צו ערשט וועלן מיר ציטירן פון דעם ארטיקל אויף זייט 27,
עס הייבט זיך אן,אין א פרעסע קאנפערענץ וואס מוסלעמענער פירער פון דער "אל סונא וואל דזשאמאא" האבן דורכגעפירט אין ענגלאנד מיט א יאר צוריק, האבן זיי דערקלערט אפן מיט אן אומגעהויערער פרעכקייט, "מיר זענען נישט געקומען קיין ענגלאנד ווייל מיר זוכן זיך איינצוגלידערן און אדאפטירן דעמאקראטיע און פרייהייט. אדרבא, וואס מיר ווילן איז צוברענגען אונזער מעסעדזש פאר די בריטישע איינוואוינער, און איין טאג איינפירן שאריא אין דאונינג סטריט און אין וואשינגטאן.
Passengers left stunned after Muslim bus driver pulls over and begins praying in the aisle
A Muslim bus driver stunned passengers when he pulled over and started praying in the aisle - with the engine still running.
The driver parked without warning then rolled out a fluorescent jacket as an improvised prayer mat.
He took off his shoes, knelt down facing Mecca, and began to chant.
The prayer session held up the bus for more than five minutes with no-one able to get on or off.
Passenger Gayle Griffiths complained to Transport for London about the bizarre incident on the No.24 bus in Gospel Oak, north London, this week.
Mother-of-one Miss Griffiths, 33, of Camden, north-west London, had boarded the bus a few minutes earlier on her way home from work.
She says that she even feared at the time that the driver might be a fanatic planning to blow up the bus.
She said: 'I have done the journey a million times before but I was in a hurry to get home to pick my little girl up from school.
'We had just picked up and let off people at a bus stop and moved off again when the driver stopped the bus very suddenly.
'He got out of his cab, leaving the engine running, and walked towards the middle exit door.
'He laid out a fluorescent jacket on the floor and I thought that somebody must have been sick and he was covering it up.
'I didn't really think much of it.
'But then he took off his shoes and began praying. I was gobsmacked and quite bewildered.'
Miss Griffiths said the bus driver didn't give the passengers any explanation as to what he was doing.
'He hadn't addressed the passengers at all,' she said. 'I didn't say anything and nor did anyone else. I thought it would all be over in 30 seconds but it went on for over five minutes.
'It even went through my mind that this might be some sort of terrorist attack with the bus blown up because I had heard that suicide bombers prayed before attacks.
'As the engine was running anyone could also have got in the cab and driven off with a bus full of passengers.
'He was also blocking the exit, so if something had happened we would not have been able to get off.
'Everyone was looking round in a mix of shock and amazement. It was truly bizarre, ludicrous and aggravating.
'We are delayed often enough as it is in London.
'We live in a multi-cultural society but there is a time and a place for prayer and the middle of a journey with a busload of passengers is not it.'
Transport for London said it had apologised to all the passengers for the delay to their journey and said all Muslim drivers are being reminded that they should pray during statutory rest periods rather than hold up services.
A TfL spokesman said: 'A route 24 bus was delayed following a decision by the driver to stop the bus to pray.
'The bus company, London General, has had a word with the driver as this is not something that should be happening.
'TfL apologises to passengers for any inconvenience this may have caused them.
'We understand that there is some flexibility in the Muslim faith as to the times of day that drivers can pray.
'TfL and the individual bus operating companies acknowledge and value the diversity of their staff.
'As diverse employers, TfL and the bus operators provide suitable prayer or quiet rooms at garages and other key locations for staff who wish to practise their faith.
'We have asked London General to remind drivers who have a requirement to pray to use these facilities during their rest periods.'
דאן לאמיר ווייטער ציטירן פון דעם ארטיקל,
מיינט איר דאך אוודאי אז זיי מיינען דוקא נאר אידן, אוי לעבט איר אין א טעות,מיט א שטיק צייט צוריק איז באריכטעט געווארן אז פילע שולעס אין ענגלאנד האבן אויף געהערט צו לערנען סטודענטן איבער דעם האלאקאסט, כדי נישט צו באליידיגן די מוסלעמענער סטודענטן ביי וועמען דער אידישער חורבן ווערט באטראכט ווי א פערזענליכע באליידיגונג.
