Robert Spencer backs ban on Islam
Reports that the government of Angola has “banned Islam” have been welcomed by Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch.
Beneath a photograph of an Angolan minaret being demolished, Spencer writes:
This is extraordinarily strange news, given that the world is racing in the other direction, to accommodate and appease Islam. It will be interesting to see, if these reports turn out to be accurate, how the mainstream media and Islamic supremacist groups will find a way to accuse the Angolans of “racism.” In any case, clearly this is a national security issue, with Islamic supremacists and jihadists wreaking havoc in Nigeria and spreading elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. There is no way in Angola any more than there is anywhere else to distinguish jihadis in Angola from the peaceful Muslims among whom they move, organize and recruit, and clearly this measure is designed to stop that activity. However, censure from the UN and the world “human rights” community will probably soon compel Angola to change its stance, and allow the jihadis free rein.
Spencer’s usual claim is that he is opposed to Islam and those it inspires to violence, not to Muslims as such, and on occasion he will even say that he welcomes attempts by Muslim reformers to reframe their faith in non-violent terms. He also presents himself as a champion of free speech and equal rights. When he and his friend Pamela Geller were banned from the UK earlier this year, Spencer indignantly declared that “our work is dedicated to the defense of the freedom of speech and equality of rights for all”.
His response to the news from Angola provides a useful refutation of all those fraudulent claims. Spencer holds that there “no way in Angola any more than there is anywhere else to distinguish jihadis … from the peaceful Muslims among whom they move, organize and recruit” (emphasis added). So, in his view, not only is a ban on Muslims practising their religion entirely legitimate but the circumstances that justify that ban apply everywhere.
Spencer, it should be remembered, is currently supporting former English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon in his efforts to build a new organisation in the UK that has supposedly broken from the extremism of the EDL.