UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer is embroiled in a row with Elon Musk over alleged Islamaphobic comments by the X head,
The New Arab Staff
06 January, 2025
Starmer has fired back after days of provocations by Musk [Getty]
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has hit back at controversial comments made by Elon Musk about British Muslims and sexual abuse, culminating in the X chief calling for the Labour leader to be jailed.
Musk fired a series of tweets aimed at the Labour government and Starmer regarding historic rape scandals over the weekend, as well as the right-wing Reform Party leader Nigel Farage over his refusal to back anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson.
In one of the most provocative posts, Musk described Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips as a "rape genocide apologist" and called for Robinson, jailed for contempt of court last year, to be freed, insinuating he is a 'political prisoner'.
On Monday, Starmer fired back after days of provocations by Musk, in particular the targeting of individual members of his government.
"Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they are interested in themselves," Starmer said.
"We've seen this playbook many times, whipping up of intimidation and threats of violence, hoping that the media will amplify it... when the poison of the far-right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others then in my book a line has been crossed."
Musk, who is the world's richest man and will serve as an advisor to Donald Trump after the president's 20 January inauguration, is becoming an increasingly controversial figure in the UK after comments on the new Labour government.
He promoted far-right accounts and false narratives around the killing of three children in Southport, UK last summer, including claims the suspect was a Muslim and immigrant.
This weekend, Musk commented on the historic case involving the mass rape and sexual exploitation of around 1,400 girls in Northern England between 1997 and 2013.
Starmer was the UK's chief prosecutor from 2008 to 2013 and was knighted for his services to criminal justice, while Phillips has played a key role in working with victims of sexual abuse.
Musk focused on the Muslim and Pakistani heritage of those involved in the crimes, which follows other allegedly Islamophobic comments and fake stories promoted by the figure on X, formerly Twitter.
This weekend, he also targeted the leader of the right-wing Reform Party Nigel Farage over his condemnation of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, a well-known anti-Islam agitator.
After Musk tweeted the comment "Prison for Starmer" and asked followers whether the US should "should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government", there were concerns in the UK about the role he might play in the new Trump administration.
Musk has promoted extremist figures in the UK, such as Robinson, and publicly backed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, as well as pledging to donate to the Reform Party to the tune of an unprecedented $100 million (£80 million).
One British Labour MP questioned Musk's interference in the country's politics and said he has clearly misunderstood many of the issues regarding the UK, including the failure of the previous Conservative government to implement many of the recommendations highlighted in an inquiry into the Rotherham sexual abuse scandal.
The source, who wished to remain anonymous, told The New Arab that Musk's comments have done a disservice to the victims of the scandal and that figures with such money and influence need to be more wary about the consequences of their words.
Musk blowing 'every conceivable dog whistle of Islamophobia': Omar Suleiman
Globally renowned Muslim scholar expresses readiness to correct the world's richest man following a barrage of Elon Musk's tweets that Suleiman says are "as dangerous as they are dishonest about a faith practiced by over 2 billion people."
Suleiman expresses readiness to engage with Musk if the latter "genuinely" wants a clarification.
SOURCE: TRT World
Globally renowned Muslim scholar expresses readiness to correct the world's richest man following a barrage of Elon Musk's tweets that Suleiman says are "as dangerous as they are dishonest about a faith practiced by over 2 billion people."
Suleiman expresses readiness to engage with Musk if the latter "genuinely" wants a clarification.
/ Photo: TRT World
Omar Suleiman has called on Elon Musk to stop blowing political "dog whistles of Islamophobia" and invited the world's richest man for a conversation if Musk is unintentionally spreading anti-Muslim narrative on his social media platform.
Suleiman, a globally renowned imam, theologian, human rights activist and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, on Tuesday charged Musk of sharing "dangerous" and "dishonest" tweets about Islam.
"When one of your Teslas kills someone while self-driving or explodes on fire and the media charges your vehicles as unsafe, you point out sampling bias, share all kinds of statistics, and allege that the media is either accidentally or deliberately misrepresenting statistics to promote a vindictive agenda," Suleiman wrote on his X handle, tagging Musk, the billionaire CEO of SpaceX space tech firm and Tesla automotive company.
"Yet, for the past week, you have blown every conceivable dog whistle of Islamophobia, by highlighting a select group of (horrifying) incidents supposedly in the name of Islam. Your barrage of tweets aimed at Islam have been as dangerous as they are dishonest about a faith practiced by over 2 billion people."
Suleiman expressed readiness to engage with Musk if the latter "genuinely" wants a clarification.
"If you don’t know you are doing this and genuinely want clarification, I and many others easily accessible to you are willing to have a conversation. If this is a deliberate smear campaign, then you are indeed every bit the hypocrite you once condemned," Suleiman wrote.
