According to various reports, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas support networks in the UK are universally opposed to the counter-extremism proposals announced by Prime Minister David Cameron last week and which emphasized the need to combat extremist ideology. The head of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) said the strategies will “cause more hard to British Muslims than good”:
Omar al-Hamdun, head of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), said Cameron’s speech could be detrimental to Muslims in the U.K.
“For example, Cameron is right in his views on the need to counter-extremism but we think this strategy will cause more harm to British Muslims than good,” he said.Al-Hamdun stated that he did not agree with Cameron’s remarks, in which he said “lots of Muslims do not identify themselves as Britons”.“Muslims are told that you should integrate and be part of the society. But when Muslims try to integrate and be part of the society, they are accused of entryism,” he said.
“The British government encouraged Muslims to be governors. But when Muslims became governors and participated in politics, they tried to push Muslims away from the Trojan horse and accuse them of imposing their own political ideologies and Islam,” he added.
Hamdun also criticized Cameron’s aim to “further spread British values” — which designates universal values such as rule of law, freedom of expression, and democracy — as part of the newly unveiled plan, which he said itself contradicts to said “British values”
The head of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said Cameron was “erroneous, wrong and counter-productive”:
The Muslim Council of Britain has attacked David Cameron as ‘erroneous, wrong and counter-productive’ for suggesting that Muslim communities have given credence to extremist ideology.
The group, which represents Muslim opinion from more than 500 organisations, demanded that the Prime Minister present ‘clear evidence’ to back up his assertions that Muslims were not doing enough to tackle extremism.
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Dr Shuja Shafi, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: ‘To suggest that Muslim communities have led young people to extremism or gives credence to extremist ideology is erroneous, wrong and counter-productive. ‘It has been suggested that Muslims are not doing enough and somehow condone extremism. We would argue that clear evidence should be presented and wrongdoing challenged, rather than perpetuate insinuation persistently. ‘The reasons why people are drawn to this are many and complex. Simplifying the causes for tabloid consumption helps no-one but the extremists.’”
UK Brotherhood figure and Hamas spokesman Azzam Tammi wondered in a tweet if David Cameron would “dare call Pope & Catholic Church extremists, or would he dare lable Orthodox #Jews as such.”
Perhaps the most detailed series of objections were contained in a series of tweets by UK Muslim Brotherhood leader Anas Altikriti. In perhaps the most telling of these, and the most representative of the Muslim Brotherhood counter-narrative, Altikriti said that one of the “sure signs of failure” was “failing to admit what every security expert knows; Foreign Policy is key to extremism.”
For a summary of Cameron’s speech, go here.