Church says sorry for hosting group set up by Shoah denier

A LONDON church has apologised for “inadvertently” hosting an event by a group founded by Holocaust denier Nick Kollerstrom.

According to anti-extremist group Hope Not Hate, one of the speakers was Miko Peled, an Israeli-American activist who caused uproar at a Labour conference fringe event when he appeared to support the questioning of the Shoah.

Mr Kollerstrom, a frequent guest of the Richie Allen Show, whose other guests include Holocaust revisionist Alison Chabloz and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, has previously denied the existence of gas chambers in Nazi death camps, and has disputed whether six million Jews died in the Holocaust.

The event — titled Journey of an Israeli in Palestine — was coordinated under the aegis of Prof Kollerstrom’s Keep Talking organisation and took place on October 3 at St Anne’s Church in Soho.

Elleanne Green, who was suspended from Labour after it emerged she set up the Palestine Live Facebook group which was littered with antisemitic remarks, and Stephen Sizer, a vicar who was reprimanded for sharing material suggesting Israel carried out the 9/11 attacks, both published Facebook posts promoting the event.

Ms Chabloz was also photographed in the audience, as was Mr Kollerstrom’s co-founder of Keep Talking, Ian Fathom.

The church promised on Sunday to review its booking procedure and said it would donate the booking fee to the Community Security Trust (CST).

The church added: “Unfortunately, this event, which was entirely separate from the church, may not have accurately reflected our values or those of our community.

“The church was neither organising nor promoting the event, and it did not appear in any of our publicity. However, I regret that we inadvertently gave a platform, however small, to anyone whose words on the night, or reputation from the past, had the potential to cause offence.

“That was not our intention. St Anne’s absolutely opposes any form of hatred: be it racism, homophobia or antisemitism. We apologise for the offence that has been caused to members of the Jewish community and will be donating the room hire fee to Community Security Trust.

“This is the first time a situation like this has arisen here, but as a result we will also be reviewing our booking procedure with the aim of ensuring it does not happen again.”

Last year, Ms Chabloz was handed a suspended jail sentence for posting a number of songs online which mocked the Holocaust.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed that she was recently released from HMP New Hall after being jailed for breaching terms of her sentence.

Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl said: “We are very grateful to St Anne’s Church for its heartfelt apology.”