France: anti-Semitic terror
‘I had to cover my kippah with a cap to be safe in public,’ said Lev, a young Jew from Paris, ‘and I worried that someone would kill my daughter at her school.’ Lev’s family are now safely starting a new life in Israel: they went on a sponsored Wings of Eagles Freedom Flight. Lev was overcome with gratitude when this help was made available: ‘Thank you for helping us leave the fear and terror behind!’ He brought his family to Israel before both the kosher supermarket attack that killed four and the heinous Charlie Hebdo massacre that left the people of Paris paralysed with fear. Such fear and terror is being felt today not only in France but also by Moldovan, Turkish, Venezuelan, Spanish and other Jews. It is growing across the globe as Islamic terrorists slaughter the innocent.
Europe 'shameful' over refugees, terror response
European countries' shameful response to the migrant crisis and their counter-terrorism policies risk undermining their historic commitment to human rights, Amnesty International warned on Wednesday. They used their annual report to take some of the world's oldest democracies to task. Several countries in the EU passport-free Schengen area have re-imposed border controls in response to refugees fleeing war and persecution. ‘That Europe, the richest bloc in the world, is not able to take care of the basic rights of the most persecuted people in the world is shameful’, said Amnesty. It called for safe, legal routes for people to reach Europe and said they should be treated on a case by case basis, not subjected to ‘collective punishment’. Amnesty was alarmed by the counter-terrorism laws being introduced across Europe, in particular the state of emergency implemented in France. ‘The system that has been built over seventy years to protect human rights now needs to be protected from a wholesale attack.’
Muslim leader warns British Pakistanis
Muslim leader warns British Pakistanis
There have been three cases recently where Asian men have been convicted of rape or sex trafficking offences. Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, has made what some consider controversial statements regarding members of the Pakistani community involved in grooming girls, saying they harboured racist attitudes towards white girls. He observed there is an over-representation of Pakistani men convicted of child sexual exploitation and on-street gang-grooming in which the majority of victims are white. He warned British Pakistanis against ‘burying our head in the sand’ regarding grooming gangs operating in their communities. See also:
EU renegotiation
The Fresh Start group of Conservative MPs has dismissed David Cameron's EU renegotiation as a failure across a series of policy areas, saying many goals had not been attempted or only partially achieved. They said, 'The Prime Minister has now come to the end of a hard-won renegotiation. It has taken place during a period of great change within Europe, and his own negotiating position was backed up by the certainty of a UK referendum. This gave the best possible chance for change in Europe we are likely to see for a generation. So was the EU able to rise to the occasion and show that it is capable of fundamental reform?’ Over 140 Conservative MPs (out of 329) are expected to vote to leave the EU, with dozens still undecided. Attitudes are changing: last week six cabinet members said they would campaign for withdrawal, as did Boris Johnson, mayor of London.
