- Imam Abdullah Patel is exposed as an anti-Semite after series of Twitter posts
- The tweets also saw him blaming women for rape and praising Jeremy Corbyn
- In one he posted an anti-Semitic graphic but later deleted his Twitter feed
- Patel has now been suspended as deputy headteacher of a primary school
- It also emerged that the BBC allowed a Labour worker to ask a question on show
- Aman Thakar, from London, investigated anti-Semitism for the party
- Do you know any of the questioners on last night's debate? Email ed.riley@mailonline.co.uk
The BBC is today engulfed in controversy over its vetting after it emerged it allowed an anti-Semitic Imam and a former Labour party worker to question Tory leadership hopefuls in last night's TV debate.
Abdullah Patel, who probed the contenders on Islamophobia, has today been suspended from his job as deputy head of a Muslim primary school over tweets he sent blaming women for rape, praising Jeremy Corbyn and attacking Jews.
Mr Patel has also been suspended by the Masjid e Umar mosque in Gloucester.
Aman Thakar, who questioned if the candidates had a democratic mandate, has also been suspended from his law firm Leigh Day after it emerged he said the most harmful part of Hitler's legacy was his 'abuse of nationalism' in a tweet.
He was also unmasked as a Labour HQ worker who was brought in to investigate anti-Semitism. The BBC said it knew that Thakar worked for Labour but failed to explain why they didn't tell viewers.
The corporation also refused to apologise for the Imam's inclusion, insisting the tweets were 'not visible' when they vetted him – however he was tweeting from the account just two days before the debate.
Today another of the questioners, 15-year-old Erin Curtis, who asked the candidates if they would make tough carbon neutral pledges, has revealed that she is part of the Student Climate Network, which organised a mass walk-out of schools in February.
She has warned there would be further strikes unless the government agreed to measures including a Green Deal, in an article for the Guardian.
The series of vile posts by Patel were exposed moments after the programme on BBC One, in which he asked the Tory MPs on their views on Islamophobia and whether they believed 'words have consequences.'
A series of vile posts by Abdullah Patel were unearthed last night moments after the BBC
Aman Thakar (pictured) who questioned if the candidates had a democratic mandate, has been revealed as a Labour Party council candidate in 2018 in Southwark, and worked at Labour headquarters investigating anti-Semitism
In one tweet Patel appeared to suggest women are to blame for rape, writing: 'Lets make something clear: Generally, men are the predators, but women need to realise this and be smarter.
'It takes 2 to tango, and if you put yourself in that position, don't expect every man to pass up the opportunity to take advantage of you. Don't be alone with a man! '
Patel also showed his support for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
He wrote: 'Vote UKLabour Vote JeremyCorbyn Vote for hopenotfear Vote for TheManyNottheFew. If you vote Tory you deserve all the cuts you get to tbh.'
Others highlighted his anti-Semitic views, with one post featuring a graphic once retweeted by Labour MP Naz Shah that saw her suspended by the Labour party in 2016.
It showed Israel's outline superimposed on to a map of the US under the headline: Solution for Israel-Palestine Conflict - Relocate Israel into United States.'
Alongside the image, he wrote: FOUND THE SOLUTION! America wants to look after Israel? I've got a way to make them neighbours! (Until Israel attack).
In another tweet he wrote: 'Every political figure on Zionist's payroll is scaring the world about Corbyn.
'They don't like him. He seems best suited to tackle them!'
Other tweets referenced the Holocaust, with one post saying: 'How long are the Zionists going to hide behind the Holocaust cry? It was a tragedy, but Gaza today is a repeat of the oppression.'
Another widely-circulated screenshot shows the account, @AbdullahPatel94, saying: 'How long are the Zionists going to hide behind the Holocaust cry?
'It was a tragedy, but Gaza today is a repeat of the oppression.'
Today Patel deleted his Twitter account after the controversial tweets were exposed.
Yakub Patel, Chair of Al-Madani Education Trust which runs Al-Ashraf Primary School in Gloucester, where Patel is a deputy headteacher said he had been suspended.
In a statement, he said: 'Following some of the comments attributed to Mr Patel in the media this morning, the Trust has decided to suspend him from all school duties with immediate effect until a full investigation is carried out.
