The Muslim News

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain should deport radical Islamic clerics who try to justify the September 11 attacks and turn young Muslims against the West, according to the country's leading campaigner for racial equality.

In an interview with Reuters, Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), said anti-Muslim feeling and anti-Semitism were on the rise in the country.

He denounced members of the far-right British National Party (BNP) as "scumbags" and said anti-Semites were using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to ratchet up their hatred of British Jews.

Phillips, who took over at the CRE six months ago, saved his most vehement criticism for Abu Hamza al-Masri and Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, firebrand clerics who have outraged moderate Muslims and non-Muslims alike with their uncompromising views.

"The faster (Home Secretary) David Blunkett can deport them the better," Phillips said.

Abu Hamza has been banned from preaching at the North London mosque which was his base until a police raid this year. He is fighting efforts to deport him to Yemen, where he is wanted in connection with terror attacks.

Syrian-born Sheikh Omar leads the radical al Muhajiroun group, which has staged meetings celebrating September 11.

"Every time Abu Hamza or Sheikh Omar do their thing in front of the television cameras, Muslims suffer in dozens of places in this country," Phillips said.

"They claim to be speaking on behalf of Muslims but they do things in such a way that every time they speak, some Muslim somewhere else in Britain gets it in the neck. They're hypocrites."

RACE AND RELIGION INTERTWINED

The CRE, a publicly-funded non-governmental body, was set up in the late 1970s to tackle racial discrimination. It works with the government, businesses, minority pressure groups and other public bodies to raise awareness of race issues.

"Both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are on the rise in Britain," said Phillips, a 49-year-old black Briton whose parents came from the Caribbean.

"There has been desecration of Mosques and Jewish cemeteries. There has been harassment of Muslims and a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment. Something is definitely on the up here.

"You can feel it anecdotally from the range of complaints that come through to us," he said.

He said the September 11 attacks had emboldened racists to lash out at Muslims while Israel's crackdown on Palestinian militants had stoked anti-Jewish sentiment.

"I find that contemptible," Phillips said.

"If you want to have an argument about (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon and the actions of the state of Israel, that's fine," he said. "But don't conflate it by saying 'This is typical of what Jews are like'."

Phillips said he was alarmed by recent BNP election wins. The party commands only a fraction of the national vote, but has caused a stir by gaining seats in a handful of local councils.

"We should be worried about it," he said. "They're scumbags, the lot of them."

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=3SJZMUGRGJI02CRBAEKSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=378701§ion=news

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