The Times of London revealed that a leader of Britain’s largest Muslim charity had posted a string of antisemitic and pro-Hamas posts on Facebook.
The revelation forced Heshmat Khalifa, a trustee and director of Islamic Relief Worldwide, to step down.
In Facebook posts he referred to Jews as the “grandchildren of monkeys and pigs” and called Egypt’s president a “Zionist pimp.”
Islamic Relief's £570 million income over the past five years included contributions from the United Nations, the European Commission and the British taxpayer.
Khalifa wrote on social media that Hamas is “the purest resistance movement in modern history”. He added that declaring its armed wing a terrorist organisation was a “shameful disgrace to all Muslims.”
Many of his antisemitic insults were aimed at Egypt's president Al Sisi. Khalifa called the Muslim president a “pimp son of the Jews”, a “Zionist pig”, a “Zionist traitor” and a “Zionist criminal”.
Khalifa deleted the posts after the Times informed him that they would be writing about them.
Like most antisemites nowadays, he denied he was a Jew-hater. He told The Times that his comments were “my expressions of frustration with the political regime, rather than beliefs that I hold”. He said: “I did not intend to insult the Jewish community and neither do I hold views which are antisemitic. I have dedicated much of my life’s work to promoting tolerance and freedom of religion and beliefs.”
How that translates to calling Jews the descendants of apes and pigs is unclear.
The British-based Muslims Against Antisemitism denounced the posts, calling them "appalling antisemitism" and saying "These precise comments are more widespread than thought, and we will continue to work to reduce antisemitism, inspire Muslims to stand up against it, and support those who do."