From the New York Daily News, with thanks to Nicolei:
Even Islamic terror groups condemned the murder of British-Iraqi aid worker Margaret Hassan yesterday, while Muslims in New York shook their heads in disgust.
“Killing this woman didn’t serve the Iraqi purpose,” said Moshir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza. “Especially because she is a humanitarian target that has nothing to do with what happens in Iraq.
“Hamas condemns the killing of anyone who is not related to the fighting armies.”
Khaled al-Batesh, a leader of Islamic Jihad – which has unleashed suicide bombers across Israel – said his group is “very sorry for the killing of Margaret Hassan and we’d like to show our condolences to the family.”
But he still blamed British leader Tony Blair for the killing “because he didn’t comply to the demands of the kidnappers to release tens of Iraqi female prisoners.”
Al Jazeera, which received a tape believed to show Hassan’s murder, said it would not air the video “because we respect the audience’s feelings.”
On Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, Muslims said Hassan’s murder went against the central tenets of Islam.
“This is illegal, according to the Koran and all Islamic schools of thought,” said Jihad Ali, 44, a Sudanese immigrant who teaches at an Islamic school.
Well, of course, in fact it isn’t. Islamic law allows for the killing of women and children who are perceived as aiding the war effort against the Muslims (‘Umdat al-Salik o9.10, cf. al-Mawardi, al-Akham as-Sultaniyyah, 4.2).
But in any case, condemnation of such actions is better than approval. Now let’s see follow-through. In the words of British “race chief” Trevor Phillips: “Muslim protestations that the faith is opposed to the depredations and crimes carried out in its name . . . and that it regards equality of women as intrinsic to Islam can only be taken seriously if we see those assertions being made flesh here in our communities.”