- Kamran Ishtiaq said he would 'salute Hitler' for killing Jews on Facebook in 2014
- The 37-year-old said he stood by remarks when quizzed about them this week
- He claimed he was only talking about 'Jews who kill Palestinians'
- Mr Ishtiaq said he said up his group in 2009 to 'build bridges' with the UK
- His comments have been condemned and investigation has been called for
The president of the British Pakistani Youth Council who previously hosted David Cameron on a visit to Birmingham once said he would 'salute' Adolf Hitler if he 'killed more Jews than Muslims' in a newly-uncovered Facebook post.
Kamran Ishtiaq, 37, says he set up the group in 2009 to 'focus on issues affecting our lives as British young people' and 'build bridges' between the UK and Pakistan.
But in 2014 he posted a picture of the Nazi dictator and when questioned about it said 'I would salute him still if he killed 90 Muslims and 92 Jews.'
His comments have caused outrage in Birmingham with MP Khalid Mahmood calling for authorities to investigate him.
And when questioned about his remarks, Mr Ishtiaq said he stood by the statement.
British Pakistani Youth Council president Kamran Ishtiaq, pictured with David Cameron when the politician visited Birmingham's Muslim community in 2007, once said he would 'salute Hitler if he killed more Jews than Muslims', it has been revealed
Mr Ishtiaq posted a pictured of Hitler on his Facebook in 2014, pictured, and made the comments when challenged by others
On the Facebook post, which has since been deleted, he added: 'Now (sic) why he [Hitler] is my hero cuz, he just killed Jews, didn't get a chance to kill Muslims... lol.'
Asked if he felt the same way about Jews now, Mr Ishtiaq, who welcomed David Cameron to his grocery shop in 2007 during a political visit, said: 'To be honest with you, I feel that about the Jews who are killing the Palestinians now.
'Not the Jews who are leaving Israel - there are Jews who support Palestine. I was reading today in the media that there are Jews leaving Israel because Israel didn't live up to their expectations.
'OK, but Jews, American Jews, yes I feel like that about them. The ones who are murdering the Palestinians. I do feel that about them.
'And what I wrote there, it's about the Jews.'
He also said Hitler was his 'hero' because he 'didn't get a chance to kill Muslims'. The 37-year-old said he stood by his comments this week, but claimed he was not talking about all Jews, but only 'Jews who kill Muslims'
He added: 'When I say Jews, it's not the Jews fighting the Jewish killers of Palestinians, the Jews who are with Muslims, but the Jews which are killing the Palestinians, yes. The murderers.
'I mean if anything happened to any Jewish community here my youths would be there frontline to support them. Jewish people here are not Palestinian-killing like the Jews over there.
'They're peaceful like us Muslims here. They don't want nothing to do with that.
'It's like the terrorists. You can't hate all Muslims because you hate terrorists. You can't hate all Jews because you hate the killing Jews.'
Asked about those killed by the Nazis, Mr Ishtiaq said he did not believe that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
He said: 'To be honest, I don't believe that. Every attack, anything on Jews is exaggerated. Yeah. I think that was an exaggeration too.
'He killed Jews, yeah. He did kill Jews, there's no doubt in that. He killed Jews. But that figure is a question mark for me.'
Asked why he thought the Nazis killed Jews, he replied: 'We don't know what happened then.
'If they were doing this now, killing Palestinians, we don't know what they done to the Germans at that time.'
Mr Ishtiaq suggested the figure could have been exaggerated and added: 'It [the figure] gives the Jewish people a reason, you know retaliation - "Look what's happened to us? 'We were nearly being ethnic cleansed and have to stick together".
Mr Ishtiaq's (pictured) comments have been condemned in Birmingham and MP Khalid Mahmood called for an investigation
'It gives them a point of unity, it gives them a reason to retaliate, revenge, you know, empathy, whatever, you could say.'
On whether Hitler's actions were wrong, he added: 'I can't think for Hitler. I can't think why Hitler killed them. I just made that statement [on Facebook]. So why and how, I couldn't tell you.
'I stand by the statement I made, yes.'
Mr Ishtiaq said his views about Jews were shared by young people he worked with.
He added: 'They feel ten times worse.
'My job is to get that feeling out of them, but I need positives to erase that feeling out of them.
'The Jews, the Israel (sic), have not given me a positive. Them feelings are getting day by day worse after what the Israelis are doing.'
His group does not appear to have a website but does have a Facebook page that lists him as president and has not been updated since early 2016.
Khalid Mahmood, MP for Perry Barr, said Mr Ishtiaq's remarks had no place in society.
He said: 'Clearly, these are very inflammatory, offensive, anti-Semitic remarks which have no place in society, in Birmingham, in the UK or anywhere else in the world, for that matter.
'Nor should we in any way look to try to justify that in the way he's tried to justify that.
'It is purely wrong. Hideous comments have been made about killing people and killing the Jewish community - and the non-recognition of the Holocaust is absolutely absurd for someone to make comment.'
Mr Mahmood added: 'These sort of people do not represent the views of the Pakistani or the Muslim community in Birmingham, and where these people exist they should be sought out and held to account for their views.'
Mr Mahmood also called for an investigation into Mr Ishtiaq's role.
He said: 'He is holding these views, he has access to young people. I think it is a serious matter for the authorities to look at.
'The authorities need to have a clear look and investigate this issue, because it certainly brings the whole of the community into disrepute and certainly we're not where the community wants to be at all.'
Mr Ishtiaq, pictured with Mr Cameron at his shop in 2007, said he took over the youth council in 2009 and wanted to 'build bridges' between the UK and Pakistan
Kamran Ishtiaq previously worked as a store manager at his family's grocery business, with which he is no longer linked.
He says he took over as President of the British Pakistani Youth Council in 2009 and talks about the group 'building bridges' on his LinkedIn page.
He wrote: 'The BPYC is a national group of young people who, whilst recognising our faith and ethnic heritage, focus on the present and look to the future.
'We focus on issues affecting our lives as British young people. As the President I lead to work proactively with the mainstream media to counter the negative stereotypes associated with British Pakistani young people and highlight the positive contributions we add to British society.
'This work has led me to work across the UK and Pakistan to build bridges.'
David Cameron visited his family's Raja Brothers grocery business in Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook, in 2007, when Mr Ishtiaq was manager.
Speaking at the time he said the future prime minister appeared to be a 'normal bloke'.
He said: 'He was relaxed, cool and chilled - you couldn't tell he was the opposition leader.
'When he came here he seemed like a down-to-earth guy. His background didn't show, it was like he was just a normal average guy.
'He was easy to communicate with. I would definitely have him back to work in the shop.'
No comments:
Post a Comment