How Saudi Wahhabism Is the Fountainhead of Islamist Terrorism Huffington Post by Yousaf Butt.

 Dr. Yousaf Butt is a senior advisor to the British American Security Information Council and director at the Cultural Intelligence Institute. The views expressed here are his own.

LONDON -- The horrific terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo weekly in Paris have led to speculation as to whether the killers -- the brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi -- were lone wolves or tied to masterminds in ISIS or its rival, Al-Qaeda. Although Al-Qaeda in Yemen has taken credit for the attack, it is unclear how closely the affiliate actually directed the operation. No matter which organizational connections (if any) ultimately prove to be real, one thing is clear: the fountainhead of Islamic extremism that promotes and legitimizes such violence lies with the fanatical "Wahhabi" strain of Islam centered in Saudi Arabia. And if the world wants to tamp down and eliminate such violent extremism, it must confront this primary host and facilitator.

Perversely, while the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Asiri took part in a "Je suis Charlie" solidarity rally in Beirut following the Paris attacks, back home the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi received the first 50 of 1,000 lashes he is due each Friday over the next 20 weeks. His crime? Running a liberal website promoting the freedom of speech. (Thankfully, in recent days it seems the Saudi authorities have buckled to international pressure and suspended the sentence.)

It would be troublesome but perhaps acceptable for the House of Saud to promote the intolerant and extremist Wahhabi creed just domestically. But, unfortunately, for decades the Saudis have also lavishly financed its propagation abroad. Exact numbers are not known, but it is thought that more than $100 billion have been spent on exporting fanatical Wahhabism to various much poorer Muslim nations worldwide over the past three decades. It might well be twice that number. By comparison, the Soviets spent about $7 billion spreading communism worldwide in the 70 years from 1921 and 1991.

This appears to be a monumental campaign to bulldoze the more moderate strains of Islam, and replace them with the theo-fascist Saudi variety. Despite being well aware of the issue, Western powers continue to coddle the Saudis or, at most, protest meekly from time to time.

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More on Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism.

US senators urge Saudi Arabia to halt ‘barbaric’ flogging of blogger

Some details on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,

Some details on Wahhabism

MAX HASTINGS: Daily Mail Story on France and Terrorism

 Just imagine the Queen’s Birthday Parade, June 13, 2015: the monarch, her family and escorting officers are arrayed on Horse Guards’ in Whitehall, watching the serried red companies wheel and march past in slow time.

Suddenly, men burst from the crowd and begin spraying bullets among the soldiers and spectators.

It is a scenario from hell, yet no more fanciful than that of Wednesday’s massacre in a Paris magazine office, or last month’s slaughter of 132 schoolchildren in Peshawar, or the carnage of the London bus and Tube bombs of July 2005.

It is the sort of image with which security chiefs live every day of their working lives, because for them that would be the cost of a failure.

Yesterday’s dramatic events in France ended with three terrorists and four hostages dead after a formidable French security and intelligence operation.

The intelligence services have never doubted that new terrorist attacks will come to the West, including Britain. An event such as the Charlie Hebdo killings merely gives the ongoing threat a shocking new sense of immediacy.

On Thursday, the director general of MI5, Andrew Parker, made a rare speech, warning it was almost inevitable that an attack in this country would get through sooner or later. ‘Although we and our partners try our utmost, we know that we cannot hope to stop everything,’ he said.

The price of living in an open society, with the precious freedoms we take for granted, is that all of us, great and small, are vulnerable to attackers consumed by hatred for our culture, its values, and manifest superiority to those from which they come.

Globalisation places a disturbing number of such people in our midst, rather than far away in Somalia or Iran.

The good news is that although Islamic fanatics can cause us pain and grief, they pose no existential threat as did Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s Soviet Union.

They cannot be compromised or parleyed with, because they have no rational political demands: they claim affiliation to a feudal order in which women are denied rights, technology is banished and mullahs arbitrate over daily life.

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Muslim Labour frontbencher accused of encouraging 'mob rule' after joining anti-Israel protest which forced supermarket to close... then demanding goods boycott Daily Mail

  Shabana Mahmood was involved in protest at Sainsbury's in Birmingham

  Store closed for several hours as campaigners lay down outside the shop

  MP bragged about actions on YouTube, calling for a boycott of Israeli goods

  Birmingham Ladywood MP accused of 'promoting public disorder'

  Labour says she told Ed Miliband she 'does not support a boycott of Israel'

  But critics have demanded that she apologise for her comments

A Labour frontbencher was accused of encouraging mob rule last night after she boasted of taking part in an anti-Israel protest that forced a supermarket to close. 

