A London mosque might reconsider hosting a controversial Israeli Holocaust exhibition on Sunday after the event organiser said he was not aware of its Israeli connections.
The Eton Road Community Centre/Mosque in Ilford is due to host the Yad Vashem exhibit between 1pm and 3.30pm.
But Bashir Chaudhry told 5Pillars that he will now have to consult with colleagues about hosting the event because he did not know about the Israeli institution mounting the exhibition.
The event is being organised by The League of British Muslims UK which also invited representatives from the Israeli embassy to a recent multi faith event at the mosque. Its location had been kept secret because of unspecified “security reasons.”
Chaudhry said: “I’m not hosting the event myself, it’s done by another organisation. I’m only providing the venue. What I know is that this is an exhibition of the Holocaust which is commemorated every year in this country and in Redbridge too where all communities get together and commemorate a terrible crime.
“Unless you sit together and come round the table and talk to each other how are we going to resolve any issue? I’m happy to sit down with anybody for the sake of peace. Sometimes we have to compromise. The mosque I run is a Sunni mosque but everyone is welcome here – Shias, Jews, I even have a church service here on Sundays. The congregation supports whatever I do in my mosque.”
But after the Israeli connections to the event were explained to him, Mr Chaudhry said: “This was not explained to me, I was just told it was about Albanian Muslims who helped the Jews during the Second World War. Every Muslim has a strong sympathy with the Palestinian cause, there’s no doubt about that. I have lobbied for the Palestinians myself. But no one is doing anything about the situation there. So-called Muslim countries in the Muslim world are dealing behind closed doors with Israel, including Saudi Arabia.
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“But I’ve just heard about this background so now I will have to consult with my colleagues about whether to cancel it or not.”
The Yad Vashem exhibition was due to take place recently at the Hussainiyat Al-Rasool Al-Adham centre in Golders Green to honour Muslim Albanians who helped, protected and rescued their Jewish neighbours during the Holocaust.
But the event was cancelled when it became known that Yad Vashem is based in occupied Jerusalem and is partially financed by and supports the state of Israel. The museum is located near where the Deir Yasir massacre of Palestinians by Zionists took place.
Zionist media claimed the mosque had been the victims of intimidation and threats, without providing any evidence for this.
After the news broke, several Zionists in the UK criticised the cancellation, as did Tell MAMA founder Fiyaz Mughal.
This website and its editor Roshan Muhammed Salih have been particularly targeted by Zionists writing in the Jewish and Israeli media for the role we played in encouraging a boycott of the event.
In December the Eton Road Mosque invited members of the British Army, Pakistani and Israeli diplomats for an interfaith event to celebrate the Mawlid, Christmas and Chanukah together.
