Video, Pics: Extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamist Group Rallies in London Against Israel

Hizb ut-Tahrir, the international Islamism group, held a rally Saturday in central London in protest of Israel’s security measures on the Temple Mount.

The group – which agitates for the establishment of a global Muslim theocratic state, or Caliphate, and sharia law – has up to a million members worldwide.

As an organisation, it is legal in the UK but is allegedly linked to terror and has been banned in Germany, Russia, China, Egypt, Turkey, and all but three Arab countries.

This event, which was segregated by gender, was called ‘Stand, Struggle, and Sacrifice for Al-Aqsa’ – the mosque on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which is the third most holy site in Islam and has been put under beefed up security following a series of Jihadi attacks on Jews and Christians.

“Masjid Al-Aqsa is about occupation and not about metal detectors and surveillance cameras”, claimed a statement printed on the event’s poster.

The protest was held outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy, with organisers accusing leaders and those of other Muslim nations of “continu[ing] to sit, watch, stay silent” and being “complicit” in the actions of Israel.

Muslim men at the rally cried “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for ‘our God is greatest’) as various speakers reiterated the group’s aim of building an Islamic State and subjecting the entire world to sharia law.

In a threatening address, one speaker told the crowd: “We [Muslims] have more men than the Israeli state. More fighter jets. More tanks. More missiles. More ships…. We have knowledge and they have none… We have Allah and they [America] have Mickey Mouse”, he shouted.

“The Ummah [the global followers of Islam] has responded for Al-Aqsa… we love the one Koran, we love the same Muhammad”, he continued.

A 2009 report by the Centre for Social Cohesion found that Hizb ut-Tahrir’s ideology pitches it in direct opposition to western culture.

“Inherent to HT’s worldview is a clash between “Western” and “Islamic” civilisations. The party believes the United Kingdom and United States of America are leading a campaign against Islam and Muslims worldwide,” the report said.

“HT considers the influence of Western thought and physical presence in Muslim-majority countries as a threat to Islam, which it wishes to “uproot”. Liberal values – secularism, human rights and pluralism – are rejected as “un-Islamic” because they differ from HT’s Islamist doctrine.

“HT actively seeks mass support for its Islamist revolution among Western Muslims. Party ideology commands them to oppose Western civilisation and to subvert their societies. All Western states are considered “enemies” of Islam and potential land for HT’s expansionist Islamist state via jihad.”