Press Release
Being a “Huge Zionist” means Supporting a Brutal and Illegal Occupation

In the midst of a failing economy, double digit inflation, escalating mortgage rates, higher energy bills, a tax U-turn, rising debt, a pension fund liquidity crisis, a war in Ukraine, a depreciating currency, increased immigration and sinking polling numbers, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (and perhaps half of her cabinet) found time to make an appearance at a CFI fringe event at their party conference where she proudly declared herself “a huge Zionist.” Some at the event also called for Britain to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. She also stated that Britain would work with its allies to collectively prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.

Though many of the statements are not new, indeed the current Prime Minister as Foreign Secretary made many similar statements, it is important to reiterate the following points:

Being a “huge Zionist” means that you support the Zionist entity’s brutal occupation of nearly 75 years. An occupation that even the UN’s special rapporteur and several Western human rights organisations have labelled as an “apartheid system.” It takes a special kind of hypocrisy to condemn Putin's brutal occupation of Ukraine and then turn a blind eye to what’s happening to the people of Palestine. In fact the lack of any statements about the plight of Palestinians at the event clearly demonstrates not just a lack of human empathy, but significant discrimination and prejudice on an institutional level.

What else should we expect from a British establishment who created the problem of the Zionist entity, carved up the region and then incited wars amongst its former subjects. The destruction of the Khilafah (Caliphate), the Balfour Declaration and Sykes-Picot were critical components in Britain’s insipid colonial history.

Many in the British establishment are quick to condemn Palestinian resistance: labelling it terrorism, but conveniently forget that the Zionist entity itself was founded through the violence of the Stern and Irgun terrorists, the killing of British soldiers at the King David Hotel and the ethnic cleansing of 700,000 Palestinians.

It is evident that British support for the Zionist entity is not rooted in the oft trumpeted “shared democratic values” (putting aside for now that the EIU index calls the Zionist state a “flawed democracy” and human rights organisations view it as an “apartheid state”); rather it is firmly rooted in trade, economic and technological interests which only benefit the 1% wealthy elite. Britain has a long history of close relationships and trade with authoritarian nations in the Gulf after all.

The debate about moving embassies isn’t about symbols, buildings, or locations. It is part of the Zionist entity’s continued attempt to legitimise its illegal occupation following the Abraham Accords. Jerusalem isn’t the capital of the Zionist entity, but one of the holiest cities on earth, the location of the first qibla and the place where Prophet Muhammad (saw) travelled to by night before ascending to the heavens (Isra and Miraj).

The West’s continued double standards on who gets nuclear weapons never gets old. Condemning Iran while turning a blind eye to the West’s vast nuclear arsenal and those owned by the Zionist entity may sound credible in Birmingham, but is met with derision and ridicule in much of the rest of the world.

So how should Muslims respond?

It is important to distinguish between Zionism and Judaism. It is important to note that Zionism has very little to do with Judaism. Many of the original Zionist leaders were atheists, while many committed Jews actively oppose the goals of Zionism.

The Islamic State which implements the Islamic Shariah, though vehemently opposing Zionism and the occupation of Palestine, actually protects the rights of Jews to practice their faith. In fact prominent Jewish scholars cite how Islam actually saved Jewry (e.g. Wasserstein in the Jewish Chronicle 2012); first from the Roman Byzantines and then from the Spanish Inquisition. The Uthmani Khilafah offered them safe haven and even gave them prominent societal roles. The uncomfortable truth for many in the British establishment is that Muslims and Jews have not treated each other with vicious enmity for much of the last two thousand years, as it was Christianity and then their secular heirs in the West who have blamed Jews for either killing Christ, for being of an inferior race or for having an undue influence over their economies. There were no holocausts committed in the Muslim world.

In the same way that many in the West are standing with the people of Ukraine, Muslims need to stand with the people of Palestine in their time of need. We need to stand up for the Islamic solution for the region and to stand against pressures from Western politicians and media who, quite hypocritically, include the non-recognition of the Zionist occupation in their definition of extremism; frequently throwing accusations of anti-Semitism against anti-Zionists.

Muslims should realise that trying to change the stance of the British establishment is futile without an Islamic state. This is a geopolitical issue and therefore requires both statecraft and power projection. Therefore, it remains imperative to replace the existing despotic regimes in the Muslim world, who either engage in empty rhetoric, sign illegitimate treaties, or do nothing to help the people of Palestine. These states have more than enough capability in terms of human, economic, energy, infrastructure and military resources to end the oppression and liberate Palestine now, but they lack the faith, courage and political will.

Muslims must therefore support the work for the Islamic solution for Palestine: the Khilafah on the way of Prophethood. It is a model that would bring real justice to the region, replacing the tyrants and dictators in the Muslim world, liberating the occupied land, throwing off the shackles of colonialism, ending oppression and establishing a system over the Muslim world that will allow Muslims, Jews, Christians and others, to live peacefully together. Regardless of what is said by the Zionists in the British establishment: history and the laws of Islam are a clear testimony to this.

(يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ)

“O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart and that to Him you will be gathered” [Al-Anfal:24]

Yahya Nisbet
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Britain