עס שטעלט זיך א שווערע שאלה: זינט ווען איז לערנען איבער דעם האלאקאסט א באליידיגונג פאר איסלאם? און וויאזוי קען א לאנד ערלויבן פאר א קליינע מינאריטעט ראדיקאלן צו דעצידירן וואס מען זאל לערנען אין די שולעס?
זיי ווילן בייסן די הענט וואס שפייזן זיי, די וואס האבן זיי אריינגענומען אין לאנד כדי צו ראטעווען פון דיקטאטורישע רעזשימען,
כפויי טובה האבן מיר שוין געזאגט?
Christian teacher 'forced out' after complaining Muslim pupils praised 9/11 hijackers 'as heroes'
A Christian teacher told today how he lost his job after complaining that Muslim pupils as young as eight hailed the September 11 hijackers as 'heroes'.
Nicholas Kafouris said he was forced from his £30,000-a-year post because he would not tolerate the 'racist' and 'anti-Semitic' behaviour of children.
He said the predominantly Muslim youngsters openly praised Islamic extremists in class, and hailed the terrorists of the 2001 atrocities as 'martyrs'.
Mr Kafouris, 40, told how one pupil said to him, ‘Don’t touch me, you’re a Christian’, when the teacher accidentally brushed against him with his arm.
Others said, ‘We want to be Islamic bombers when we grow up', and 'the Christians and Jews are our enemies, you too because you're a Christian', he added.
Mr Kafouris, who had taught at Bigland Green Primary School, in Tower Hamlets, East London, for 12 years, said there was a change in attitude of pupils at the school - where the majority of pupils are Muslim - after the World Trade Center attacks.
According to the most recent Ofsted report 'almost all' the 465 pupils at the school are from ethnic minorities and a vast proportion do not have English as their first language.
Mr Kafouris, a Greek Cypriot, said pupils told him, 'We hate the Christians' and, 'We hate the Jews', despite his attempts to stop them.
The teacher is now suing his former school, the headteacher, and the assistant head for racial discrimination after they failed to take action about the comments made by pupils to him.
He had filled out a 'Racist Incident Reporting Sheet' but claimed the headteacher Jill Hankey dismissed his concerns.
In a statement submitted to the Central London Employment Tribunal he said: 'Miss Hankey proceeded to excuse and justify the pupil's behaviour, conduct and remarks to me as if I had no right to be offended by the child's remarks and conduct.
Amongst Miss Hankey's justifications for the child's remarks, she said: 'If the child was older, say 15, I might take it more seriously, he's only nine, he's only doing it to wind you up.'
He added: 'I felt the head's behaviour and conduct towards me amounted to direct religious discrimination against me which I considered most offensive.
‘I was intimidated in the way she spoke to me which indicated, “Don't come back with such issues again”.'
Mr Kafouris said the comments became more frequent after nothing was done by Miss Hankey after the initial incidents.
He said: 'In late November and December 2006 a number of unacceptable and blunt racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Christian remarks were being made by various children in Year 4 where I taught, such as, 'We want to be Islamic bombers when we grow up”,
“The twin tower bombers are heroes and martyrs”, “We hate the Jews”, “We hate the Christians”, “The Christians and Jews are our enemies, you too because you're a Christian” - directed to me personally.
'Some children were expressing delight at the death and killing of people of other cultures and religions: In the last week of November 2006 a child was talking about stabbing another child and I told him this was dangerous talk and that a lawyer had recently been stabbed by teenagers; his reply was:, “I'm glad that man died”, 'Why?' I asked. “Because he's a Christian and English and we're Muslim”.'
During a religious education lesson about Jonah and the whale, he claims one of the pupils asked if Jonah was a Jew, before shouting: 'I hate the Jews, they're our enemies.'
Mr Kafouris said he again tried to speak to the headteacher about it.
He said: 'The head's response was hostile and offensive again. The very first thing she said to me was: “Oh you again! You're the only teacher that reports these things! Nobody else does!”.
'Four times she repeated: “It's because of your lack of discipline that they're saying these things”.'
Mr Kafouris was signed off with stress by his GP at the end of February 2007 after the assistant headteacher, Margaret Coleman, warned him not to challenge the pupils in class about their remarks.
He says the lack of support from the school has made him clinically depressed and unable to work.
His case against Tower Hamlets Borough Council, Miss Hankey, Miss Coleman and Bigland Green School opened today.
Former pupils of the school will give evidence.
The case continues and is expected to last for 11 days.
