As I mentioned yesterday, there is something very fishy about the Guardian story, which claims that – Maqsood Ahmed – a senior civil servant, advising on anti-extremism, forwarded a very racist email.
Now the Guardian has added two additional paragraphs to the original story:
The department for Communities and Local Government said: “Mr Ahmed is clear that he in no way subscribes to any of the views expressed in this email chain. He forwarded the email to academic and interfaith colleagues in order to alert them to the kind of distasteful comments that are in circulation.”
Louise Ellman MP, a member of the British Israel parliamentary group, said the content of the email played into the antisemitic idea of a Jewish conspiracy. “I am concerned … that the sender did not make his intentions clear.”
Certainly, the ‘for research purposes’ defence is one which is often deployed by villains. However, that does not mean that it is not true in this case. I have certainly forwarded horrendously anti-semitic material, without comment, because none has been needed. That doesn’t make me an anti-semite.
What makes me suspicious about this story was the factor that I commented on in the original post. Altikriti is a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood: a genocidally anti-semitic organisation. Since when have people like him been concerned about anti-semitism?
I’ve yet to get to the bottom of this matter, but I’ve heard the familiar names of various other well known British Islamists, some of whom are anti-semites, connected to the genesis of this story.
My gut feeling is that Maqsood Ahmed has been set up by his political enemies. For some reason, the Guardian has helped them out.
UPDATE
