The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) - a group with a history of promoting extremists including al-Qaeda linked cleric Anwar al Awalki - are due to hold an event on 13 February which includes speakers who support a proscribed terrorist groups.
FOSIS, who claim to represent around 90,000 Muslim students in Britain, has consistently denied that extremism exists on British University campuses. After revelations of Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's links with UCL, FOSIS President, Faisal Hanjra said:
We reaffirm our stance that there is no credible evidence to suggest that university campuses in the UK are arenas of radicalization or that students are particularly at risk of the threat of radicalization; however we remain committed in conjunction with various partners and organizations to ensure that universities remain safe places for both students and staff.
The 'Palestine Conference 2010', to be held at the University of Manchester, will include the following speakers:
Azzam Tamimi: In January 2009, Tamimi stated that he was in close contact with a leading member of Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation. He has also described himself as a 'sympathiser and supporter of Hamas'.
During a speech in Trafalgar Square in 2006 he glorified two terrorist organisations, Hamas and Hezbollah: It is a matter of time as they (Israel) withdrew from South Lebanon, because of the great Jihad of Hizbollah...as they withdrew from Gaza, because of the great Jihad of Hamas and Islamic Jihad!
Tamimi supports Hamas suicide bombings and in a November 2004 interview with Tim Sebastian on BBC Hardtalk, he stated that, were he given the opportunity, he would carry out a suicide bombing against Israel:
Tim Sebastian: So this is the reason - the only thing that is holding you back from strapping on a suicide belt is the fact that you can't get back to the Palestinian territories?
Azzam Tamimi: You see sacrificing myself for Palestine is a noble cause. It is the straight way to pleasing my God and I would do it if I had the opportunity.
Tamimi is known to have made antisemitic remarks, saying that Jews should:
Sail on the sea in ships back to where they came or drown in it.
Listen Israel and Jews around the world, unless you change there is no future for you.
Ismael Patel: Patel has previously told Manchester students that a Palestinian state could only exist at the expense of Israel and referred to Hamas, proscribed by the US and UK as a terrorist organisation, as 'one of the noblest resistance movements I've come across.'
During a January 2009 protest against Israel's Operation Cast Lead, Patel gave a speech in which he again praised Hamas:
Hamas is no terrorist organization. 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.
In January 2007, Patel wrote an article in which he praised senior Hamas member Ismael Haniyah, suggesting that western leaders could learn from him:
"Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, the man elected in those scrupulously free and fair elections, has stood proud and dignified. Alone after Friday prayers one day in November, he said what no democratic leader of recent times has said: "If the choice is either lifting the siege or Haniyah, I choose the lifting of the siege."
[...]No wonder the Western-backed "peace process" has struggled to bring its version of democracy to Palestine; Western leaders can neither match nor relate to Haniyah's stature as a politician and a human being.
Daud Abdullah: Abdullah is the deputy secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). In March 2009, the then Communities Minister Hazel Blears cut ties with the MCB because of Abdullah's endorsement of a statement which supported an uncompromising jihad against Israel. Included in the statement to which Abdullah put his name was a rejection of all Middle East peace initiatives in favour of jihad:
We affirm in full conviction that the Palestinian Authority, whose mandate is coming to an end, is not eligible to represent the Palestinian people. It stands outside the will of its people, and has given up the choice of jihad in the way of Allah...
We affirm in full conviction that the so-called Arab peace initiative is a proven betrayal of the Islamic Nation and the Palestinian cause...
Douglas Murray, Director of the CSC, says:
"FOSIS has shown yet again that they are part of the problem rather than the solution. They have a long track record of promoting extremists before the Detroit incident, and now continue to do so.
"Their continued support for terrorist sympathisers and supporters proves that FOSIS are the wrong partners in the fight against extremism."
