Newly-elected Deputy Secretary General of Muslim Council of Britain reportedly praised founder of Hamas
The new Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) reportedly praised the founder of the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group, Hamas.
In 2015, Mohammed Kozbar allegedly visited the grave of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and described him as “the master of the martyrs of resistance, the mujahid [holy warrior] sheikh, the teacher,” according to the JC.
Mr Kozbar also reportedly met senior Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud al-Zahar.
In 2021, the UK banned Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist group following calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others.
A spokesperson for the MCB reportedly described suggestions that Mr Kozbar, who is also the General Secretary of the Finsbury Park Mosque, supported violence or antisemitism as “smears”. According to last week’s major review into the Government’s Prevent strategy, Mr Kozbar was also “praised” by the London branch of the National Association of Muslim Police.
Mr Kozbar also hosted Egyptian cleric Omar Abdelkafi. Despite Mr Abdelkafi’s record of quoting from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and a Facebook post that included a prayer to “liberate the al-Aqsa mosque from the filth of the Jews,” Mr Kozbar reportedly described him as “our beloved preacher”.
In 2011, Mr Kozbar was reportedly caught on video speaking at an anti-Israel rally, where he allegedly said that he looked forward “to the end of Israel, inshallah.”
He has also reportedly given public support to the disgraced Bristol University academic David Miller and to Shaima Dallali, who was removed from her position as President of the National Union of Students amidst allegations of antisemitism.
Last week, Mr Kozbar reportedly told the JC: “I look forward to bringing my experience to help Muslim communities be part and parcel of British society. I have demonstrated interfaith action at a local level, and it is much needed at a national level. I look forward to particularly building this with our Jewish friends. I have worked with many Jewish colleagues who have looked past the Islamophobic smears levelled at me in the past.”
Image credit: JC