BRENDAN O’NEILL: The two things no one seems willing to say about the savage Manchester Airport attack – and the brute’s trial

It was surely one of the most anticipated verdicts in recent British criminal history. Following a thuggish brawl at Manchester Airport on July 23 last year, Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, from Rochdale, was yesterday convicted for his callous assaults on two female police officers.

At Liverpool Crown Court, he was found guilty of causing actual bodily harm to PC Lydia Ward and assaulting PC Ellie Cook.

This brute, who thinks nothing of punching women in the face, remains in custody. I hope they throw the book at him.

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Starmer’s Political Prisoner to Be ‘Released’—But Hold the Celebrations

Social media users are this week cheering on reports that a mother imprisoned for a post on X will soon be “freed.” Their celebrations seem premature.

Lucy Connolly was jailed for 31 months after authorities treated her post on the day of the horrific Southport knife attack—calling for “mass deportation now” and saying: “Set fire to all the f*****g [migrant] hotels full of the b******s for all I care”—as incitement. That’s despite the fact Connolly deleted the message less than four hours after pressing ‘send’ and stressed the next day that “violence is not the answer.”

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Pro-Hamas activists push for ‘Apartheid-Free Zone’ in Mississauga

Activists in one of Canada’s largest cities are urging the city council to brand Mississauga an “Apartheid-Free Zone” in solidarity with Palestinians.

An Instagram post by @mississaugaforpalestine this week asked residents to email Mayor Carolyn Parrish and 11 councillors before a rally planned for Friday.

(Incognito link)

h/t Hermes

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Star Wants Blood: The RCMP says it’s been looking into potential war crimes in the Israel-Hamas conflict for a year. Why has it seemed so quiet?

In February 2023, less than a year into the RCMP’s investigation into possible war crimes stemming from the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Cpl. Kate Walaszczyk was trying to “manage expectations.”

It can take years before these kinds of probes result in prosecutions, she told CBC News, but the initial steps are critical. The RCMP was first focused on preserving physical and digital evidence, as well as gathering victims’ stories.

“Let’s say a conflict finishes. Individuals don’t come forward about those allegations until years later, and then evidence is lost. Memories are lost, all those things are lost,” said Walaszczyk, who was described as an investigator in the RCMP’s Ukraine war crimes unit. “We need it to be robust, so that there aren’t gaps … When you don’t gather the evidence properly, these things fall apart. And then what’s the point?”

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Swedish jihadi jailed for life over infamous murder of pilot

The Stockholm District Court on Thursday sentenced Swedish national Osama K. to life in prison for his role in the 2015 murder of a Jordanian pilot who was burned alive by the “Islamic State” (IS) militant group in Syria.

K. was found guilty of participating in the execution by helping to force the pilot into a metal cage ahead of one of the militant group’s most infamous murders. The conviction is the first of anyone tried over the high-profile execution.

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Islamophobia Tsar says Mideast war is bringing back anti-Muslim tropes from 9/11

OTTAWA — Ottawa’s special representative on combating Islamophobia says she’s alarmed by a recent revival of decades-old tropes about Muslims supporting terrorist violence.

Amira Elghawaby also said Canadians should not be reluctant to speak out for the rights of one group because of a fear of being accused of ignoring the plight of another.

“In a country as pluralistic and as diverse as Canada, we should be able to get this right,” Elghawaby told The Canadian Press.

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Mohammed Fahir Amaaz guilty of Manchester airport attack on police officers

A student has been found guilty of attacking two female police officers during a large violent disturbance at Manchester Airport.

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, was charged with assaulting the Greater Manchester Police officers during the fracas on 23 July last year, with mobile phone footage of the incident being widely shared on social media.

Following a three-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Amaaz was convicted of assaulting PC Lydia Ward, causing actual bodily harm, and the assault of emergency worker PC Ellie Cook.

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Maine statehouse representative says her priority is developing ‘our country of Somalia’

Rep. Deqa Dhalac, a Maine statehouse Democrat and a Somali immigrant, recently stated that her priority is developing “our country of Somalia.”

Say what?!

“Our country of Somalia?!” Yes, forget about serving the American citizens who pay your salary … or at least put their interests on the back burner. What really matters is that you focus on Somalia.

Is that even Constitutional?

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Casey Babb: Canada doesn’t need an antisemitism or Islamophobia czar

On July 17, Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, abruptly retired. Lyons, who served as Canada’s ambassador to Israel from 2016 to 2020, came into this role in October 2023 — just a week after Palestinian terrorists carried out their barbaric attacks in Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking over 250 hostages. While she was expected to hold the position for another few months, until October 2025, she decided “with a heavy heart,” to step down early.

With the position now vacant, the time has come to permanently dissolve the post — as well as the position of Canada’s special representative on combating Islamophobia. High paying jobs that don’t lead to results are bad. Ones that continue to divide people are even worse.

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Video of Mayor Olivia Chow welcoming well fed Gaza “refugees” to Toronto pulled from Instagram over online abuse

Mayor Olivia Chow says she’s been forced to remove a video she posted to social media in which she welcomed a Palestinian family to Toronto, after they faced a barrage of online abuse.

In a post to Instagram on Monday, Chow criticized Israel over the deepening crisis in Gaza, saying she supports “the Canadian government’s recent condemnation” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “as the humanitarian disaster worsens.”

“Israel must allow Palestinians to access food, water and humanitarian aid. Famine should never be used as a weapon,” the mayor wrote in the post.

They look well fed.

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EU Accused of Silence Over Islamist Violence Against Christians

Brussels officials are never lost for words on Gaza or the war in Ukraine. But critics say it is another matter entirely when it comes to the persecution of foreign Christians, especially by Islamists.

Dutch conservative MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen said on Monday that the European Union—as well as other international communities—is “far too silent about jihadist violence against Christians.”

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Pity they weren’t held simultaneously!

Windsor Ramadan dinner and LGBT art event part of King’s diversity drive

A Ramadan meal and an LGBT+ history month lecture at Windsor Castle this year have been hailed as exemplifying the King’s “momentous” commitment to diversity.

The Royal Collection Trust – which oversees the upkeep of the royal palaces – said in its annual report, released on Tuesday, that “inclusion and diversity was a key priority this year” as it hosted a series of religious and LGBT+ celebrations.

For the first time in its 1,000-year history, Windsor Castle hosted an Open Iftar meal in its state apartments to mark the breaking of fast for Muslims during Ramadan. Last autumn, it hosted an inaugural Diwali Family Day including prayers from the head priest of the Slough Hindu Temple.

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Why wasn’t Axel Rudakubana stopped?

The Southport killer was enabled by our feckless, decrepit state.

On this day last year, Axel Rudakubana took a taxi to a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside. Within 15 minutes of arriving, he savagely murdered three young children, attempted to murder eight more, and attacked two adults who tried to stop him. Had they not managed to escape, thanks largely to the bravery of the adults at the scene, all 26 girls would almost certainly have been murdered.

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Antisemitic Migrant Attacked “Representatives of Western Society He Rejected”

German officials this week filed charges against a Syrian migrant who critically injured a Spanish tourist during a knife attack at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial in February.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in its indictment that this location was deliberately chosen because of the individual’s “radical Islamist and antisemitic views.” It adds that he sent photos of himself to members of Islamic State just before the attack, “giving the organisation the opportunity to claim responsibility.”

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