The leader of a hard-line, ‘Khomeinist‘ Islamist group was invited onto the BBC Monday, using the opportunity to label prominent journalists and a reformist Muslim as “hate preachers” who he said are to blame for the Finsbury Park terror attack.
Massoud Shadjareh is the chairman of the so-called Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), which has been accused of supporting Hezbollah terrorists and organised the anti-Semitic al-Quds day in London this weekend, where many Hezbollah terror flags were flown.
Mr. Shadjareh has also criticised the prosecution and deportation of Finsbury Park Mosque’s most famous preacher, Abu Hamza al-Masri, the virulently pro-jihad, anti-Western, militant who praised the 9/11 attacks.
Speaking on BBC news Monday afternoon, Mr. Shadjareh labelled political commentator Douglas Murray, right-wing journalist Katie Hopkins, and reformist Muslim and former government adviser Maajid Nawaz, “hate preachers”.
“Unfortunately, this is something that was bound to happen sooner or later,” he said near the site of the attack. “The level of hatred that is being increased, on a daily basis, it is very dangerous and it could lead to something like this.”
“I think we need to address, above everything, this level of hatred, and the fact that we have got hate preachers now on our radio stations – be it, Maajid Nawaz, or Kate Hopkins, or Douglas Murray – they are bombarding our society with hatred towards Muslim community [sic] and indeed towards to mainstream Islam, and this can not go on.”
He said that “Islamophobia” was “increasing for many reasons”, conceding that recent terror attacks in London and Manchester helped to associate Islam with violence.
He added that “these hate preachers” and “the way our society drags Muslims onto the TV station to condemn [attacks]” increased Islamophobia, whereby “in the mind of ordinary people, an association between violence, atrocity, and Islam, and Muslims, is being strengthened”.
He added: “I really blame the environment of hate that is being created and strengthened – even by politicians – and that needs to change.”