A British Member of Parliament yesterday invited U.S. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump to work with a charity with alleged extremist links.
Naz Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, invited Mr Trump to meet the “Muslim volunteers” at Human Appeal International, a group that has been linked with Hamas and hosted speakers widely criticised as “extremist”.
In yesterday’s Westminster Hall debate on the petition to ban Mr Trump from the UK, Ms Shah said:
“I would invite Donald Trump to join us in feeding the homeless at the InTouch Foundation, a Muslim charity that feeds homeless people in the city of Bradford. I would invite him to meet the Muslim volunteers who help at Human Appeal (International), a foundation based in a colleague’s constituency, and all those people who work together on issues that affect us as a country and as people, regardless of our race, gender, ethnicity or religion. That is what I would show to him.”
But Human Appeal has hosted speakers such as Haitham al-Haddad, Raed Salah, and Zahir Mahmood, all of whom have been highlighted for “extremist” rhetoric.
Mr. Salah himself was the subject of a long-running dispute between the British government and the country’s courts. The Home Secretary Theresa May has previously tried to exclude Mr. Salah from the United Kingdom for his controversial comments, and he was convicted by an Israeli court in 2014. Mr. Salah was arrested in the United Kingdom while trying to attend a Palestine Solidarity Campaign meeting alongside Jeremy Corbyn MP, who is now the leader of the Labour Party to which Ms. Shah belongs.
Mr. Haddad, who spoke alongside Mr. Mahmood at a 2011 Human Appeal event, has said: “Jews… are the enemies of God and the descendants of apes and pigs” and is reported to have praised Osama Bin Laden.
Human Appeal also advertises for positions on the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) website, an organisation often linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. MCB officials signed the ‘Istanbul Declaration’ in 2009 – a document that called for attacks on British soldiers as well as Jewish people.
Breitbart London has also previously reported how Human Appeal was listed on an unverified CIA report from 1996 into “NGOs (non-governmental organisations) with terror links”. Human Appeal reject the validity of the document and have previously told Breitbart London it is “fake”, though did not respond to further e-mails on the matter from June 2015.
However, the document has been cited by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in their 2007 book “Understanding Islamic Charities“.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation website also carries a report from 2003 that reads: “The document, obtained by Lateline, outlines a close relationship between Human Appeal International [HAI] and Hamas, as well as the US-based Palestinian charity the Holy Land Foundation For Relief and Development, which was raided and shut down three months after the September 11 attacks.”
Wikileaks also revealed a State Department cable from 2005 that stated: “In 2003, there were indications that HAI was sending financial support to organizations associated with Hamas and that members of its field offices in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Chechnya had connections to al-Qa’ida associates.”
The group was banned in 2012 from hosting an event at a Manchester School, with Britain’s Department of Education saying: “Since the concerns about HAI have come to light, Parrs Wood has performed further research including consulting local Jewish community representatives. As a result they have decided not to allow HAI or other charities which appear to have links to political organisations to use the school in future.”
Breitbart London also reported today how Ms Shah invited Mr Trump to visit her Bradford constituency yesterday despite a soldier being found “robbed and beaten” in the streets of the town this weekend, and previous reports of a Christian convert being beaten by Muslim men with pickaxes.
Ms. Shah wore a headscarf during her swearing in ceremony when she was elected to Parliament last year, and swore her oath on the Quran.
Breitbart London has contact Ms Shah’s office about both issues. A spokesman said: “Naz Shah MP is on parliamentary work and is not able to respond directly to your query at this time… I will bring this to the attention of Naz Shah MP on her return.”