News broke this week that a London-based organisation hosted a talk from an IRGC member who encouraged his London audience to be “soldiers” and stand against the “Zionists and Jews across the world.”
The Islamic Students Association has hosted a number of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members with messages of antisemitism and threats against non-Muslims.
The UK government’s inaction in banning the IRGC is allowing the terror group to spread its extremist messages legally within the UK. If we needed any more evidence that the IRGC should be banned and that it is indeed a danger to British citizens, here it is.
The Jewish Chronicle reports:
Holding copies of the Quran above their heads, hundreds of Islamic radicals pledge their allegiance to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In front of them, a robed imam praises the martyrs who “bled red” for the “axis of resistance” and who are “the greatest threat to the Zionists”.
He tells the assembled crowd of men in Palestinian scarves and women in hijabs: “[You are the] the ideological front, the spiritual frontline… You and I have been entrusted with the responsibility of making sure that these Satanic agendas and policies do not expand to our lands. We need to stop them here.”
The article goes on to explain how “this display of zealotry took place not in Tehran or Qom, but in an Edwardian former Methodist church in the quiet, gentrified back streets of Hammersmith, west London, last month.”
It’s a sad sign of Christian decline in the country that such hatred is now being espoused in what was a former church building, a place that was supposed to bring glory to God.
The JC article explains how in January 2021, during lockdown, the Islamic Student Association of Britain hosted an online talk from Ghasemi for students in the UK and Europe.
In the talk, Ghasemi claimed that the IRGC had helped train Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda for the 9/11 attacks. He also discussed the “martyrdom” of Qasem Soleimani, the IRGC’s terror mastermind who was killed in a US drone strike in 2020.
“Soleimani’s blood gives us a positive energy,” Ghasemi told his audience. “His pieces were spread among millions of hearts across the Islamic world and you can no longer prevent or stop this.
“This energy became radiant, and millions of Qasem Soleimani’s — and millions of Imad Mughniyeh’s — followers were nurtured. This will bring an end to the life of the oppressors and occupiers, Zionists and Jews across the world.
“We are going for an apocalyptic war, and its conclusion will be the return of Imam Mahdi…
“God willing, myself and you good students in Europe will be written in the beautiful list of the soldiers of the resistance front tonight, Imam Mahdi will approve it, and we will have a share in the apocalyptic victory.”
These IRGC leaders were expressing their views on a certain branch end time theology amongst Shia Muslims who believe there will be a holy war against Jews and “infidels” following the return of “Imam Mahdi”, a 9th-century figure whom Shia Muslims believe will reappear one day to wage an apocalyptic war.
Additionally, another antisemitic speaker that was hosted by the London based group was Hossein Yekta, also from the IRGC’s Lebas Shakhsi division.
Yekta had previously claimed that Jews “created homosexuality, are destroying the environment, are destroying the family”. The world has entered the “preface to the apocalypse”, he has claimed, and the “era of the Jews” will soon be at an end.
His online talk to the British Islamic student group, viewed more than 1,500 times on Instagram alone, urged UK-based students to “raise the flag of the Islamic Revolution, Islam and martyrdom”. They must see themselves as “holy warriors in the field of knowledge”, he urged, and be ready to fight alongside the Mahdi.
It is clear that some strong opinions are being expressed that can be interpreted both as antisemitic but also as a call for violence.
As mentioned above, one of the criteria for proscribing a group is if they pose a direct threat to British citizens. There will be a number of minority groups who will feel threatened by the teachings inside this London institution, in particular the Jewish people, but also Christians and people of other faiths and none, as all non-Muslims are being threatened with a “holy war” against them by these speakers.
This goes against the principles of the UK and should not be accepted in our society. It is surprising that the government is continuing to take a soft approach and we continue to urge them to outlaw the IRGC to stop them from being able to spread threats and hatred within Britain.
If you would like to tell your MP that you want to see the IRGC banned, please do so using our campaign tool. It takes just a couple of minutes and a few clicks to send an email directly to your MP. Click here to take action.
Christians must also pray about this situation.
We do not fight against people, but against principalities and we do that with our prayers. So let’s pray for our nation and of course that Britain will stand up for the Jewish people, stand up for Christians, stand against hatred, and stand with Israel.
