Stop Quoting Islamists

An article appeared today in The Scotsman revealing that nearly half of police forces in Scotland do not keep proper records of religious hate crime. Most of the article is absolutely fine, except this:

Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said: "There is a climate of fear of Islam and general tension about the international situation. Until you know the scale of the problem, you can't tackle it."

He said there was a "communication gap" between the Muslim community and police, and expressed concern that some officers were treating crimes linked to religion as racially motivated.

Mr Saeed would know all about the "communication gap" because he has helped create it. In November he told a public meeting that the police must "lay off" Muslims, and that Muslims "need to be stronger in our defiance" of the police and that they must "resist" what he perceived as police erosion of civil liberties.

Why is the Scotsman quoting this man as if he was a mainstream Muslim working for a mainstream organisation? He has called for non-cooperation with the police. His organisation's leader, Azzam Tamimi, has supported Hamas and Hezbollah vowing to become a suicide bomber himself if he had the opportunity.

It's about time we opposed the media's love-affair with radical Muslims. They shouldn't be given the opportunity to spread their message, and definitely shouldn't be quoted as if they represented the mainstream Muslim opinion. If the MSM cannot find Muslim spokesmen and organisations that do not support terrorism and oppose the police, then don't quote anyone.

UPDATE (17:05): For those coming from Islamophobia-watch please read this post in which Osama's response is exposed as merely semantics. He argued that the word "non-cooperation" never crossed his lips but ignores the fact that he did tell Muslims to "resist" and be "stronger in their defiance."