This is a cross post by Dave Rich from The CST Blog
Hizb ut-Tahrir have often claimed that they do not support violence, and that they are not antisemitic. When challenged on this, they normally say that they are merely anti-Israel, not against Jews. An example is this article, from the Guardian’s Comment Is Free.
Two weeks ago, Hizb ut-Tahrir in Bangladesh issued a Press Release, available on their website in English and Bengali (both PDFs), to advertise a demonstration they held about the Gaza flotilla. This is what it says:
O Muslim Armies! Teach the Jews a lesson after which they will need no further lessons
March forth to fight them, eradicate their entity and purify the earth of their filth
Hizb ut-Tahrir organized a demonstration today to protest against the Jewish state’s attack on relief ships bound for Gaza, in which dozens were killed and injured. The Muslims joining the demonstration called upon the Muslim armies to march forth to fight the Jews, eradicate Israel and purify the earth of Jewish filth. Indeed the Muslim armies must follow the footsteps of their forefather, Sa’ad ibn Mu’adh (RA) who taught the Jews of Banu Quraydah a lesson for their mischief. He ordered that their men should be killed, property divided and their women and children taken as captives. And Muhammad (SAW) said regarding this, “By Him in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, Allah and the Muslims approved of your judgment and I shall execute it.”
The people participating in the demonstration also called upon the Muslim armies to remove the corrupt traitor rulers who are ruling the Ummah at present and re-establish the Khilafah. The Muslim Army of Bangladesh must remove the government of Sheikh Hasina. These rulers serve their American and British masters who created and protect the Jewish entity. They will not take any step against the Jewish entity other than regurgitate meaningless words of condemnations, hold meaningless conferences and call upon the so-called international community to issue meaningless resolutions.
Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Wilayah Bangladesh
Note how the Press Release moves seamlessly from the call for Israel to be destroyed to the call for the earth to be purified of “Jewish filth”. This is to be done by “Muslim armies” – i.e., through violence. It is ambiguous as to whether they mean only the “Jewish filth” on Israeli earth, or in the entire world, but this is an ambiguity of Hizb ut-Tahrir’s own making. This cannot simply be dismissed as a local statement by the Bangladeshi branch: Hizb ut-Tahrir advertises itself as an international movement, and the various national branches follow the same political ideology. The fact that the Press Release was issued in English as well as Bengali is further evidence that this is for international consumption, including by Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters in Britain.
There is another reason why Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain ought to explain why they should not be considered responsible for this incitement to kill Jews: the website on which it has been published, www.khilafat.org, is registered in Birmingham.
UPDATE: Hizb ut-Tahrir have, predictably, removed both versions of the Press Release from their Bangladeshi website (fortunately I had saved them and have restored the links, above). However, the Press Release is still available on the Hizb ut-Tahrir Central Media Office website, which disseminates material from all their branches around the world: more evidence that this is a single, international body, and that Hizb ut-Tahrir UK cannot simply disassociate itself from the statements of its Bangladeshi (or any other) branch. In case that version gets removed too, here is a screenshot:
