– ACCORDING TO PROMINENT IMAM, AHMED BHAMJI

Following the horrific terror attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, visited one of the largest mosques in New Zealand, the Masjid e Umar mosque, and personally thanked the mosque’s chairman, Ahmed Bhamji, for the invitation. Bhamji, a prominent Muslim figure, was subsequently invited to speak at the “Love Aotearoa, Hate Racism” (Love New Zealand, Hate Racism) rally in Auckland. In this video, you can see film of him making his speech, in which he makes an unsupported allegation that the Christchurch terror attack was backed and funded by Mossad (Israel’s national intelligence agency), as well as local, Zionist, Jewish businessmen in New Zealand.

Why Mossad would have any interest in attacking two pretty obscure mosques on the other side of the planet, in Christchurch, New Zealand (albeit that one of them was associated with “extremist” preaching in 2014, and two of its congregation were subsequently killed fighting for ISIS), is anybody’s guess. And Bhamji isn’t saying. He produced absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support his vile, racist allegation, made at an anti-racist event, merely talking vehemently about having the “very, very, strong suspicions”.

The excellent David Wood has exposed this appalling antisemitic allegation, but where has it featured in the news? And is Jacinda Ardern aware of it? If she is aware of what Bhamji has done she should be issuing the strongest possible public condemnation of this, just as she rightly did of the bigotry at the root of the Christchurch attack itself – and so should all other prominent New Zealander public figures, including Bhamji’s co-religionists. Because antisemitism, and attacks on Jews, are rising, and must be condemned by us all.

But where are these condemnations? When Bhamji delivered his disgusting and dangerous statement just one person in the crowd shouted assent – the rest of the crowd looked pretty stunned and uncomfortable. All this should be giving New Zealanders, public figures and private citizens alike, and indeed the rest of us, pause about exactly what ideas are actually being purveyed behind closed doors in mosques in New Zealand, and everywhere else. Condemning a terrible act of terror should never deter us from honest scrutiny of, and debate about, the ideology of Islam, its tenets, and the attitudes and activities it produces. Still less induce us to defend or endorse Islam itself. It is no coincidence that Islamic scriptures specifically demonise, and incite violence against, Jews.