Hazel Blears versus The Guardian

It shouldn't even be an issue but Hazel Blears has taken exactly the right position on Dr Daud Abdullah of the Muslim Council of Britain.  Dr Abdullah is Deputy Director-General of the MCB and recently signed The Gaza Declaration.  The Times records what the Declaration states:

"The declaration, drawn up during the recent conflict in Gaza, backed Hamas, endorsed action against any, including Britain's armed forces, who prevented arms smuggling into Gaza and included a series of obligations to the "Islamic Nation", including calling for the continuation of "the jihad and resistance against the occupier until the liberation of all Palestine."  Hamas, the militant Palestinian group backed by Syria and Iran and which won an election in Gaza in 2006, does not recognise the existence of Israel."

Ms Blears has threatened to disengage with the MCB if Abdullah remains in post.  The Government's strategy on Islamic extremism is very muddled - as Paul Goodman MP has documented - but Ms Blears is right on this one.  Nonetheless,  a leading article in today's Guardian accuses the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government of "grandstanding" and "folly".

James Forsyth at Coffee House identifies one particularly bad passage in The Guardian's leader:

“The government's chief quarrel is with the hypothetical suggestion that resistance would be appropriate if UK forces were ever used to intercept arms destined for Gaza. Very many Muslims, and indeed many non-Muslims, would agree with that."

James is rightly furious: "The Guardian believes that there is nothing inherently wrong or unreasonable with believing that it is justified to use violence against British forces attempting to prevent the shipment of arms to a genocidal terrorist organisation. This is as incredible as it is shameful."

Related link: The Muslim Council of Britain finds a new excuse to boycott Holocaust Memorial Day