UK Muslim leaders says martyrdom in Israel is just...

Maybe it should be called the Expo-Fascist Islamia...

A controversial Islamic scholar told an audience in Manchester this week that it was it was right to fight Israel and that "martyrdom" in Israel was just.

Azzam Tamimi, director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought and a leading member of the Muslim Association of Britain, was speaking at the Expo-Islamia, which was attended by more than 8,000 people at an arena in central Manchester.

The daylong event on Sunday, entitled, "A Call To Humanity," was designed to "present Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims, to call for the promotion of the common good for humanity and clarify the role and responsibility of Muslims living as minorities in the West." It was organized by Islamic Forum Europe and Youth Muslim Organization UK.

The local Jewish community expressed concern at the invited speakers.

Tamimi, a Hamas supporter, told a cheering crowd that UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush were pursuing a path which was not "just and fair." He said the British government was attempting to make the war on terrorism a war on Islam.

Tamimi, who had previously said he was prepared to be a suicide bomber in Israel, said, "The greatest act of martyrdom is standing up for what is true and just. Martyrs are those who stand up and stand up in defiance of George Bush and Tony Blair."

"You stand up to them and you say, 'Desist. Stop this injustice, stop this oppression. We are Muslims in Europe, not European Muslims,'" he said.

"Being fair and just means finding the middle path. The middle path is not rubbing shoulders with Blair and Bush. They say we are in difficult times. I tell you, we are in the best of times, we must just have confidence in ourselves. Just stand up and defend what is right."

Following up on his statement last month glorifying the "resistance" of Hizbullah, he added, "Hamas is making sacrifices for you. We tell this government, Hamas is not a terrorist group, it is elected by the people of Palestine."

"We are not terrorists. We are defenders of the truth. Fighting those who invade Muslims is a just cause. The government is trying to turn the war on terror into the war on Islam," he said.