Why are our politicians silent?

It’s been over a week since Drummer Lee Rigby was attacked and brutally murdered by two Muslim assailants in Woolwich. I know the area quite well and often visit friends just a few hundred yards away from the spot where the assault took place. Perhaps the growing mound of flowers, teddies and various other items left as a mark of respect are a sign of the sentimentality which has replaced the more dignified response which used to meet such tragedies. But it can be agreed that they represent some expression of the sympathy that is felt for Drummer Rigby, and his family.

On the whole it is probably best that there are no flowers with a mawkish message from David Cameron, or a teddy with faux sympathy from Ed Milliband or Nick Clegg. But we might expect our political leaders to respond to the events of last week with serious and urgent words that express some real determination that Drummer Lee Rigby will be the last British citizen to be murdered on British streets by a Muslim with evil intent.

But are disappointed in our expectations. No politicians have dared to visit the spot where a British soldier was beheaded on the street among countless passers by. We can say that they have not dared to visit the spot because it is clear that they are unwilling to face up to the realities of Islam in the UK which so many people who have to live outside the Westminster bubble experience every day. The Anglican Church which was featured in the Daily Mail just today, as an example of the retreat of Christianity, has in fact lost its congregation because 90% of the parish is now made up of recent Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants. The parish priest featured in the article was assaulted a few years ago on the steps of his church by three Muslim thugs who hospitalised him. Bricks have been thrown through the windows of the church by Muslim youths.

This is not a world that our politicians are willing to recognise, let alone confront. Just a few days before Drummer Rigby was murdered, his murderers were on the same street preaching a message of hatred and violence in public without any opposition from the officers of the law or of Government. Video has also emerged of him preaching outside Harrow Mosque to a crowd of 1,500 where he says..

Do not be scared of the filthy kuffar. They are pigs.

He was not arrested on either occasion. Indeed on the latter occasion it was the protest by the EDL and a group called Stop the Islamisation of Europe which was forced to be called off. Later up to 500 Muslims chased members of these two organisations down the street.

So where are our politicians? Why are they not making a symbolic visit to the place where Drummer Rigby was murdered and expressing outrage at the ideology which inspired his attackers? David Cameron issued a statement soon after the event. He lied when he said..

There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act… It is an utter perversion of the truth to pretend anything different…. That is why there is absolutely no justification for these acts and the fault for them lies solely and purely with the sickening individuals who carried out this appalling attack.

In fact anyone with a basic knowledge of Islam and the Koran know that this is not true. He could have given leadership on such an occasion. He could have pointed out that over 100,000 Muslims in the UK positively support the use of terrorism here in Britain. He could have pointed out that every day Christians are being murdered by Muslims somewhere in the world. He could have pointed out that Islam demands that all of its followers commit themselves to establishing a world wide state in which all must submit to Allah, and that this state should be established by force wherever necessary. He could have said any of these things. But instead he lied, and said that Islam does not justify violence against non-Muslims. He dishonoured the memory of Drummer Rigby by proposing that his murder was an act of insanity rather than an act of religious devotion. It was dishonourable because insanity cannot be guarded against, but an ideology of violence can be opposed.

But Nick Clegg cannot bring himself to say anything more appropriate to the occasion. What does he say?

An unspeakable act has been conducted in their name. Yet while this has provoked feelings of frustration and anger – it flies in the face of the peace and love that Islam teaches – Muslim organisations, Mosques, Imams and community leaders have responded with a call for unity and calm. They have set an example for us all.

Has he no shame? A soldier has been murdered in British streets by Muslims and he calls on us to commend the Muslim community for the example it sets us all. More than that, he wants  us to believe that this brutality has nothing to do with Islam, which is a religion of peace and love. How can he utter such lies? Here is one passage from the Koran..

And slay them wherever you find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution of Muslims is worse than the slaughter of non-believers… but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful.   And fight them until persecution is no more, and all religion is for Allah.

and here is another…

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.

and here is yet another of the 109 passages in the Koran inciting violence against non-Muslims..

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, even if they are of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

It is not surprising that devout Muslims around the world, and in the UK, read these passages and understand that they are to put them into practice against the non-Muslim British population around them. In what way can it be said that Michael Adebolajo was not simply obeying the teachings of Islam when he attempted to strike off the head of his unfortunate victim?

Is Nick Clegg ignorant of the teaching of the Koran and of Islam? Does he not watch the news? Whatever the reason, his silence about the real causes of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby show that he too is unworthy of the office he has assumed. He neither speaks for us, nor in defence of us. But is playing some other game in which the well-being off the Muslim community seems more important than the welfare and safety of the wider British population. If he will not admit that it is Islam which places us in danger then we remain always at risk from another British Muslim who has studied the same words in the Koran and wishes to put them into practice.

As for Ed Milliband, also conspicuous in his absence from the streets of Woolwich, perhaps he spoke the truth unwittingly when he said..

The British people will be horrified by what has happened in Woolwich. They will be united in believing that this terror on our streets cannot be allowed to stand.

Yes, we are horrified by what has happened, and the British people, the indigenous natives of these islands, are united in believing that such violence must not be allowed to wreak murder on some other citizen, perhaps a young mother next time. We are all of us guilty in the eyes of those Muslims most likely to turn to violence. Let’s be fair to Ed, he didn’t say that his thought were with the Muslim community, or that this horror was entirely unjustified by Islam and unrepresentative of it.

But not one of them has said what we all know. This is what Islam teaches, and this is what many Muslims do. Not just the big projects like the London bombings – were they not representative of Islam either. Not just the low level bricks through Church windows and beating up a vicar – were they not representative of Islam either. But the well documented attitudes which are inimicable to our British way of life. Which other group believes in its hundreds of thousands that anyone who leaves their religion should be murdered? Which other group in its hundreds of thousands believes that girls who dishonour their families in some undefined manner should be killed? Which other group in its hundreds of thousands has sympathy for suicide bombers?

The facts are all there. The flowers and teddies and knick-knacks on a Woolwich street are yet another fact that will not be ignored. But our politicians are silent. They have nothing to say. They dare not say what is required. They have failed us when it was most important and necessary that they be the leaders of the nation that they purport to be. We will not forget their silence. And now we are regaining our voice and we will speak for ourselves.