Fox News' Lauren Green speaks to Steven Emerson. Photo via YouTube
Twitter users have taken to the social network to mock right-wing US news channel Fox News for an on-air gaffe that saw a ‘terrorism expert’ claim that non-Muslims do not go to the UK city of Birmingham.
Appearing in a segment covering the recent attacks in Paris, Steven Emerson, the author of six books, also claimed that in London there are religious police that attack people who are not wearing Islamic clothes.
“In Britain, it’s not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don’t go in,” Emerson told Fox News’s chief religion correspondent Lauren Green.
“And, parts of London, there are actually Muslim religious police that actually beat and actually wound seriously anyone who doesn’t dress according to religious Muslim attire.
“So there’s a situation that Western Europe is not dealing with.”
According to a 2011 census, Muslims actually make-up about 20pc of Birmingham’s population.
Fox News has been frequently accused of perpetuating Islamophobia in the past, including Green’s interview with respected author Reza Aslan who appeared on the channel’s online show Spirited Debate to promote his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth only to be bombarded with questions about why a Muslim would write a book about Jesus.
Emerson has since apologised for the comments, but it hasn’t stopped Twitter users from poking fun at claims with their own series of “facts” relating to Islam and, in particular, Islam’s place in British society. Below are some of the best.
Hashm Amla, a renowned Muslim terrorist, attempts to kill the players with lethal fours & deadly sixes. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/WZTvVMMnvN
— Baji Please (@BajiPlease) January 12, 2015
Radical Muslim cleric Jaspur Qa’rat brandishes golden explosive in this chilling image, arrest this man #FoxNewsFacts pic.twitter.com/vkc6Timio7
— SCRAN (@SamScran) January 12, 2015
Islamic head coverings now prevalent across Britain #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/NchCzCdTm7
— Chris Kennett (@chriskennett) January 12, 2015
BREAKING: Fox News publishes up-to-date map of terrorist movements. pic.twitter.com/9fiuVFgksf
— James Martin (@Pundamentalism) January 11, 2015
Radical cleric Mullah Kintyre demands everyone should bow down to Macca to pray five times each day. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/6nRwQ90tpw”
— mancalledczar (@mancalledczar) January 12, 2015
Well-known Birmingham band UB40 take their name from a local 40-strong jihadi group known as the Underwear Bombers #foxnewsfacts
— Robert Rea (@robertrea) January 11, 2015
a Muslim beating a non-Muslim in Birmingham while others just watch and do nothing #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/O4JeoX6kCq
— Tuaha Sultan (@TuahaSultan) January 12, 2015
By the 1970s there were only a handful of white men left living in Birmingham. They were dubbed The Birmingham 6. #FoxNewsFacts
— Sarfraz Manzoor (@sarfrazmanzoor) January 11, 2015
#FoxNewsFacts pic.twitter.com/x0HsHMmaOQ
— Rob Mesure (@robmesure) January 11, 2015
