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Pakistani-born Church of England Bishop Decries FOX News over "No Go Zones"

Pakistani-born Church of England Bishop Decries FOX News over "No Go Zones"
Nazir-Ali says Steve Emerson is wrong about whole cities being "no go" areas

By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
January 28, 2015

Recently Fox News apologized for referring to several areas in Europe as "no-go zones." The apology followed an interview with Steven Emerson, Executive Director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, who incorrectly claimed Birmingham, England, was a Muslim city. The apology claimed the "no-go zone" statement was also incorrect. Julie Banderas asserted, "We have made some regrettable errors on air regarding the Muslim population in Europe, particularly with regard to England and France. To be clear, there is no formal designation of these zones in either country and no credible information to support the assertion there are specific areas in these countries that exclude individuals based solely on their religion." Fox's Jeanine Pirro, host of "Justice with Judge Jeanine," also apologized stating, "Last week on this program a guest made a serious factual error that we wrongly let stand unchallenged and uncorrected. The guest asserted that the city of Birmingham, England, is totally Muslim and that it is a place where non-Muslims don't go. Both are incorrect."

Are "no-go zones" really a myth? It appears to depend on the terminology used. The French government admits to 751 "Sensitive Urban Zones." Daniel Pipes claims it would be more appropriate to describe them as "Dar al-Islam" -- the House of Islam, or a place where Islam rules. In Britain there are as many as eighty-five Sharia courts in operation. The Dutch government has released a list of forty "no-go" zones in the Netherlands.

VOL spoke with Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali in Charleston, SC, at the Mere Anglican conference and asked him to clarify the issue.

"Steve Emerson is wrong about whole cities being 'no go' areas. However, the policy of multiculturalists has encouraged isolated segregated communities to emerge and radical Islamists have taken advantage of that fact.

"This has certainly crested in areas within cities and other settlements to where radical Islamists tell people not to enter if they are dressed in a particular way or who are gay etc. These cities include London, Birmingham, and Bradford."

Nazir-Ali said Christian clergy have been prevented from, and then attacked for, delivering parish magazines into homes because this is a Muslim area. In Birmingham, Christian evangelists were told by police not to go into Muslim areas.

"People who come to Christ from the Muslim faith find it difficult to live in certain areas. I recently drew attention to these matters and got over 1,000 letters saying they were prevented from passing through certain areas because they were not Muslims."

These are the facts and we cannot go beyond the facts, he told VOL.

The former Bishop of Rochester, England, has warned in the past that Islamic extremists have created "no-go" areas across Britain too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter. This comment sparked a firestorm of criticism.

Germany's Chief Police Commissioner Bernhard Witthaut asserted, "Every police commissioner and interior minister will deny it. But of course we know where we can go with the police car and where, even initially, only with the personnel carrier. The reason is that our colleagues can no longer feel safe there in twos, and have to fear becoming the victim of a crime themselves. We know that these areas exist. Even worse: in these areas crimes no longer result in charges. They are left 'to themselves.' Only in the worst cases do we in the police learn anything about it. The power of the state is completely out of the picture."

Pamela Geller, writing for Breitbart, noted in her article, "Inside France's Sharia No-Go Zones," that there is "a tremendous controversy these days about the no-go zones in France. To be clear, there is no formal designation of these zones in either country and no credible information to support the assertion there are specific areas in these countries that exclude individuals based solely on their religion. Yet while it may be true that there aren't specific areas of France where non-Muslims are prevented from entering, there are many that, if they do enter, they must conform to Islamic norms."

This has been reported for years. The New York Times reported in April 2002, "Arab gangs regularly vandalize synagogues here, the North African suburbs have become no-go zones at night, and the French continue to shrug their shoulders."

Newsweek noted in November 2005: "According to research conducted by the government's domestic intelligence network, the Renseignements Generaux, French police would not venture without major reinforcements into some 150 'no-go zones' around the country--and that was before the recent wave of riots began on Oct. 27."

Just two weeks ago, the New Republic wrote: "The word banlieue ('suburb') now connotes a no-go zone of high-rise slums, drug-fueled crime, failing schools and poor, largely Muslim immigrants and their angry offspring."

In the US, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned that Muslims coming to the United States and not assimilating could create "no-go zones" around the country -- resulting in "lone wolf" terrorist attacks similar to those recently seen in Europe.

"If they want to come here and they want to set up their own culture and values, that's not immigration; that's really invasion if you're honest about it," Jindal told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on his radio show on Monday.

"If you don't want to be an American, don't come to America," he told Perkins. "If we're not careful, the same no-go zones you're seeing now in Europe will come to America."

Jindal, who is considering a 2016 presidential run, has attacked disputed Muslim "no-go zones" in Europe in recent weeks.

Jindal, 43, the son of immigrants from India, told Neil Cavuto on Fox News last week that the United States faces a similar danger because of lax immigration policies by the Obama administration.

"They want to use our freedoms to undermine that freedom in the first place," Jindal said, referring to Muslim immigrants. "This is a place where you have freedom of self-determination, freedom of religious liberty, freedom of speech.

"This is an amazing place and we're a majority Christian country," he added, according to Mediaite. "We're a Judeo-Christian heritage, but we don't discriminate against those that have no beliefs and or have different beliefs."

END

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