by Hugo Timms, spiked
The refusal to confront Islamic extremism is putting Britain’s national security at risk.
It has been clear to most of the British population for some time that criticising Islam is a dangerous game. But one would still hope that the military would be allowed to talk more freely about the threats to our national security.
But apparently not. According to the Daily Mail, a Royal Air Force cadet has been suspended for describing Islam as ‘the greatest threat to the UK’ during a presentation at RAF Cranwell, shortly before Easter. An RAF spokesperson confirmed it was investigating an ‘alleged incident of inappropriate behaviour’, without providing any further information.
The cadet will no doubt be accused of failing to distinguish between Islam and Islamist terrorism. He failed, that is, to abide by the unwritten law of our age – to ‘respect’ the former, and at the same time insist that the latter has no connection whatsoever with the ‘religion of peace’. Either for failing to make this distinction, or for simply mentioning Islam at all, this young cadet will be hauled over the coals much the same way that Conservative MP Nick Timothy was last month, when he (correctly) characterised a mass Islamic prayer in Trafalgar Square as an act of ‘domination’.
The response to Timothy’s comments was ominous, not least as a demonstration of just how perilous it has become to criticise Islam in the UK. But it was also predictable – Labour, desperate to recapture Muslim voters after its loss at the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, was always going to leap at the opportunity to label a political opponent as ‘Islamophobic’.
Read also: The RAF Cadet Suspended for Naming Islam as a UK Security Threat Should be Immediately Reinstated by Julian Mann, The Daily Sceptic