Contents
1. Summary
2. Background
3. Action required

1. Summary

Policy makers and media outlets have been creating an increasingly hostile environment regarding the Middle East. Such an atmosphere will inevitably lead to fresh conflict in the region as the only viable result. To condemn such actions and express concern, signatories are being added to a letter entitled “Drums Beat for Another War in the Middle East”.

2. Background

The letter to condemn more war in the Middle East is as follows:

Drums Beat for Another War in the Middle East!!

We, the undersigned, are concerned by the ever escalating policy, language and rhetoric of demonisation, which has been pivotal in fostering an environment in which war and destruction is the only possible inevitable result.

This policy will only have an effect of benefitting those who already have a vested interest in causing war in the Middle East as an effective diversion intended to distract from their failed policies. It seems that we have learned nothing from the slippery slope that had led us to the death and destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, which still continues to this day to result in the death of innocents, with no bright future in sight.

We are also extremely concerned with the increasing prevalence of the tactic of assassination and extrajudicial killing, whether by assassins or impersonal drones, and the language and rhetoric that has had the effect of legitimising and normalising this kind of abhorrent behaviour. This behaviour endorses taking the lives of innocent people as the preferred tool for promoting ‘democracy, freedom and justice.’ Of urgent concern also is the legitimatisation of the above through apathy and lack of commitment to identify, expose and hold to account those who commit these barbaric acts.

We urge the British government and the international community to put an end to the acceptability of this kind of irresponsible rhetoric of war, which has the effect of legitimising, promoting and giving the green light to third party action that has the potential to unleash more misery, war and destruction. The colonial mentality behind such conduct must be abandoned and all issues of concern should be negotiated through means of diplomacy and mutual respect. If you wish to add your name/organisation to the list please contact us on 020 8904 4222 or email us on maya@ihrc.org.

Nooruddin Ahmed, Agroni Research, UK
Samir Al-Haidari, AhlulBayt Islamic Mission (AIM), UK
Ali Baghdadi, Arab Journal
Lauren Booth, Broadcaster and Journalist, UK
Les Levidow, Campaign Against Criminalising Communites, UK
Soraya Boyd, CEO and Founder of Facilitate Global, UK
Mahmood Bhogadia, Chair of Trustees- Mahmood Bhogadia Charitable Foundation, UK
Richard Haley, Chair Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC), UK
Arshad Gamiet, Chairman, Islamic Welfare Association of West Surrey
Mohideen Abdul Kader, Citizens International Penang, Malaysia
Shakir Ahmed, Editor of Passion Islam, UK
Moazzam Begg, Ex Guantanamo Bay Detainee, UK
Salma Yaqoob, Former leader of Respect Party, UK
Brenda Heard, Founder, Friends of Lebanon, UK
Selma James, International Jewish anti-Zionist Network, UK
Massoud Shadjareh, Islamic Human Rights Commission, UK
Raza Kazim, Islamic Human Rights Commission, UK
Roger Higginson, Israeli Committee Against House demolitions (ICAHD) and Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), UK
Abu Talib, Jamatt Al Muslimeen, Brooklyn, USA
Steve Atherton, Justice and Peace, Liverpool Archdiocese, UK
Jeremy Corbyn, Member of Parliament, UK
John Hemming, Member of Parliament, UK
John McDonnell, Member of Parliament, UK
Roger Gordon, Member of the Public and the Methodist Church, UK
M.H. Jawahirullah, MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly), Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, State of Tamilnadu, India
Said Zulficar, Network for Colonial Freedom, UK
Ramon Grosfoguel, Professor, UC-Berkeley, USA
Barbara Kentish, RC Westminster Diocese Justice and Peace Commission, UK
Richard Haley, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities, UK
John Rees, Stop the War Coalition, UK
Mona AbuSharekh, Wefaq Association, UK
Abbas Merali
Abdool Rashid Hemmuth
Afsha Butt
Agathe Chamous Larisse
Akeel Merali
Ali Merali
Amer Riaz
A.L. Junid
Antony Brown
Arif Raza
Asma Chaudhry
Bernard Kilroy
Bonnie Jones Shinneman
Bruce Kent, Activist
Canon Garth Hewitt
Catherine Dyer
Christopher Eldridge
Cynthia McKinney
Derek F Wharton
Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam
Dr Elaheh Rostami-Povey
Dr. David Marchesi
Dr. David Toorawa
Eileen Osmond
Ema Choudhury
Ernesto Paramo
Fawziah Rita
Fazle Ali Syed
Gulamabbas Sikiladha
Hamja Ahsan
Harfiyah Haleem
Imad Undre
Janine Kilroy
Jean Franklin
Joanna Brown
Johnny Roberts, Individual Human Rights Activist
Kashif Ahmed
Layla Russell
Leperchois stephane
Mehdi Raza Mirza
Miriam Margolyes
Mohamed Bokreta, Freelance writer
Mohamed Dewji
Mohammed Nazir
Mrs M. Harris
MSultana
Muhammed Mirza
Naseema Mall
Nisar Dean
Nizar Boga
Professor Abbas Edalat
Professor Caroline Rooney
Professor Hamid Algar
Professor Mona Baker
Professor Norman Finkelstein
Professor Syed Masood
Ramzy Baroud, Author and Journalist
Rashida Dean
Refet Yonsel
Reverend Enid Gordon
Reverend Stephen Sizer
Reverend Tony Graham
Reza Saidi
Rima Fakhry
Robert Griffiths
Sajjad GovaniSajjad Govani
Sakinah Merali
Sami Joseph
Sanjeeva W.
Semalie Hila
Seyed Mohammad Marandi
Shafaila Younis
Sharen Green, Human rights activist
Sharifa Maosufa Karima
Shehnaz Merali
Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hilli, Islamic Lecturer
Sheila Brown
Shoaib Qureshi
Sukaina Hirji
Suleman Ismail Limbada
Siraj Desai
Syed Bukhari
Syed Farrukh Ehsan Bokhari
Swaleha Kassim
Tahera Hameed Shaykh
Tariq Shabazz
Tamzin Jans
Zahra Zinab
Zainab Zahra
Zarook M.C.M.

3. Action Required

If you wish to be added to the growing list of signatories, please email maya@ihrc.org or call us at 020 8904 4222. Encourage councillors, MPs and MEPs to also sign the letter!

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“And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper.”
Holy Qur’an: Chapter 4, Verse 75

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