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Muslim charity board quits after replacing antisemite with Hamas supporter
Entire board of Islamic Relief Worldwide, which has been funded by the taxpayer, stands down after replacing a trustee who called Jews “pigs” with a man who called Hamas “heroes”.
The board of Britain’s leading Muslim charity has resigned after replacing a trustee who described Jews as “grandchildren of monkeys and pigs” with a man who hailed Hamas terrorists as “heroes” and branded Israel “the Zionist enemy”.
The Jewish community has reacted with horror after Lorenzo Vidino, an expert on Islamism, exposed extremist social media posts by Dr Almoutaz Tayara, director of the partially taxpayer funded Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) who also chairs Islamic Relief in Germany.
In the Facebook posts Tayara supported terrorist attacks against Israel and published a picture of former American president Barack Obama wearing a Star of David.
The Sunday Times reports that Islamic Relief Germany knew about known Tayara’s posts in 2017 but allowed him to retain his senior role after an apology.
Tayara was chosen to replace Heshmat Khalifa on the board, who resigned his IRW directorship last month after The Times revealed antisemitic posts in which he called Israelis the “grandchildren of monkeys and pigs” and Egypt’s president a “pimp son of the Jews”.
He was also forced to step down as the director of an international endowment fund with a £7million portfolio that is wholly controlled by the charity.
Tayara told The Times he was “ashamed” of his posts, adding: “I do not support any terrorist movement. I do not support the Muslim Brotherhood or the Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades. I am not an antisemite.”
Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl said the organisation was “extremely disturbed” by the reports.
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