This is a guest post by Ahmed Rushdi.
Mohammed Shafiq is the Chief Executive of the Ramadan Foundation. Mohammed Ansar is a ‘Muslim political and social commentator‘ and is associated with the Muslim Council of Britain. Both make a living by promoting themselves as (non-elected) representatives of the Muslim community. Both have written on anti-Muslim bigotry and both promote interfaith.
Lately on Twitter, an account called ‘IsraelTheNazis’ has been tweeting anti-Israel bigotry (which sometimes veers very close to anti-semitism). The account exists to spew hatred towards Israel and Israelis and is supported by retweets.
‘IsraelTheNazis’ approached Mohammed Ansar on Twitter for their endorsement. You would think that someone who calls themselves a ‘Muslim political and social commentator’ would educate the Twitter user on discourse and ask them to stop. Sadly, an endorsement was forth coming.
Mohammed Ansar was only too willing to ‘retweet’ the account’s tweets and acknowledged their request for support. Mohammed Ansar is often given a platform on the BBC especially on matters concerning faith and interfaith.
Here is Mohammed Shafiq retweeting and spreading the lie that Israel drops ‘cluster bombs on babies’ before telling a twitter user to check the Torah or ‘Mein Kampf’.
Mohammed Shafiq was given a platform by the BBC just today by giving a press review on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Readers should note that these two are only billed as representatives of the Muslim community because the news and television media give them a platform thinking they are both moderate and peace-loving.
Perhaps you may want to remind the television channels that give Ansar and Shafiq a platform by showing them the kind of people they endorse and support.