Gaza, July 05: British government and media have appeared to be more vulnerable to the influence of the pro-Israel lobby, following the arrest of Sheikh Raed Salah, admired by millions of Muslims, labeling him a “vile militant extremist.”
Putting the government’s Islamophobic policies into practice, UK media have portrayed Sheikh Salah as an “Islamic preacher of hate,” whose ideas mirror “virulent anti-Semitism,” accusing him of funding Hamas “terror operations.”
Daily Mail newspaper described Salah as being a “vile militant extremist,” who had forced the UK government to order his late-night arrest. The arrest came right before his planned speech at a parliament meeting attended by several MPs.
The UK government’s measures against Sheikh Salah has astonished Israel’s 1.3 million Palestinian citizens. They considered him as a religious leader and respected head of the Islamic Movement.
He is also admired by Palestinian public and millions of Muslim in the Middle East for his long-time attempts to protect Muslim and Christian holy places from Israel’s offensive policies.
The point that UK legal system has humiliated Sheikh Salah, claiming to promote “decency and respect”, only echoes obvious hypocrisy in the country’s policy.
Now the analysts stressed why Britain which has turned into a safe place for the suspected war criminals, living without any future threat of prosecution in the country, gave such a warm welcome to the Muslim leader being admired by millions of Muslim.
According to the sources, Britain’s opposition to the presence of Salah originates from a campaign of character assassination directed by pro-Israel groups. They accused him of a “blood libel” against Jews. Accordingly, the Israel forces charged Sheikh Salah several years ago, but the prosecution was dropped soon after due to the lack of convincing evidence.
His other allegation was funding Hamas activities, which was also dropped. Israel’s legal system finally found Salah guilty of neither anti-Semitism nor of helping terrorists.
The fact has bewildered the analysts, wondering why Britain, the cheerleader of Israel, is even more Israeli than the Israelis.
Yet there was a crucial fact the British media failed to notice in their coverage of Sheikh Salah, that he came to the country to attend the parliament meeting, the country’s cradle of democracy, to speak “not about jihad or infidels but about building peace and justice in Jerusalem.”
—-Agencies