipah.

ENGLISH ISLAMIC SCHOOL ADMITS USING ANTI-SEMITIC TEXTBOOKS

AND DON'T THINK FOR A MINUTE THE SAME THING DOESN'T GO IN IN SAUDI FUNDING SCHOOLS IN THE USA.

We do use books that call Jews 'apes' admits head of Islamic school (Evening Standard)
The principal of an Islamic school has admitted that it uses textbooks which describe Jews as "apes" and Christians as "pigs" and has refused to withdraw them. Dr Sumaya Alyusuf confirmed that the offending books exist after former teacher Colin Cook, 57, alleged that children as young as five are taught from racist materials at the King Fahd Academy in Acton.

In an interview on BBC2's Newsnight, Dr Alyusuf was asked by Jeremy Paxman whether she recognised the books. She said: "Yes, I do recognise these books, of course. We have these books in our school. These books have good chapters that can be used by the teachers. It depends on the objectives the teacher wants to achieve."

In another exchange, Dr Alyusuf insisted the books should not be scrapped, saying that allegedly racist sections had been "misinterpreted".

The school is owned, funded and run by the government of Saudi Arabia. Mr Paxman asked: "Will you now remove this nonsense from the Saudi Ministry of Education from your school?"

Dr Alyusuf replied: "Just to reiterate what I said earlier, there are chapters from these books that are used and that will serve our objectives. But we don't teach hatred towards Judaism or Christianity - on the contrary."

During the programme Louise Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside and chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement, accused the school of inciting racial hatred and hit out at Ofsted inspectors for failing to discover the textbooks. She said: "This whole situation is unacceptable. It is incitement. It is part of a deliberate Saudi initiative to install Wahabbism extremism among Muslims and in the rest of society. If Ofsted has not drawn attention to this, that is a failing of Ofsted.

"It is unacceptable and we should look to see if this is happening in other schools as well. This is about teaching children. I think the school should take immediate action and so should the regulatory authorities."

In his employment tribunal claim Mr Cook, who taught English at the school for 19 years, has accused it of poisoning pupils' minds with a curriculum of hate. Arabic translators have found that the books also describe Jews as "repugnant".

Dr Alyusuf initially claimed that the books were "not taught currently", saying: "We teach a different curriculum. We teach an international curriculum."

Asked by Mr Paxman, "Would you discipline any teacher who has used these teaching materials?", she replied: "Of course I would."

The principal, who has been in the post just under six months, also claimed: "I monitor what is taught in the classrooms. I have developed the curriculum myself."

Asked by Mr Paxman whether she agreed with the suggestion in teaching materials that non-believers in Islam are condemned to "hellfire", she said: "We don't teach that. We teach Islam and it is important for our students to assert their identity."

Mr Cook, of Feltham, was earning £35,000 a year and is seeking £100,000 in compensation. In legal papers submitted to a Watford employment tribunal, he alleged that pupils as young as five are taught that religions including Christianity and Judaism are "worthless". He also alleges that when he questioned whether the curriculum complied with British laws, he was told: "This is not England. It is Saudi Arabia".

Pupils have allegedly been heard saying they want to "kill Americans", praising 9/11 and idolising Osama bin Laden as their "hero".

Mr Cook claims he was dismissed last December after blowing the whistle on the school for covering up cheating by children in GCSE exams.

He is bringing a tribunal claim for unfair dismissal, race discrimination and victimisation. The school is vigorously defending his claims.

JEW-HATE TAUGHT AT SAUDI-FUNDED LONDON SCHOOL

Saudi-Funded School "Teaches Religious Hatred" - Caroline Davies and Graeme Paton (Telegraph-UK)
A Saudi-funded Islamic school in London has been accused of poisoning the minds of pupils as young as five years with a curriculum of hate. Colin Cook, 57, who taught English for 18 years at the Academy, claims textbooks of the Saudi government's Ministry of Education used by children at the King Fahd Academy in Acton, west London, describe Jews as "repugnant" and Christians as "pigs."

