UK Islamist and pro-terrorist preacher Anjem Choudary. Photo: Snapperjack/Flickr/Wikimedia

A UK Islamist preacher with a long history of hate speech and support for terrorism set off a storm of controversy on Saturday after he seemed to imply that the murder of a member of parliament was justified because he was “pro-Israel.”

MP David Amess was assassinated on Friday while visiting with constituents by a Muslim of Somali descent, whose motives, authorities have said, may have been Islamist in nature.

The Daily Mail reported that Anjem Choudary — the former leader of a banned Islamist group called Al-Muhajiroun, who was imprisoned from 2016 to 2018 for supporting ISIS — said, “The rumors are that [Amess] is pro-Israel.”

Asked why this would be a problem, Choudary ranted, “Many people do [believe] that [Israel] is a terrorist state, and who would possibly be a friend of Israel after you see the carnage that they carried out against Muslims in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and continue to do with the appropriation of properties?”

“No one in their right and rational mind would support such a state,” he claimed.

“Obviously that does not give someone justification for someone to kill someone,” he then said. “I believe there is a covenant of security in this country, where the lives and wealth of people with whom we Muslims live are protected in return for our lives and wealth.”

Amess had served as an honorary secretary of the Conservative Friends of Israel, and was as having very positive relations with the UK Jewish community.

Jewish News reported Sunday that Amess had once said would have “been proud to have been born a Jew,” and that stands “shoulder to shoulder with our local Jewish community.”

“I simply do not understand and have never understood antisemitism,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett noted this when he sent condolences for the MP’s death, saying, “He was a true friend of the Jewish community and the State of Israel. His tragic loss will be felt by many.”

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed Bennett’s sentiments, saying Amess was “a true friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish People.”

“We grieve with the people of Britain over the tragic loss of a great parliamentarian and a great friend,” he added.