Part Three: Hizb ut-Tahrir. Clarifying the Truth.
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” - Winston Churchill.
And so it is for Hizb ut-Tahrir, although in the world of topsy-turveydom, this terrorist entity has its pants on the wrong way around!
A few hours ago in justification of the media attention it is receiving from many quarters in Canada, this terrorist entity issued a media statement that commenced, “In light of the recent false accusations directed against Hizb ut Tahrir, it is necessary to clarify the truth and expose the baseless nature of these claims.”
I venture to say this terrorist entity’s first words reminded me of Shakespeare’s line from Twelfth Night spoken by Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, as he is consumed by his passion for the melancholy Countess Olivia. “If music be the food of love, play on” Orsino, as you know, is a romantic dreamer.
By experience, with one eye closed, I knew what was to follow from this terrorist entity. And sure enough, it came in their second paragraph:
“Hizb ut Tahrir categorically rejects the use of violence or material means in its methodology. The accusations linking the party to terrorism, extremism, and violent activities are fabrications aimed at tarnishing its reputation.”
In Great Britain, Hizb ut-Tahrir has stated, “Jews should be killed wherever they be found.”
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, international policy organization formed to combat the growing threat from extremist ideologies.
CEP states, “Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) members have been linked to violent acts in multiple countries. The group itself has been banned in at least 13 countries, including many Muslim-majority countries.”
CEP has produced a 31-page report that includes the following material:
HT promotional materials have called for violence against Jews. Despite its official non-violent stance, HT has called for violence against Jews.
In 2002, HT leaflets found in Denmark urged Muslims to kill Jews “wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have been [sic] turned you out.”
A BBC report quoted the HT leaflet further: “The Jews are a people of slander...a treacherous people... they fabricate lies and twist words from their right context.”
In 2003, similar antisemitic rhetoric resulted in the group being banned from many university campuses in Britain and a complete ban of the group in Germany.
HT supports not only violence against Jews in general but offensive jihad against Israel in particular.
HT believes Israel has “occupied Islamic lands”—lands once ruled by Islamic law. Accordingly, HT believes those lands should return to governance by Islamic law and supports jihad as a means to that end.
Accordingly, HT views violent acts against Israel as legitimate political protest against Israel’s existence as a state. The organization’s literature has supported Islamist suicide bombings in Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.
In 1994, HT’s global leader, Ata Abu Rashta, reiterated this point when he declared that Jews who came to Palestine after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire have no right to live there. He called for all Jews of fighting age in Israel to be “killed until none survive.”
At least one HT-related person is believed to have attempted a suicide bombing in Israel. British citizen Omar Khan Sharif was reportedly affiliated with an HT splinter group. He began attending HT meetings while at King’s College in London. Sharif reportedly followed former HT leader Omar Bakri Mohammed to his new group, al-Muhajiroun.
On April 30, 2003, Sharif and fellow British citizen Asif Muhammad Hanif attempted a suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv bar. Sharif’s explosives failed, but Hanif killed three and wounded 50. HT denied responsibility for radicalizing Sharif.
On social issues, HT’s ideology is reactionary. HT dictates subservient roles for women, who are required to obtain their husbands’ permission to leave the house and cannot go outside wearing perfume. HT’s doctrine also forbids homosexual acts and prohibits participation in other faiths’ celebrations, such as Christmas.
This terrorist entity concludes its media statement by saying, “We call upon individuals and media outlets to adopt fairness and truthfulness, ensuring that they verify facts before spreading information…”
So, what action should Canada and the USA take against this antisemitic, anti-Christian, and anti-democratic terrorist entity? Robert Maynard Hutchins, the American educational philosopher and dean of Yale Law School had this to say about democracy: “The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”
Is this where we are today?
The above article is part of a series of three about Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Part One: Take note Canada! A conference by a fanatical antisemitic organisation is about to take place.
Part Two: Hizb ut-Tahrir Canada. Antisemitic. Anti-Christian. “Into the hands of theocrats and thugs”
Credit, CEP, YouTube, JewishinfoNews, Brainy Quotes
Alan L. Simons is an author, writer and social & allyship advocate. He writes on matters relating to intolerance, hate, antisemitism, Islamophobia, conflict, and terrorism. As a diplomat, he served as the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Rwanda to Canada, post-genocide era. He recently published his seventh book.