This is the email from the Jewish Chronicle, followed by IHRC’s reply

Hi there,

I’m a reporter at the Jewish Chronicle newspaper and am getting in touch about the forthcoming Al Quds Day March, which you have organised.

What do you have to say to Londoners who are bracing themselves the yearly mass demonstration of Jew hate that has come to represent the Al Quds Day march? At the rallies, Hezbollah and Hamas flags and IRGC support were out in the open.

We also note the worrying track record of your chairman, Massoud Shadjareh, who co-authored a 2008 paper in which he wrote: “We are all Hezbollah.” He described Ayatollah Khomeini as “a torch of light for the whole of mankind”. He said he “aspired to become like” General Qasem Soleimani.

Shadjareh blamed the “papers” of “Zionist institutions” for the Charity Commission’s decision to open a statutory inquiry into a mosque that was dubbed the “London office” of Iran’s brutal Revolutionary Guards.

You will be marching alongside organisations who have repeatedly called Hamas revolutionary freedom fighters and sought to “debunk” Israeli claims of mass rape and beheadings committed by Hamas on October 7.

Do you have any comment to add to these accusations?

Many thanks,

Jane

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Dear Ms Prinsley,

Thank you for your email dated 25 March 2024.

The rate at which you churn out half-truths and innuendos in your email(s) to malign those critical of Israel is astonishing. In fact it would make for great amusement, but for the fact your journalism is a facade that provides cover to Israel to prosecute its genocide against the Palestinian people.

We are aware that you have previously distorted facts to vilify those who are critical of Israel while working for the Guardian [i] not to mention the fact that your current publication has been at the forefront of whitewashing Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians.

That you should reflexively malign any form of criticism directed at Israel, even from fellow Jews[ii], is not surprising – that is the nature of client journalism.

In recent years, the increasing incitement of hatred by Zionist organisations and publications against the al-Quds Day demonstration has led to an upsurge in harassment and intimidation of peaceful protestors. It has been recognised as a peaceful event by the police, the mayor, even the courts when sentencing those seeking to harm our attendees.

Yet pro-Israeli mouthpieces like the Jewish Chronicle continue to work relentlessly to vilify both organisers and participants with horrific consequences.

You should be aware that a massacre at the 2017 Al-Quds Day rally was only narrowly averted when the far right terrorist Darren Osborne, who had been incited by online articles against Muslims in pro-Israel publications, failed to breach the police cordon to attack demonstrators. He changed his choice of target to Muslim worshippers at Finsbury Park Mosque, ramming his truck into a group of worshippers and killing an elderly man.

In 2018 and 2019, a known Zionist extremist with ties to an outlawed Jewish terrorist group in the US used social media to threaten to shoot protestors who took part in the demonstration.

Your current media campaign is reminiscent of the environment before the 2017 al-Quds Day, and will create fear in the Muslim community, which is no doubt what you intend.

If you wish to run a quote from us, please note the following statement: We will not be cowed into silence by those who wish to whitewash Israel’s crimes in Gaza. We will not be shamed by those who seek to sanitise the obscene acts being carried out by Israel in Gaza . We will not stay silent whilst the Gazans suffer.

Considering your documented hostility towards those critical of Israel, and your publication’s tendency to smear anyone who supports the Palestinian people, we will be publishing this reply in full for the sake of transparency and honesty.