The charge often made that Muslims are intolerant of Israelis as a race is a highly deluded one to say the least. On the contrary, Muslims have formed allegiances with Jews, in particular the Orthodox Neturei Karta, who not only share equal protest at the illegitimacy of the Zionist elite and its promotion of apartheid-style nationalism, but are themselves subject to state-led persecution.

On the subject of nationalism and racism, Islam condemns these evils as we see in the following examples: The Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) said: "an Arab does not have the right to claim superiority over a non Arab, nor has a non-Arab have a right to claim superiority over an Arab, except through righteous deeds…" Also, from the Quran (49:13): "Verily the best of you in the sight of Allah is the best in conduct."

The recent wave of Islamophobic hysteria from some sections of the tabloid press illustrates the predictable paranoia invoked by recent irresponsible comments from senior Government ministers. "Fear" and "contempt" have now become acceptable tools to wage war on the "enemy", rather than using its influence as a communicator to shape Britain into a more harmonious society. Putting it bluntly, racism combined with a perverse perception of superiority does not bode well within a multi-cultural society such as ours. Einstein got it right when he wrote "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."

There is a growing climate in the west of dangerously generalising Islam on account of individual behaviour as a pretext to discriminate. This inevitably breeds widespread hostility towards Muslims and Islam in general in order to influence public opinion. Whilst there is a presence of Muslim extremism and intolerance from certain sections of the community, there is also very little distinction made between individual religious deviants and the peaceful, law abiding majority. The mainstream media claims to provide the masses with "factual" information in order to inform objectively. Unfortunately, this state-run propaganda machine is currently abusing its powers to inform the public, not necessarily through the promotion of its own political leaning, but by the omission of fact-based reports carried by the alternative global media. In other words, by not informing the public on a sensitive, controversial issue, by omission, or by twisting the facts in favour of a more palatable, sanitized version to the West, is to violate the very principles of free speech in our so-called "civilized" democracy. Perhaps we will some day witness a milestone in mainstream British journalism where the truth is not afraid to show its dignified and humble face and where dishonesty and deception are no longer a trend.

Source: Submitted by a member of the public.

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