Maajid Nawaz stumps former UKIP MEP on airport ethnic profiling
23 February 2020, 08:51 | Updated: 23 February 2020, 09:50
Roger Helmer, a member of the Brexit Party was on LBC to discuss ethnic profiling at airports.
After the revelations through Saturday of Michael O'Leary's racist comments towards Arab muslims in airports, Maajid took the opportunity to take aim at the ignorant chief.
He started by making the point that Middle Eastern Muslims make up a fraction of the world's Muslims and also, make up a tiny amount of those accused and convicted of Islamist terrorism.
Maajid pointed out that the Boston bombers were white muslims and that terrorism in Chechnya in the past was carried out by Eastern European Muslims.
Roger Helmer called in to express his views on the Ryanair chairman's comments, and to suggest that Arab Muslims will inevitably be targeted by ethnic profiling to combat terrorism.
"There are more muslims in China and the former USSR than the entire middle east." Maajid pushed the former MEP, asking how you can accurately profile people based only from their looks.
Mr. Helmer backtracked from his initial comments stating that Mr. O'Leary wasn't entirely in the wrong for his statement.
"It is not surprising that they tend to be targeted by security people" the Brexit Party member stated, which only invited Maajid on again to question the businessman further.
Maajid took the example of Osama Bin-Laden, who before his death was "seeking to recruit a white jihadist army precisely to avoid the sort of telegrammed profiling you're saying works at airports."
The counter wasn't the only time that Roger Helmer was stuck for a response. Maajid initially started the call with stating that the comments by Michael O'Leary were inaccurate, making the point that Muslims are not an ethnicity, but a religious group and asked Mr. Helmer if Christian are a race or a religious group.
