Billboard advertising annual pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” parade through London removed following intervention by Luton Borough Council
A billboard advertising “Al Quds Day”, the annual pro-Hizballah parade through some of London”s most iconic streets, has been removed following an intervention by Luton Borough Council.
A Jewish member of the public received a photograph from a friend of a billboard advertising the procession in Luton and immediately contacted the Council. The billboard claimed that the procession, at which organisers hand out placards saying “We are all Hizballah” and Hizballah flags, would be a “rally in support of Palestine”. The billboard, which bore no logos, also featured a prominent photograph of antisemitic hate preacher and former supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, beneath a photograph of Nelson Mandela.
The member of the public wrote an eloquent complaint, informing the Council that the billboard was “inciting and inflaming tensions between the Muslim and Jewish communities”. In response, the Council said that it had contacted colleagues from Bedfordshire Police who “were in agreement that it [the billboard] has the potential to be divisive and stir up emotions which could damage the cohesive nature of our communities.” The letter continued: “Following discussions with the parties concerned with the operation of the billboard, the posters have now been removed.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism wishes to thank the members of the public, who wish to remain anonymous, for their actions, and we commend Bedfordshire Police and Luton Borough Council for swiftly acting to remove the billboard.
The “Al Quds Day” march is nothing more than a celebration of genocidal antisemitic terrorist group Hizballah under the auspices of registered charities which we have reported to the Charity Commission.
Nazim Ali, the leader of last year’s march is currently standing trial after Campaign Against Antisemitism launched a private prosecution. We allege that during the march, Mr Ali used a portable public address system to say: “Some of the biggest corporations who are supporting the Conservative Party are Zionists. They are responsible for the murder of the people in Grenfell, in those towers in Grenfell. The Zionist supporters of the Tory Party. Free, Free, Palestine…It is the Zionists who give money to the Tory Party to kill people in high-rise blocks. Free, Free, Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” We also allege that he said: “Careful of those Rabbis who belong to the Board of Deputies, who have got blood on their hands, who agree with the killing of British soldiers. Do not allow them in your centres.” The trial continues.
Whilst the British government has proscribed the “military wing” of Hizballah under the Terrorism Act 2000, the “political wing” is not proscribed, something that even Hizballah finds ridiculous. In October 2012, Hizballah Deputy Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, said: “We don’t have a military wing and a political one; we don’t have Hizballah on one hand and the resistance party on the other…Every element of Hizballah, from commanders to members as well as our various capabilities, are in the service of the resistance, and we have nothing but the resistance as a priority.” Hizballah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, who is the leader of any fictitious “wing” of Hizballah that the government may wish to imagine, said: “If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.” We continue to campaign for Hizballah to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation in its entirety, and we are discussing our proposals with the government.
