Labour and the BBC on the attack over the Conservative claims of Islamic "extremism" in schools

The BBC report that:

"David Cameron has defended his claim that government money is being used to fund schools run by an organisation "with links to extremists".

Ministers denied the Tory leader's allegation that cash came from an "anti-extremism" fund, adding that it was from a separate scheme. "

Do read the whole of the BBC article and then for a more reasoned and detailed explanation of what has been happening, I recommend a trip to Harry's Place where a former Hizb ut-Tahrir activist, Imaad, explains how the organisation works. Here are a few extracts to whet your appetite (my emphasis):

"being a “member” of HT is not like being a member of any other organisation.

...

I fully accepted their ideology, campaigned for them, manned stalls outside mosques and universities to propagandise for them, helped arrange their annual conferences and even distributed Khilafah Mag (pdf) – HT’s in-house magazine for which Farah Ahmed used to write crude propaganda pieces – but I was never officially a member. I was one of the so-called Shabab (lit. Young men) who are devoted to HT and whose activism on behalf of the party HT could not operate without. They take a full role in working towards the Khilafah state (Caliphate) and attend HT study sessions (halaqas) – after they’ve attended the halaqas for a while and completed the first three core books in HT’s programme of theo-political indoctrination they even pay a subscription to the party – but they are not, according to HT, members.

HT works on the principle of plausible deniability. Some of the people who are most important to spreading HT’s ideology are not technically HT members or even Shabab. Hamza Andreas Tzortzis of the Hittin Institute can deny being an HT member all he likes but nobody can deny the similarity between the Hittin Institute’s output (pdf) and HT’s propaganda. Of course he has made certain slips that indicate where his loyalties lie, for example emailing (pdf) the Centre for Social Cohesion back in 2008 from the address info@hizb-towerhamlets.org and regularly speaking at HT organised events, but officially he is not an HT member.

...

The real danger here is the fact that intolerant Islamist beliefs are being passed onto very young children without their parent or wider society full knowledge. HT’s focus on who is or isn’t a ‘member’ is just part of the smokescreen by HT to disguise their attempts at infiltrating Muslim communities who have already overwhelmingly rejected them."

I have written about the dangerous Hizb ut-Tahrir before, albeit not enough. Harry's Place has covered this organisation in far more detail have a read.

So why is Ed Balls muddying the water? Is he hoping to shore up the Muslim vote? Is he hoping that some muck sticks to David Cameron and the Conservatives? Or is he like Gordon Brown all but incapable of spinning and smearing?