Muslim Council Of Britain Leader Facing Calls For Resignation Over Gaza Statement

U.K media is reporting on calls for the resignation of Dr Daud Abdullah, deputy director-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), following revalations that he signed a statement of religious scholar, clerics, and senior Hamas that called for a “third Jihadist front” centered on Gaza. According to a U.K. newspaper report:

One of the UK’s most influential Islamic leaders, who has helped counter extremism in the country’s mosques, is accused of advocating attacks on the Royal Navy if it tries to stop arms for Hamas being smuggled into Gaza. Dr Daud Abdullah, deputy director-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, is facing calls for his resignation, after it emerged that he is one of 90 Muslim leaders from around the world who have signed a public declaration in support of Hamas and military action. Abdullah, who led the MCB’s boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day, was a member of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, the body endorsed by the government that trains imams and was set up to curtail the activities of extremist clerics. In January, he briefed the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, and communities secretary Hazel Blears on the situation in Gaza and its likely impact on social cohesion in the UK. There were calls last night for the government and the MCB to condemn Abdullah’s actions…. A spokesman for the MCB, which says it speaks for about 400 mosques and Muslim organisations, declined to comment. Abdullah did not respond to repeated requests for an interview. Two other prominent British Muslims ‘ names also appear as signatoriesto the declaration: Mohammed Sawalha, an organiser of Islam Expo, the huge annual gathering of Muslims in east London, added his name to the list; and Sheikh Rashid al-Ghannoushi of the Tunisian an-Nahdhah party, who resides in the UK, also signed.A spokeswoman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: “We are aware of the conference held in Istanbul last month and are very concerned that the statement from the event calls for direct support for acts of violence in the Middle East and beyond. We are also aware that a senior member of the MCB may have been a signatory to this statement. If it is proven that the individual concerned had been a signatory, we would expect [the MCB]to ask him to resign and to confirm its opposition to acts of violent extremism.”

The statement resulted from a recent conference in Istanbul and was first reported by the GMBDW based on a translation from Muslim World News.

The MCB is a U.K. umbrella group dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood,