The Halal Racket

Jane Metlikovec from the Herald Sun is inconsolable:

Many are abandoning regional centres just weeks after they arrive because there are no mosques within hundreds of kilometres of their new homes.

Thanks to Mullah

There are more than 90,000 Muslims in Victoria, and only four mosques in regional areas. There are a further 32 mosques in Melbourne.

(Every mosque is a symbol for conquered territory./ed)

Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Fehmi Naji el-Imam, right, with Ahmad Allouche of the Islamic Society.

About 30 Muslim workers have recently left Warrnambool because the nearest mosque is in Geelong- almost 200km away.

The Islamic Council of Victoria said rural towns would suffer if they didn’t start providing devout Muslims with places of worship.

ICV executive committee member Sherene Hassan said four mosques in regional Victoria was not a large number.

“For devout Muslims a mosque is a central aspect of their lives,” Ms Hassan said.

“If Muslims are leaving towns because of this, then this is affecting these towns economically.”

Meanwhile, in Indonesia:

Indonesia: Muslim mob burns two churches, pastor’s home

“When worship continued unabated, a mob took matters into its own hands.”

Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia/JW

Ms Hassan said the ICV would support any efforts to build new mosques, but said they must be built in consultation with the local community.

“We would want the wider community to support it, and would urge Muslims to consult as widely as possible,” she said.

Warrnambool Muslim community leader Mohamed Khanyari said about 30 workers he had encouraged to move to the state’s west last year had already returned to Melbourne because the area has no mosque.

Curiously, Jane Metlikovec from the Herald Sun doesn’t mention that  the “Warrnambool Muslim community” is nothing more than a bunch of halal butchers. Why not?

Mr Khanyari said plans to bring more migrant workers to the area would fail if a place of worship was not built soon.

“I am already bringing people here to work, but they just cannot stay, because they are very religious people and they must have somewhere to pray,” Mr Khanyari said.

No they  ”must not have somewhere to pray”.  Anyhow, who is bringing these “very religious people” to Australia?

Mr Khanyari said Warrnambool was suffering.

“The people I am bringing here are good, skilled workers, but they simply leave because of the situation,” he said.

“It would be good for us, yes, but also good for the town and tourism.

“There are many Muslim families here and we have many visitors who are disappointed when we tell them there is no mosque.”

Mr Khanyari said he would continue to lobby the local council about building a mosque in Warrnambool.

Of course.

NEW ZEALAND: MEAT COMPANY’S REJECTION OF HALAL BUTCHERS CAUSES INCREASE IN INCOME…

Move from halal brings manna for meat firm

• Australia: The Price of Halal Exports

“You won’t get our business if you don’t submit to Islam”

Indonesia’s highest authority on Islamic affairs, the Council of Ulema (MUI), has signalled a hard line on imports from New Zealand and other Western nations.

It plans to insist that all imported food labelled as halal is sold only if it has the council’s own halal certification.

Which means: import Muslims and let them control it. Let them settle in what they perceive to be behind enemy lines,  build mosques and madrassas for them and establish Islam….

Islam has religious rules for halal food, including specific requirements for how animals should be slaughtered.

A nice little scam:

MUI’s Food, Drugs and Cosmetic Assessment Institute is the sole issuer of halal certificates for such goods.

Ma’ruf Amin, one of the chairmen of the council, said many products imported from New Zealand – and other Western countries such as the United States and Australia – carried halal labels but the MUI did not always trust their certification standards.

Mr Ma’ruf told the Jakarta Globe the move was intended “to make sure that all products labelled halal are truly halal”.

The announcement is in line with signals Indonesia gave last year that it would no longer recognise the two existing certification authorities in New Zealand, Islamic Meat Management and the Federation of Islamic Associations.

Trade Minister Tim Groser said at the time that the Indonesian plan to ban $100 million of New Zealand beef imports – and potentially $450 million worth of dairy exports – from 2010 required a long-term solution.

Since then, John Key’s Government has announced that the Food Safety Authority will provide oversight for organisations which certify halal meat to “standardise” halal certification.

The oversight may yet be extended to dairy products.

- NZPA

Mid-East princess in plea to Rudd on halal slaughter

LORNA EDWARDS/The Land

Apologies for posting this late, the article is from 02 Nov, 2009 but it seems that not everyone is keen on this halal racket:

THE King of Jordan’s sister has appealed to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to stop the ritual slaughter of conscious animals for halal meat in Australia, saying it was not necessary under Islamic principles.

Princess Alia bint al-Hussein of Jordan, who is the sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan, said she had written to Mr Rudd saying that any lowering of animal welfare standards in Australia for religious reasons would be a blow to the country’s reputation and undermine progress in the Middle East.

“Contrary to some claims, killing without stunning is not necessary under Islamic principles,” she said.

The Australian standard on ritual slaughter for halal and kosher meat states that animals must first be rendered unconscious by electrical stunning before their throats are cut.

But under a disputed federal guideline, the Government has allowed at least four Victorian abattoirs exemptions to kill without stunning to fulfil Middle Eastern export contracts over the past two years.

“Reducing [Australia's] standards to permit animals to be slaughtered while fully conscious may meet the personal preferences of a minority but it is not an example that will inspire positive change, nor encourage the acceptance of pre-slaughter stunning in the Middle East,” she said.

The Primary Industries Ministerial Council of federal and state agriculture ministers will meet in Perth on Friday to discuss the issue, but opponents of killing without stunning are concerned exemptions will be allowed to continue or the standard will be changed.

The previous government ordered a review of ritual slaughter in 2007, but the present Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, has not released the review report and is yet to decide on the issue.

Princess Alia said she believed Mr Rudd had a genuine interest in animal welfare and had assisted Jordan with upgrading equipment previously provided by Australia that she considered inhumane at the main abattoir in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

What is halal slaughter?

Other News:

Atlas Exclusive: Diversity and Religious Visas Continue to Increase From Islamic Terror Sponsoring Nations

In other news:

Christmas terror suspect pleads not guilty: a Muslimah is concerned about what his case could mean: It’s the “whole ideology out there that’s radical and misuses a beautiful religion,” she said. “That’s what needs to be dealt with and deterred. … He’s just a small part of it.”

UK to import 5,000 Pakistani butchers

Is this really the time to be talking about bringing large numbers of Pakistani butchers into the West?

“5,000 Pak butchers to get jobs in UK,” by Asif Mehmood for Pakistan’s The Nation, November 30 (JW):

LONDON – Over 5,000 butchers from Pakistan would get employment in the halal meat industry of UK through Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between National Halal Foods Group (NHFG) of UK and Overseas Employment Cooperation of Pakistan. The MoU has been signed here at the Pakistan High Commission, London Friday.