Musk ignores white British men
Musk, who is set to serve Donald Trump's new administration as an outside adviser, has waded into UK's political affairs.
He has sparked a massive row about gangs of men who groomed and raped girls in England over several decades, focusing on the Muslim and Pakistani heritage of some of those involved in the crimes while ignoring the majority of white British who had been involved in those crimes.
The cases have been used by far-right politicians to link child abuse to immigration, and to accuse opponents of cover-ups.
The billionaire Tesla CEO has taken an erratic interest in British politics since the centre-left Labour Party was elected in July. Musk has used his social network, X, to call for a new election and demanded UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer be imprisoned.
On Monday he posted an online poll for millions of his followers on the suggestion: "America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government."
Musk's allegations are in contrast to the studies of England, Scotland and Wales conducted by the previous UK government that have already dispelled the myth of "Asian grooming gangs" popularised by the British far-right and others.
According to research sponsored by the British Home Office in 2020, the majority of child sexual abuse gangs are made up of white men under the age of 30.
"There is no credible evidence that any one ethnic group is over-represented," the research added.
At the time, Nazir Afzal, the ex-chief crown prosecutor in North West England, who brought prosecutions over the Rochdale grooming gangs, welcomed the report.
"It confirms that white men remain the most common offenders, which is something rarely mentioned by right-wing commentators," he had said.
In February 2024, the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse think tank analysed ethnicity data from defendants and found that despite making up 9 percent of the population, men of Asian descent, in general, were involved in 7 percent of the cases of child sexual abuse, whereas white men, who make up 83 percent of the population, were involved in 88 percent of such cases.
Omar Suleiman has called on Elon Musk to stop blowing political "dog whistles of Islamophobia" and invited the world's richest man for a conversation if Musk is unintentionally spreading anti-Muslim narrative on his social media platform.
Suleiman, a globally renowned imam, theologian, human rights activist and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, on Tuesday charged Musk of sharing "dangerous" and "dishonest" tweets about Islam.
"When one of your Teslas kills someone while self-driving or explodes on fire and the media charges your vehicles as unsafe, you point out sampling bias, share all kinds of statistics, and allege that the media is either accidentally or deliberately misrepresenting statistics to promote a vindictive agenda," Suleiman wrote on his X handle, tagging Musk, the billionaire CEO of SpaceX space tech firm and Tesla automotive company.
"Yet, for the past week, you have blown every conceivable dog whistle of Islamophobia, by highlighting a select group of (horrifying) incidents supposedly in the name of Islam. Your barrage of tweets aimed at Islam have been as dangerous as they are dishonest about a faith practiced by over 2 billion people."
Suleiman expressed readiness to engage with Musk if the latter "genuinely" wants a clarification.
"If you don’t know you are doing this and genuinely want clarification, I and many others easily accessible to you are willing to have a conversation. If this is a deliberate smear campaign, then you are indeed every bit the hypocrite you once condemned," Suleiman wrote.
Musk ignores white British men
Musk, who is set to serve Donald Trump's new administration as an outside adviser, has waded into UK's political affairs.
He has sparked a massive row about gangs of men who groomed and raped girls in England over several decades, focusing on the Muslim and Pakistani heritage of some of those involved in the crimes while ignoring the majority of white British who had been involved in those crimes.
The cases have been used by far-right politicians to link child abuse to immigration, and to accuse opponents of cover-ups.
The billionaire Tesla CEO has taken an erratic interest in British politics since the centre-left Labour Party was elected in July. Musk has used his social network, X, to call for a new election and demanded UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer be imprisoned.
On Monday he posted an online poll for millions of his followers on the suggestion: "America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government."
Musk's allegations are in contrast to the studies of England, Scotland and Wales conducted by the previous UK government that have already dispelled the myth of "Asian grooming gangs" popularised by the British far-right and others.
According to research sponsored by the British Home Office in 2020, the majority of child sexual abuse gangs are made up of white men under the age of 30.
"There is no credible evidence that any one ethnic group is over-represented," the research added.
At the time, Nazir Afzal, the ex-chief crown prosecutor in North West England, who brought prosecutions over the Rochdale grooming gangs, welcomed the report.
"It confirms that white men remain the most common offenders, which is something rarely mentioned by right-wing commentators," he had said.
In February 2024, the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse think tank analysed ethnicity data from defendants and found that despite making up 9 percent of the population, men of Asian descent, in general, were involved in 7 percent of the cases of child sexual abuse, whereas white men, who make up 83 percent of the population, were involved in 88 percent of such cases.
SOURCE: TRT World
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