Islamic group backs Israeli asylum- seeker

► THE ORGANISATION behind the anti-Israel London Al Quds Day rally – which has in the past featured the flags of the terrorist group Hezbollah – is campaigning to help an “anti-Zionist” Israeli asylum-seeker.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has not returned to Israel since arriving in the UK in 2017.

He is appealing against a claim refused by the Home Office in 2020. A hearing is to be held on Monday. The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), which organises the controversial rallies, appealed for online donations earlier this month to cover the asylum-seeker’s legal fees and his expenses.

The IHRC described him as a “Jewish rabbinical student from Israel who vocally supports the struggle for Palestinian rights, and strongly opposes Zionism and Israeli apartheid on religious and political grounds”.

The man’s lawyer, Fahad Ansari, told the JC this week that his client was likely “to be treated as a military deserter and as such at risk of imprisonment for up to 15 years” should he return to Israel.

He also said he had been “verbally and physically abused in police custody after being arrested while attending peaceful protests in Jerusalem in 2017” as a minor.

Under Israeli law, anyone found to flee mandatory military service could face imprisonment and a lifetime criminal record, though some exemptions can be granted.

The IHRC’s annual Al Quds marches, which coincide with those in Iran, have often been

He’s a Jewish student who strongly opposes Zionism

controversial.

In 2018, one speaker said Israel should be “wiped from the map”, and Hezbollah flags were flown.

A year earlier, Nazim Ali, a former director of IHRC, gave a speech in which he blamed “Zionist supporters of the Tory party” for the “murder of the people in Grenfell” .

The IHRC was approached for comment.