Visiting fellow at LSE reportedly posted inflammatory tweets comparing Israel to the Nazis

A visiting fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE) is reported to have posted several inflammatory tweets about the Holocaust.

Saqib Iqbal Qureshi, whose Twitter account now appears to be deactivated, reportedly tweeted: “6m Jews died in the Nazi holocaust, which had more non Jewish than Jewish victims. There is no minimizing [sic]. You simply want to appropriate “holocaust” exclusively for Jews so that Israel can continue its dismantling of all things Palestine. Why else are you fretting?”

Mr Qureshi also asserted that “German Jews murdered ordinary German civilians to protect fellow Jews” and that “Nazim wrecked the Jews. Israel wrecked Judaism,” before using the hashtag ‘zionazi’.

Also posted on the Twitter account was a meme which features an antisemitic quote falsely attributed to Albert Einstein that reads: “It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.” 

Other tweets seemingly posted from Mr Quereshi’s Twitter account included “Israel is committing a holocaust against Palestinians” and “As far as I can tell, the only reason the holocaust matters today is to help justify the decimation of Palestine. I can’t see what other purpose it serves. It’s not about “never again”. It’s about “we got decimated, so let us decimate in turn, turn a blind eye please.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” and “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” are both examples of antisemitism. 

Following a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 that was submitted by Campaign Against Antisemitism, LSE has told us that it has adopted the Definition in full, including all its examples, but it has not provided evidence to support its claim.