It has also been suggested the move by US authorities could be due to Mr Mahmood's brother having been refused entry to Israel eight years ago, but no official explanation has been given by the US Embassy.
...
Mr Mahmood later said his brother was refused entry to Tel Aviv when he flew there eight years ago, but the family were unsure whether that was linked to their refusal to fly last week.
Speaking at his Walthamstow home, he said: 'They are bringing out this thing that my brother was stopped at Tel Aviv.
'But if that was the case it should have been flagged up when we filled out our ESTAs - which was seven or eight weeks ago.
'He was touring a few countries nine or 10 years ago and decided to visit the Grand Mosque. Then he was stopped because he has a big beard, and that. It was not like he was prosecuted or convicted of anything afterwards.
'Maybe the authorities were being awkward. In the end he just came back home.'
...
Mr Mahmood's sister-in-law Sadaf Mahmood later told LBC radio that her husband was detained overnight in Israel before being put on a plane back to Britain, but the reason was never explained to them.
Just your typical normal family, right?
And then there's the Facebook page (pictured above)....
However, it has since emerged that a Facebook page claiming links to radical Islamist groups was set up by someone who has lived at the family's postal address, according to ITV News.
The account, which includes information suggesting it may have been published as a joke, was in the name of Hamza Hussain - a first name shared by Mr Mahmood's 18-year-old son. It reportedly lists the job titles 'supervisor at Taliban and leader at al-Qaeda'.
When asked about the account, Mr Mahmood believed hackers may have been to blame, adding: 'That could be anything, maybe a mistake.'
'The page is also linked to our home address and that could be coincidence. I don't know why it is linked there. The name is not even the same. The authorities must have linked it simply because of the name Hamza.'
Maybe Anonymous did it. Maybe Donald Trump (who is also being blamed) set it up.
Where there's smoke, there's usually fire. Stay tuned. Bottom line: No one has the right to enter a country of which they are not a citizen or resident.
Like every terrorist family you ever heard about - UPDATED
Greetings from somewhere off the coast of Scotland, where my seat is as cramped as I said it would be. The white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only. I won't say more.
The big news back in London is that a British Muslim family was denied entry to the United States for a trip to Disneyland. No one is really saying why, but the British government says it will investigate. Britain is part of the visa waiver program (see the list above). You know, the one that Israel cannot get into because we deny entry to too many 'Palestinians.' This is from the first link in this paragraph.
Tariq Mahmood, 41, was due to fly from Gatwick on December 15 with
his brother, Zahid, and nine of their children and nieces, for a
holiday.
But the family were told they could not board their Norwegian flight
as they had been refused entry by the American authorities.
David Cameron today said he would look into the case after it was highlighted by the family’s local MP Stella Creasy.
Mr Mahmood, a gym owner from Walthamstow, told how the youngest
children — aged eight — were in tears as they had to go home without
any explanation for the decision.
He told the Standard: “I still don’t know why. I told them we had our
ESTA [US travel visa] approved six weeks ago. We’re just a normal,
law-abiding family trying to go on our holidays. None of us have ever
been involved in crime or mixed up in anything.
“We even said if there’s a problem with an individual can the rest of
us not fly? How can the eight and nine-year-olds have done anything
wrong? But the answer was the same.”
Mr Mahmood, a Pakistani-born British citizen, was meant to be taking
his daughter Hafsa, 14, and son Hamza, 18, to meet relatives in southern
California before the family visited Disneyland and Universal Studios.
The Mahmoods spent £9,000 on plane tickets and have been told they are not entitled to a refund.
But my friend Rusty Shackelford makes a good point:
https://t.co/IvopUeVWJp UK Muslims barred from flight to Disneyland were law abiding family ... said every neighbor of every terrorist ever
“USA has the right to issue and revoke visa — I fully understand that,”
Masroor wrote. “However not forwarding any reasons infuriates ordinary
people. It does not win the hearts and minds of people, it turns them
off. I am amazed how irrational these processes are but does USA care
about what you and I think? I don't think so! It is the emperor and it
does what it damn wills.”
He later wrote that he was invited to a meeting with the U.S. Embassy
to clear up the matter — and hoped to set up a website that focuses on
the issue.
Maybe someone in the US is starting to take the terror threat seriously... no worries. Obama will put a stop to it.
---------------------------------
Let Us Go
---------------------------------
The moon shines bright for my people tonight
For yours, it cannot be seen
Your kingdom of subjugation
Was so callous and so mean
We'll leave our signal while the plague unfolds outside
You've been warned enough. Heaven knows I tried.
You won't give in, won't let us free
Still the wicked Pharoah you must be
Your heart of steel, is cold as snow...
But even so......
Let us go, Let us go
You can't hold us here anymore
Let us go, Let us go
Now it's time to show us the door
There's no point for a longer stay
Now your son is gone
Destruction is all around, anyway.........
Our Holy Land in the distance
is seemingly so small
And the fear by which you bound us
Can't hold us, not at all.
So let us free, so we can do
G-d's service as He asked us to
So do what's right for them and me
We're free....
Let us go, Let us go
Now you know the reason why
Let us go, Let us go
Why should more Egyptians die?
Understand, we're on our way
While your storm goes on......
My people passes through the sea on drier ground
Your men are spiraling in mighty currents all around
And from above you watch and now you are the last
We're never going back. The past is in the past
Let us go, Let us go
Here comes the early dawn
Let us go, Let us go
Your empire now is gone
Here we stand at the break of day
"G-d forever reigns"
But you never listened, anyway......
It took six months, but Donald Duck has finally been fired
It's been six months since he unleashed an anti-Semitic rant on Twitter, but Egyptian voice actor Wael Mansour, who played Donald Duck in Arabic, has finally been fired.
In response to Mansour's tweet in August, Disney tried to distance
itself from him, saying he was on contract with a third-party dubbing
company and therefore not a direct employee.
Nevertheless, on February 6 Mansour tweeted again to inform his followers the he was "proud" of being laid off by Walt Disney.
Abigail Disney, the grandniece of Disney's founder Walt Disney,
blasted Mansour's statements on Twitter, calling them "repellent, of
course."
In early January actress Meryl Streep spoke at the National Board of Review, where she slammed Walt Disney, the founder of Disney, for being a "hideous anti-Semite" who "formed and supported an anti-Semitic industry lobby."
The Independent notes that Abigail
Disney expressed her support for Streep's assessment on Facebook,
saying she "loved" her remarks, and backing her accusations of
anti-Semitism and misogyny.
'Arab voice of Donald Duck' tweets that Israel should be demolished
An Egyptian who claims to be the 'Arab voice of Donald Duck' has tweeted that Israel should be 'demolished.'
The discussion that began Sunday on the Twitter feed of Wael Mansour continued on Tuesday.
“I truly wish #Israel is demolished, I hate Zionism, I have so much
hate inside me with every single child they murder or land they seize!”
Mansour tweeted Sunday. The tweet followed one that read: “I saw a video
of Israeli soldiers brutally arresting a palestinian woman in front of
her 3 children coz they seized her home & she objects!” which could
explain his Twitter outburst.
Mansour responded to some critics by
tweeting: “I don’t know why insulting #Israel & #Zionism is
“Anti-Semitic”?! They are just a bunch of Polish/ Ethiopian immigrants
roughly 70 years old” and “There are Jews who hate Zionism; does it make
them Jews Anti-Jews?! Of course NO! We respect Jews & disrespect
Zionism, there’s a difference.”
Disney is usually really good about enforcing their copyrights. I think they'll be on this pretty soon.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