Shabana Mahmood lay in the street outside a Sainsbury’s store in Birmingham alongside dozens of pro-Palestine campaigners, protesting against the fact that it was ‘stocking goods from illegal settlements’.

Her ‘direct action’ forced the supermarket to close for several hours on a busy Saturday. She then used YouTube to brag about her actions, calling for a boycott of Israeli goods – in direct contravention of Labour policy. 

Last night the Muslim MP, who speaks for the party on tax and growth policy, was accused of ‘stirring up tensions’ by Jewish leaders. They said the Birmingham Ladywood MP was promoting public disorder, and branded her behaviour ‘completely inappropriate’.

Labour said Ed Miliband had spoken to Miss Mahmood, who told him she does not support a boycott of Israel. But critics said this did not go far enough and called on her to apologise. 

Simon Johnson, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: ‘It is completely inappropriate for a Member of Parliament to promote public disorder that forced a supermarket to close. We believe that she has been made aware of her party’s opposition to boycotts and has back-pedalled, but an apology is yet to be heard.’ 

Vivian Wineman, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: ‘Such rabble rousing is extremely irresponsible.’

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Crisis in Iraq - five things you can ACTUALLY do to help, Published 08 August 2014 | Martin Saunders Christianity Today

A few weeks ago, I changed my social media profile photo. Like many others, I was responding to the awful situation in Mosul, Iraq, where my fellow Christians are reportedly being forced to convert to Islam, or otherwise being threatened with execution. It was a vague attempt to do something - anything - to help. I was standing in solidarity, if nothing else, and hopefully encouraging others to do the same.

The trouble of standing in solidarity however, is that when it's done from being a laptop screen in a cosy branch of Costa Coffee, it achieves pretty much nothing.

Fast forward a few weeks, and the situation is worse than ever. I don't need to recount here the horrible stories of forced conversions, people starving up mountains and beheaded children.

Here's the thing: we can't stand by while this happens. We just can't. If we call ourselves Christians - or even just human beings - we have to care enough to put down whatever we're doing and take a few minutes to engage.

So what, practically, can we do? I've spent a little while thinking, praying and asking others about that question, and here is a start.

Read more here:

Further Reading

The last Christian flees Mosul as ISIS continues its reign of terror in Iraq

Key Iraqi Christian leader: 'ISIS is worse than Genghis Khan'

The rise of ISIS: how an unknown splinter group came to dominate Iraq

Iraq persecution: The hidden minorities targeted by IS

Black and white flag similar to ones used by jihadis is hoisted outside east London housing estate Daily Mail

Anti-extremism campaigners condemn 'provocative' act in Tower Hamlets

Flag contains script used by all Muslims but design often used by jihadists

Emblem has caused offence and the local council intervened to remove it

Local campaigners had already pulled it down but Palestinian flag remains

A controversial black and white flag similar to one championed by Muslim extremists has been hoisted over an east London estate.

The emblem was hung alongside the Palestinian flag in Poplar, Tower Hamlets - often referred to as an 'Islamic Republic' in the capital. 

Anti-extremist campaigners said today the raising of the black flag was a 'provocative' act and undermined legitimate anger about the crisis in Gaza. 

One man who objected to it says he was confronted by a gang of youths who asked him: 'Are you a Jew?'.

When he said: 'Would it make a difference?' they responded: 'Yes it f****** would', according to the Guardian.

The black and white flag has the Shahadatayn - the declaration of faith that all Muslims say - written on it, which translates as 'There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God'.

But in recent years versions has been hijacked by extremist supporters of the Taliban, Hamas, al-Shabaab, Al Qaeda and ISIS.

It is not clear who raised the flag on the Will Crooks Estate - named after the local MP and noted Victorian-era anti-poverty campaigner - but it has caused offence.

Read more here:

Flag-waving protesters block London road tunnel with dozens of cars in 'Free Palestine' rally, Daily Mail

Tower Hamlets,  Palestine Flag 

·        Drivers parked cars and honked horns shouting 'Free free Palestine' 

·        Cars blocking Blackwall tunnel in east London were graffitied with 'Gaza'

·        Tunnel connects Greenwich with Muslim community of Tower Hamlets

·        Came days before Tower Hamlets mayor raised Palestine flag at town hall

·        Tory councillor in area warns community is 'being radicalised'

Protesters filmed themselves blocking a London road with dozens of parked cars as they called for Israel to relinquish its grip on Gaza amid concerns the community is becoming 'radicalised' 

Drivers parked their cars, honked their horns and shouted 'free free Palestine', bringing the major commuter route in east London to a standstill. 

