DrZoidberg
Contributor
Ok, challenge accepted. All I found was a connection in his youth(!!!) with "Friends of Al-Aqsa". He was never a member. He just accepted to speak at one of their panel discussions. I didn't find a sentence he spoke at that discussion. I'm assuming it was nothing worth remembering or to be upset about.
While I think it can be argued that the members of Friends of Al-Aqsa are probably anti-semitic. There's nothing about their stated goals or communication that indicates extremism or anti-semitism.
http://www.foa.org.uk/about-us/
All I found was an off-the-cuff statement at a dinner by their leader Ismail Patel where he said "Hamas is no terrorist organisation. The reason they hate Hamas is because they refuse to be subjugated, occupied by the Israeli state, and we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel." Context matters. He said it in 2009 at a time when Israeli bombs were flying towards Palestinian targets. This was happening at the very moment he was speaking. He may have been a wee bit upset at the time. Hardly enough to peg him as a anti-semite or Islamist? I personally need more than that.
Ismail Patel is a director of Islam Expo, an Islamic organisation combating Islamic extremism. They seem pretty liberal and progressive. Not as liberal as I'd want. But hardly extremist. For example, I didn't find any statement about homosexuality. Neither positive, nor negative. That indicates an open mind about it.
He's called Ismail. That suggests he belongs to the Kurdish Ismaili branch of Shia Islam. Ismailis are liberal. They don't believe that the Quran is the final word. They believe that God will continually send new prophets and inspire Imams to educate and update our values. Ismailis have no theological problem with contradicting the Quran if it's moral values seem out of date. They just see the Quran as a good starting point.
Contrast his views or those of Friends of Al-Aqsa with Hammas who's founding charter looks like it was written in feces on a padded cell-wall. Overtly racist and anti-semitic. Just hate speech from start to finish. A confusing mess unable to keep Palestinian nationalism apart from Islam in general. It even references The protocols of the elders or Zion.
Hammas is a terrorist organisation. I don't think Friends of Al-Aqsa is even close.
So all we've got is he as a young man attended a panel discussion of a group that may or may not have leaders who might be slightly anti-semitic. And contrast that with him as an adult, constantly kissing Jewish ass and trying to "see both sides".
I'll need more than that before I burn somebody for witchcraft