ATTACKS ON JEWS HIT RECORD HIGH IN BRITAIN

'Wave of hatred' warning as attacks on Jews hits record high (Daily Mail)
Attacks on Britain's Jews have risen to the highest level since records began. A study published today shows the number of reported anti-Semitic incidents has almost tripled in 10 years, with more than half the attacks last year taking place in London. The findings prompted the report's authors to warn of a "wave of hatred" against Jews.

The number of incidents increased to 594 last year, up by 31 per cent on the previous year. Violent assaults soared to 112, up by more than a third on 2005. Incidents ranged from the unprovoked stabbing of a Jewish man in north London to the sending of hate mail and the vandalism of Jewish cemeteries and synagogues.

The Anti-Semitic Incidents Report 2006, compiled by the Community Security Trust (CST), responsible for combating anti-Semitism in the UK, blames the huge rise on a number of factors ranging from Israel's invasion of Lebanon last summer to the jailing of the historian David Irving in Austria for denying the Holocaust.

The threatened suspension of Ken Livingstone as Mayor for comments made to a Jewish Evening Standard reporter triggered 11 anti-Semitic incidents, according to the report.

When the figures were first compiled in 1984, there were just 154 reported incidents, about a quarter of the total for last year.

Mark Gardner, CST spokesman said of the level of hate crimes: "This is unacceptable racism, that many Jews had hoped and believed was a thing of the past. "Today's anti-Semitism is a wave of hatred, intimidation and abuse against British Jews, who are stupidly blamed and randomly attacked over international tensions for which they bear no responsibility."

Incidents last year include:

• An Orthodox Jew punched in the face and almost pushed off a Tube platform by an Arab man who screamed: "Get back to Stamford Hill, I want to kill you all"
• A Jewish man walking to synagogue with his two young sons suffered a broken leg after being punched and kicked by a white man shouting "f***ing Jew"
• Seventy incidents of desecration and damage to synagogues, cemeteries, Jewish schools and private homes with attacks including swastikas daubed on walls
• Savage assault of a 12-year-old Jewish girl Jasmine Kranat, who was beaten unconscious on a north London bus by two teenage girls who asked her first if she was Jewish.

The physical descriptions of perpetrators in 205 of the incidents show 96 were by white people, 28 by black people, 60 by Asians and 16 by Arabs. The report has been passed to ministers.

I WONDER HOW MANY WERE MUSLIMS?

BRITISH MPs DEFY BAN, MEET WITH HAMAS

MPs defy ban on contact with Hamas. (UK Telegraph)
A group of British MPs held a private meeting with senior members of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government in defiance of Britain’s ban on contact with the militant Islamic movement.

Five members of the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group met ministers from the Hamas government last week during a visit to Ramallah.

British ministers and officials are banned from meeting members of the Palestinian cabinet because London categorises Hamas as an international terrorist group.

One of the group, Richard Burden, the Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, defended the meeting on the grounds that opening dialogue with Hamas was the best way to make progress in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

ENGLISH CITY BOWS TO MUSLIMS AND CANCELS HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

Bolton bans Holocaust Day (UK Jewish Telegraph)
IN A move widely seen to be bowing to Muslim pressure, Bolton Council has scrapped its Holocaust Memorial Day event.

The council is to replace it with a Genocide Memorial Day in June. This is in line with the policy of the Muslim Council of Britain, which continues to boycott HMD and is asking for a Genocide Day, which will also mark “the ongoing genocide and human rights abuses of Palestinians” by Israelis.

The council decision was made in consultation with the town’s Interfaith Council.

But Rabbi Joseph Lever of United Synagogue who has participated in the Bolton event for around three years was not consulted on the decision. He said: “I mourn the fact that the Holocaust Memorial Day event will not take place in Bolton this year.”

Louis Rapaport, president of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, was equally disappointed that the Jewish community was not consulted.

He said: “Bolton, alone of all the local authorities in our area, is not having an HMD event which is a government recommendation.” He added: “There may not be many Jews in Bolton but the day is supposed to have an educational message to the whole community.

”I can’t help feeling the decision was influenced by Bolton’s large Muslim community."