Local councillors claim the footage is the latest cause for concern that the community is becoming 'radicalised' and 'one-sided'.

The demonstration took place on July 20 in the Blackwall tunnel which connects Greenwich in south London with Tower Hamlets, an east London borough with a large Muslim population, police confirmed.

The footage of parked cars covered in Palestinian flags and the word 'Gaza' emerged on YouTube early this week and has been shared on Facebook more than 6,000 times.  

It is unclear how long the tunnel remained blocked during the incident.

It came just days before Tower Hamlets's Muslim mayor sparked outrage by raising the Palestinian flag outside the town hall.

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Further Reading:

Fury as Muslim mayor flies Palestinian flag over UK town hall in 'gesture of solidarity', Daily Express

More on Islam

Fury as Muslim mayor flies Palestinian flag over UK town hall in 'gesture of solidarity', Daily Express

THE controversial directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets today ordered the Palestinian flag to be flown from the town hall as a "gesture of humanitarian solidarity" with the victims of the fighting in Gaza.

The flag was flown above Mulberry Place in London's Docklands following an edict from Lutfur Rahman, who is Britain's only directly elected mayor.

In a statement he said: "We are flying the Palestinian flag over the town hall as a humanitarian gesture of our solidarity with the people of Gaza.

"In addition to the current military onslaught, the blockade of Gaza is causing a humanitarian catastrophe. Over 1,000 people have been killed, most of them women and children. An urgent aid corridor needs to be opened to allow those injured to receive treatment and medical care.

"We mourn the loss of life in this tragic conflict. We call on our Prime Minister to help create a lasting peace that breaks the cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians and prevents any further loss of innocent lives.”

Read more here:

Update

Palestinian flag flown over Tower Hamlets town hall REMOVED after Jewish safety concerns

Further Reading:

Tower Hamlets Election Fraud Investigation 2

Tower Hamlets Election Fraud Investigation 1

First Muslim mayor to face fraud trial: Tower Hamlets borough boss accused of promising houses for votes Daily Mail

Lutfur Rahman

  Lutfur Rahman allegedly used illegal tactics to win May mayoral election

  Islamic voters were 'told they should be good Muslims and support him'

  Supporters accused of branding his main rival racist and anti-Islamic

  Four voters have submitted damaging dossier of evidence to High Court

Britain’s first elected Muslim mayor is to face trial over claims he committed widespread voting fraud.

Lutfur Rahman, 48, is accused of using illegal tactics to win the mayoral election in Tower Hamlets, East London, in May.

People were allegedly promised council houses if they backed him and Islamic voters were told they should be ‘good Muslims’ and support him.

His supporters are accused of doctoring ballot papers, manipulating postal voting and sabotaging the chances of his main rival, Labour candidate John Briggs, by branding him racist and anti-Islamic.

Four voters have submitted a damaging dossier of evidence to the High Court in an attempt to overturn Mr Rahman’s election victory.

Yesterday Mr Justice Supperstone and Mr Justice Spence granted them the right to have their allegations heard at a full trial, which is expected to be heard in Tower Hamlets later this year.

Mr Rahman was a member of the Tower Hamlets Labour Party and was its candidate to be the first directly elected mayor of the borough in 2010.

But he was expelled from the Labour party after allegations surfaced about his close links with an Islamic extremist group called the Islamic Forum of Europe.

Mr Rahman then won the 2010 mayoral contest as an independent candidate.

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Homes for votes deal in council election fix': Petition claims polling for mayor in London's Tower Hamlets was fraudulent

'Homes for votes deal in council election fix': Petition claims polling for mayor in London's Tower Hamlets was fraudulent. Daily Mail

Mayor Lutfur Rahman

  Islamic voters allegedly told to be 'good Muslims' by electing Lutfur Rahman

  His supporters handed out lollipops to the children of voters, it is claimed

  Mr Rahman, serving a second term as borough mayor, won by 3,000 votes

Voters were promised council houses if they re-elected their mayor, a court heard yesterday.

Islamic sections of the electorate were told they should be ‘good Muslims’ by voting for Mayor Lutfur Rahman, it was said.

In a further bid to win votes, supporters of Mr Rahman allegedly handed out lollipops to the children of voters in Tower Hamlets, East London.

A petition brought before the High Court claims the re-election of the mayor in May was fraudulent ‘in a variety of forms’.

It alleges that council officers were bullied into ‘securing a certain number of votes’ and were threatened with the sack if they refused.

Read more here:

Further reading