"Islam sticker terrorism claims 'grotesque', says Minister".
The simple story is this:
An Australian political party is selling stickers that say "Beware! Halal food funds terrorists".
Queensland's Multicultural Affairs Minister, Glen Elmes, says that this sticker is "offensive, grotesque and designed to inflame hatred". He says that "these sorts of outrageous politics... are offensive to the vast majority of Australians."
The comments on the article are split pretty evenly between Islam apologists and critics of Islam (in my view, the latter being more cogent; but make your own assessment...).
What none of them does is investigate the claim in the stickers: That buying Halal food funds terrorists.
So I thought I'd look at that.
First, though, to be clear on the promoter of the Islam sticker: it's the One Nation party, which was born as and lives as a racist party. It is profoundly anti Asian and profoundly racist. I have no time for it and most Australians don't either.
Still, let's look at what they're saying about this Halal food-terrorism link.
It doesn't take long to find the link. Take the US, as an example. To produce Halal food in the US you need certification; to get certification, you need to go to an Islamic group such as the Islamic Society of North America; ISNA in turn gives part of its revenue -- by its own acknowledgement -- to Zakat, or Islamic charity; of this money, 12.5%, subject to Islamic Jurisprudence (the Umdat Al-Salik), must be devoted to Jihad; "jihad" is defined as "warfare against the unbelievers".
So:
Certify Halal >> Pay ISNA >> ISNA gives some revenue to Zakat >> Zakat apportions 12.5% to "jihad" >> Umdat al Salik defines "jihad" as warfare against unbelievers.QED.
The UK is the same. And France.
In short, the connection between eating Halal and funding terrorism is clear and direct, in the cases of the US, the UK and France.
Can one assume that it's different in Australia? I doubt it.
Thus, the sticker promoted by One Nation of Australia, is arguably correct. At the very least it is not "offensive" -- except in the sense that it's pointing out the offensiveness of halal food profits being used to fund terrorism, which is pretty "offensive" -- and it is not "grotesque", since it's true. Nor is it designed "to inflame hatred"; it is designed rather to highlight the ongoing efforts by certain Muslims in Australia to bring Sharia to our country. Halal is part of Sharia.
Eating, after all, is vital. If you can conquer that, the rest of the project -- to instil Sharia -- is that much easier.
If there is anything "grotesque" in this kerfuffle it's not the sticker of the racists in the One Nation party (let's not fall into the trap of thinking that racists can never say anything true). It's in the statement of our Minister Elmes, who reflexively finds for Islamist Sharia, and in his haste to kowtow to his perception of the Muslim lobby, slaps down a very valid criticism of creeping sharia on our country.