'The 'school' and 'Trust' do not share the views attributed to him.'
Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Patel refused to apologise, but insisted he had a very good relationship with the Jewish community.
He said: 'Those comments were made four or five years ago.
'I would also like to clarify the criticism was about Israel and not a criticism of the Jewish community.
'The Jewish community and I, especially within Gloucestershire, we work very closely together. We actually visited a synagogue just a while ago.'
A series of posts tweeted by Patel were exposed last night revealing his controversial views
Patel asked Tory leadership candidates about Islamophobia during the debate (pictured) and later tweeted about his disappointment with their 'deluded' responses
Sajid Javid tweeted today: 'The Imam from #BBCOurNextPM debate should practice what he preaches.
'Words do indeed have consequences. That applies to him as much as it does for leaders in public life.'
It came as political blog Guido Fawkes revealed that Aman Thakar, who asked the final question, was a former Labour party council candidate in 2018 in Southwark.
He was seen on last night's show asking the candidates when they would be prepared to call a general election - given the winner of this contest will get into Downing Street without one.
But a source who worked in Labour's complaints department at the time he worked there, says Thakar was brought in by Shami Chakrabarti to help close down cases of anti-Semitism in the party.
Later it emerged that he was suspended by his current employer, Leigh Day Solicitors, following the discovery of a controversial tweet he posted in February.
The tweet read: 'Hitler's abuse of the term nationalism is, to me, a nationalist, the most harmful part of his legacy.'
A Leigh Day spokesman said: 'We can confirm that Aman Thakar is currently a solicitor at Leigh Day in our employment department. We have been made aware of a tweet which we are taking very seriously.
'Mr Thakar has been suspended with immediate effect from the firm whilst we carry out an internal investigation into these matters.'
He has also deleted his tweets, but not before a screenshot of one of his tweets was captured, which read: 'Hitler's abuse of the term nationalism is, to me a nationalist, the most harmful part of his legacy.'
In response to the accusation that the BBC knew of Mr Thakar's links to the Labour Party, BBC Live Political Programmes Editor Rob Burley tweeted: 'There was also self-described Conservative on the programme.'
On the show, Patel appeared to be directing his comments to Boris Johnson, who sparked controversy when he suggested veiled Muslim women looked like 'letter boxes and bank robbers' in a newspaper article.
Who asked the questions in BBC Tory leader debate?
Imam Abdullah Patel in Bristol
Shortly after his question aired, it was revealed that the imam has been suspended from his job as deputy head of a Muslim primary school and the Masjid e Umar mosque over tweets he sent blaming women for rape and attacking Jews.
In another tweet he wrote: 'Every political figure on Zionist's payroll is scaring the world about Corbyn.'
Today Patel deleted his Twitter account after the controversial tweets were exposed.
The series of vile posts by Patel were exposed moments after the programme on BBC One, in which he asked the Tory MPs on their views on Islamophobia and whether they believed 'words have consequences.'
Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Patel refused to apologise, but insisted he had a very good relationship with the Jewish community.
He asked: 'I am the imam of a mosque and I see first-hand the everyday impact of Islamophobic rhetoric on my community.
'Do the candidates agree that words have consequences?'
Aman Thakar in London
After his question, it was revealed the former Labour worker had been suspended from his job at a law firm over a tweet about Adolf Hitler.
The tweet, posted in February, read: 'Hitler's abuse of the term nationalism is, to me, a nationalist, the most harmful part of his legacy.'
Critics quickly pointed out today that Hitler's legacy included the killing of six million Jews and triggering the Second World War.
Solicitors Leigh Day said he had been suspended from his role in its employment department while it carried out an investigation.
The BBC said it knew that Thakar worked for Labour but failed to explain why they didn't tell viewers.
The failure for BBC to tell the audience could be in breach of their own impartiality rules
He asked: 'In the event that you become Prime Minister, you're only going to be voted on by your parliamentary colleagues and 100,000 Conservative Party members.
'And you have no mandate from the people. So, in the event that you become Prime Minister, when will you do the right thing and call a general election?'
No comments:
Post a Comment