South African hate preacher Ebrahim Bham was allowed to enter the United Kingdom to speak in a government building despite calling Jews “agents of Satan” and quoting Nazi Joseph Goebbels who compared Jews to fleas.
The Muslim hate preacher spoke at the weekend-long Palestine Expo at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, described as Europe’s largest “Jew hate event”, despite being known to have made several anti-Semitic and anti-Christian speeches in the past.
However, the UK’s Home Office has banned U.S. political commentators Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, and Michael Savage from entering the country.
Prime Minister Theresa May called Spencer and Geller, both key figures in the counter-jihad movement, the “Islamophobic” equivalents of Abu Hamza (the Finsbury Park mosque hate preacher who conspired to set up a jihadi training camp) and Abu Qatada (who was convicted of who plotting the massacre of Americans and Israelis in Jordan).
In one speech, Bham quoted Goebbels saying: “People tell me that Jews are human beings. Yes, I know they are human beings. Just as fleas are also animals. Just as fleas are also animals, they are also part of human beings like that.”
In another, the hate preacher said all Jews and Christians are “agents of Satan”, “fulfilling their evil urges… in employing instruments, methods and plots against Islam and the Muslims”.
The exposition was organised by Friends of Al-Aqsa whose chairman, Ismail Patel, denies that Palestinian militant group Hamas was a terror organisation. Several Jewish and other campaign groups lobbied to stop the event being held in the government-owned building including the British charity the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
https://twitter.com/StopPalExpo/status/879450417834471426
“If Britain is to protect its Jewish citizens and indeed all of society, then its government cannot continue to be outwitted by extremists and terrorist sympathisers,” the CAA said in a statement.
On Sunday, the South African Muslim leader spoke at a session entitled: “Jerusalem – Securing its freedom to the Three Faiths” – presumably to discuss how Jews, Christians, and Muslims can all access the holy city.
@EbrahimBham speaking of the sacredness of Jerusalem at Palestine Expo. pic.twitter.com/gt4FF69ki1
— Friends of Al Aqsa (@FriendsofAlAqsa) July 9, 2017
Palestine Expo described Bham as “one of the most active scholars in South Africa for education, development, advocacy and interfaith issues”, noting: “He is one of the religious leaders who represented his community at the [memorial service] of Nelson Mandela.”
The Telegraph reports that South African intelligence documents claim in 1997 Bham acted as an interpreter for Nizamudeen Shamzai, the then-head legal counsel to the Taliban.
The CAA also raised concerns about Palestine Expo’s other speakers, including Australian filmmaker John Pilger who wrote in The Guardian that the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah represented “humanity at its noblest”; Egyptian-Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan who was banned from 2004 to 2010 from entering the U.S. for allegedly supporting a charity the Bush administration labelled a fundraiser for Hamas (the ban was lifted by the Obama administration); and former president of the British National Union of Students Malia Bouattia who called the University of Birmingham a “Zionist outpost”.
Most amazing photography by @hamdeaburahma featured at #PalEXPO pic.twitter.com/qIfWqzA5Kx
— Chez_Em (@Chez_Em) July 10, 2017
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid wrote to the Friends of Al-Aqsa on June 14th saying he was considering cancelling the event, citing concerns the organisation expressed public support for Hamas and Hezbollah.
Event organiser Patel subsequently threatened to take the department to court. The DCLG allowed the event to continue, “following careful consideration”.
A DCLG spokesman told The Telegraph that any events at the QEII Centre must be “in line with fundamental British values”.
The decision to hold the event and allow speakers such as Bham, who called homosexuality “wrong”, was strongly criticised by Christian Concern. The chairman accused the government of double standards after one of its own bookings at the centre was cancelled in 2012 during the group’s campaign against the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
In June, the UK’s largest pro-Israel event, sponsored by Christians United for Israel (CUFI), was cancelled amidst fears of a terror attack.
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