CAA submits complaints about Al Quds Day to the Charity Commission and police

Campaign Against Antisemitism has submitted formal complaints over the pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” march through central London on 18th June. The complaints are based upon our review of evidence gathered by the volunteers of our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit and members of the public.

We have asked the Charity Commission to open a statutory inquiry into the involvement of a registered charity in the organisation of the march, including the production of Hizballah flags and placards which stated “We are all Hizballah”.

Additionally, we have reported statements by Nazim Ali, a pharmacist who spoke using a portable public address system throughout the march and led chanting, to the Charity Commission and the Metropolitan Police Service. We allege that Mr Ali announced to the crowd: “It is the Zionists who give money to the Tory Party to kill people in high-rise blocks,” referring to the Grenfell Tower disaster. Other statements by Mr Ali that we have referred to the police included: “We are fed up of the Zionists, we are fed up of their rabbis, we are fed of their synagogues, we are fed up of their supporters” and a claim that “The Israel Intelligence Service is also known as ISIS, they are part of the same organisation…Zionists, ISIS are the same, only difference is the name.”

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.