Inquiry into embassy police row

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair has ordered an inquiry after a Muslim constable was excused from guarding the Israeli embassy in London.

Sir Ian says he wants an "urgent review of the situation and a full report".

The Sun newspaper said the officer was reassigned on "moral grounds" as he objected to Israeli actions in

Lebanon

But the Association of Muslim Police Officers said it was a "welfare issue" - the officer had Middle Eastern relatives and felt unsafe in that role.

The officer, who has been named as Pc Alexander Omar Basha, is attached to the Scotland Yard's Diplomatic Protection Group.

We're going down a very, very slippery slope if we then start having postings based on individual officers' conscience
Supt Dal Babu
Association of Muslim Police Officers

He has a Syrian father and a Lebanese wife.

During the summer, when

Israel

was involved in a month-long conflict with Lebanese militants, the Association of Muslim Police Officers said Pc Basha had asked to be excused from his duties because he felt "uncomfortable and unsafe".

Superintendent Dal Babu, from the association, told BBC News the officer's reassignment had nothing to do with politics but was an "issue around the welfare of a particular officer".

Supt Babu said Pc Basha was now back on diplomatic protection group duties and that "if an incident happens at the Israeli embassy he will deal with it".

What we don't want is a situation where one particular section of the community is given special reasons for not performing duties because that will simply alienate the rest
Lord Mackenzie

Supt Babu accepted that excusing officers from assignments because of moral beliefs would be unacceptable.

"I think that we're going down a very, very slippery slope if we then start having postings based on individual officers' conscience," he said.

"We can't pick and choose."

Lord Mackenzie, former president of the Superintendents' Association of England and

Wales

, said the move sounded like "a step too far".

Moral grounds

"If officers have political, religious, ideological or moral views about things then they've got to put their duties above that because their service is to the public.

"What we don't want is a situation where one particular section of the community is given special reasons for not performing duties because that will simply alienate the rest."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said it would sometimes consider a special request to be moved on moral grounds - but added it reserved the right to post an officer anywhere.

The Metropolitan Police Authority, which oversees the force's work, pointed out that police officers took an oath of allegiance.

The authority, which has also asked for a report, said officers often had to undertake duties where the subject conflicted with their personal beliefs.

The Israeli embassy in London, meanwhile, said it was confident the Met Police would find "a satisfactory solution to this particular problem".

"The embassy of

Israel

expresses its full confidence in the devotion, professionalism and ability of the Metropolitan Police force to provide the embassy with maximum security," it said in a statement.

Comment:

When you join the British police force or armed forces you swear an oath to do your duty based upon what your employers consider to be just and correct. This could involve raiding houses of suspected Islamic militants as we saw in Forest Gate or the illegal invasion of Iraq and bombing of

Afghanistan

As Muslims we find such actions unfair and wrong many non-Muslims also agree with us, but most non-Muslims disagree with us on the point that ones conscience can make one object to guarding the Israeli embassy or the killing and torturing of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once you sign up then you must do your duty regardless.

This is a major reason why the majority of Muslims do not choose a career in the Police, intelligence services and British armed forces. Recent events and speeches by western leaders have shown that there is a war on terror and the west will continue to fight it for 10s of years. A question has to be asked How can you fight a war on a method, because this is what terrorism is, a method used by a minority of disgruntled and angry Muslims over western foreign policy.

It would be accurate to define the war on terror as a war on Islam, because the world is littered with dictators and despots who oppress and murder their own citizens e.g. Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Karimov in

Uzbekistan

. A simple google search will show the atrocities committed by these men, the latter being a key US ally in the war against Political Islam.

The invasion and continuing invasion of

Iraq

and Afganistan despite the continuing death toll of western soldiers is seen as an attempt to prevent the Muslims choosing a Government based upon the teachings of Islam, either via the ballot box or military coup.

So all Muslims who are thinking of joining the police, intelligence or armed forces or are part of them already a question has to be asked. Are you aware that you are aiding and abetting the west in its war on Islam as an alternative to Capitalism?

There are other respectable careers which you can pursue and aid the Muslim community in the process, thereby gaining the respect of fellow Muslims and the pleasure of Allah swt in this life and the next.

Showkat Ali

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Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Muslim police officer refuses to guard Israeli embassy

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