The Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester
Established to develop the cultural and social ties between the Muslim and Jewish communities of Greater Manchester

Jewish Telegraph article about Afzal Khan CBE MP

5 August 2019

The 2 August 2019  issue of the Jewish Telegraph carried a story on page 22 with the title: “Muslim-Jewish Forum Founder ‘must think we are stupid’ after apologising for new antisemitic tweet”.

The article is currently reproduced on the Jewish Telegraph Facebook page.

The Jewish Telegraph story is clearly based upon the facts set out in the BBC News story published on 26 July 2019 “Shadow minister apologises over 'anti-Semitic conspiracy'”. We have hyperlinked the BBC News story.

The Forum would not normally comment on stories about individual politicians, but we have chosen to do so in this case as the Jewish Telegraph has specifically mentioned that Mr Khan was “Founder” (strictly Co-Founder) of the Forum, which indeed he was. He was also the Muslim Co-Chair from its incorporation in June 2005 until spring 2013.

The Jewish Telegraph story’s heading is inaccurate. The issue is not a tweet (either created or forwarded by Mr Khan) but Mr Khan’s sharing of a Facebook post, as the BBC story makes clear.

Prior to publishing their story, the BBC telephoned our current Muslim Co-Chair Mohammed Amin MBE. Mr Amin is quoted in the BBC News story as follows:

“Its co-chair, Mohammed Amin, said he had known Mr Khan for 20 years and while he was "careless" and showed "poor-judgment", the MP was not an anti-Semite.

Mr Amin said: "My view of Afzal Khan is that he's not anti-Jewish," before adding Mr Khan was just, "very sloppy".”

As would be expected, many members of the Forum’s Executive have also known Mr Khan for many years, both through his founding of the Forum and in some cases prior to that.

We concur with Mr Amin’s comments. It was extremely careless of Mr Khan to share the Facebook post without properly reading and assessing what he was about to share. People in public life, and especially MEPs, as Mr Khan then was, are expected to be more meticulous about their actions.

However, we do not accept the implication that Mr Khan’s careless sharing of the Facebook post demonstrates any antisemitic intent. The MJF executive members own personal experience of Mr Khan shows that he does not harbour any anti-Jewish attitudes.

Indeed, Mr Khan’s positive view of the Jewish community is further evidenced by many other facts including the following:

• In 2014 The Jewish Representative Council for Greater Manchester and Region honoured Mr Khan with a “highly commended” certificate  when he was runner up in its annual award for “Friend of the  Community” which is given each year to the best friend of the Jewish community who is not Jewish.
• When he was a councillor on Manchester City Council, he endorsed the creation of the North Manchester Eruv.
• He has attended Jewish funerals and houses of mourning.
• In October 2014 he organised a gathering of Jewish and Muslim religious leaders at the European Parliament to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia.
• He also worked with fellow MEPs to pass a European Parliament resolution calling on EU Member States and their institutions to adopt and apply the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
• Since the inception of Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations in the UK Mr Khan has been a regular attender.
• In September 2018 he attended the Manchester rally against antisemitism alongside our Jewish Co-Chair Heather Fletcher.

The Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester
Established to develop the cultural and social ties between the Muslim and Jewish Communities of Greater Manchester