Group behind ‘anti-Semitic’ annual march in London allocated £140,000 in EU funds
THE EU signed off more than £140,000 in funding to the group behind an annual march that MPs have warned features anti-Semitic banners and chants.
The European Commission allocated the payment to the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), which organises the Al Quds Day rally at which demonstrators call for the destruction of Israel.
A European Commission spokesman told The Sunday Telegraph it was preparing to “terminate” its agreement with the group, but declined to say how much had been paid to the IHRC. “The Commission stands firmly against all forms of anti-Semitism,” he said.
The disclosure that the Commission agreed tens of thousands of pounds in funding to a controversial organisation is likely to anger MPs and campaigners. The UK contributed £8.9billion of public money to the EU last year.
The funding, which was signed off in 2016, came despite repeated criticism of the IHRC for its role in organising the anti-Israel Al Quds march through London. The annual march sees demonstrators waving the flag of Hizbollah, the Lebanese militant group, which features an assault rifle.
Nazim Ali, a director of the IHRC, told last year’s Al Quds rally that the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire “were murdered” by Zionists who fund the Conservative party. Mr Ali claimed his comments had been taken out of context. “To say that some of Theresa May or the Tory party’s supporters are Zionists is hardly controversial,” he said. The IHRC also drew criticism in 2015 for giving Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, an award for “Islamophobia” two months after 12 members of its staff were shot dead in a terror attack.
The £140,000 payment was agreed by the European Commission as part of an overall funding package of more than £525,000 for a project called the “Counter Islamophobia Toolkit”.
Run by the University of Leeds, the scheme is intended to “critically review dominant anti-Muslim narratives” and compare the responses to Islamophobia across Europe.”
A European Commission spokesman said: “We are looking closely into the allegations that one of the organisations involved had expressed antiSemitic views.”