Loading ...Centre for Social Cohesion accuses SOAS of giving extremists a platform
A right-wing think tank has accused SOAS of inviting Islamic extremists to give lectures on campus.The Centre for Social Cohesion, which claims to “to specialise in studying radicalisation and extremism within Britain”, criticised SOAS for inviting Ibrahim el-Moussaoui and Dr Kamal Helbawy to speak at a course on political Islam for Government officials and police later this month.
The CSC claimed that “In their willingness to pay extremists like Dr Helbawy and Dr el-Moussaoui, SOAS are helping these men present themselves as mainstream figures”.
They cite an interview Dr Helbawy, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, gave to the BBC Arabic service in which he appeared to justify the killing of Israeli children, claiming: “he is a future soldier.”
They claim Dr el-Moussaoui was a head of al-Manar TV, linked with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. He is quoted in The New Yorker as calling Jews “a lesion on the forehead of history.”
SOAS defended its decision, saying: “The rationale behind the invitation to Dr. Moussaoui is to help government officials and other senior leaders understand more clearly what makes Hizbollah tick.”
“The School has not given Dr. Moussaoui an individual platform for his views. Had he on any previous occasion indulged in any racist incitement, he would not have been allowed to continue with his presentation and were he to do so in the future, the same would apply.”
[...] – to use the home secretary’s phrase – be conducive to the public good. A Soas statement explained: The rationale behind the invitation to Dr Moussaoui is to help government officials and other [...]