London Police Launch Investigation Into Antisemitism at ‘Al-Quds Day’ March
by Ben Cohen
London police have launched two investigations into the “Al Quds Day” march held in the British capital last Sunday, following complaints about antisemitic speeches and Islamist propaganda – including the flags of Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah – seen and heard at the event.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “We can confirm that we have received two allegations in relation to the Al Quds march on Sunday 18 June. The allegations relate to flags displayed during the march and alleged antisemitic comments. Detectives from Westminster CID are investigating.”
The march, an annual event, is sponsored by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) – a British Muslim organization with close ties to the Iranian regime.
A large number of attendees at the march were seen carrying signs reading “Justice 4 Grenfell” alongside Hezbollah flags, in an attempt by the IHRC organizers to link their cause with the devastating fire earlier this month at Grenfell Tower, a public housing apartment building in west London, in which more than 58 people are either confirmed or presumed by police to have died.
One of the IHRC’s leaders, Nazim Ali, will now be investigated for a violently antisemitic speech at the rally following the march in which he blamed the fire on “Zionists.”
“Some of the biggest supporters of the Conservative Party are Zionists,” Ali ranted. “They are responsible for the murder of the people in Grenfell. Zionists who give money to the Tory Party to kill people in high rise blocks.”
According to the Jewish Chronicle, during the march Ali “spotted pro-Israel counter-demonstrators carrying Israeli flags and ordered the march to halt, insisting that it would not move on until the ‘Zionist flag’ was removed. He said: ‘We are fed up of the Zionists. We are fed up of their rabbis. We are fed up of their synagogues. We are fed up of their supporters.'”
“Al Quds Day” was initiated by the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 following the Islamist seizure of power during the revolution that same year. The IHRC’s march in London usually takes place on the weekend before Al Quds Day, which falls on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.