An Islamic television channel has been reprimanded in the UK for broadcasting anti-Semitic statements. Peace TV, which is run by Dr Zakir Naik, a man banned from the UK for his extremist views, broadcasts from Dubai but receives funding from the Islamic Research Foundation International (IRFI) in Birmingham, England.
Ofcom, the British communications regulator, reviewed Peace TV’s Urdu service and raised concerns over the broadcasting of lectures by Israr Ahmad, a scholar known for his anti-Semitic views. In one of the lectures, he suggests that the Jewish people—who he described as a “cursed race”—were in a way responsible for the Holocaust.
“That is the mark of this cursed race, that despite God’s divine grace they do not take advantage of the opportunity to repent, which is why they are afflicted by great calamities and the example is what happened to them at the hands of the Germans,” he reportedly said in one of the lectures.
Peace TV, which boasts 100 million viewers, may be fined up to $350,000 for broadcasting the statements. According to The Times, a spokesperson for the channel said that airing the anti-Semitic material was a “horrendous mistake” and that “we profusely apologize.”
Dr Naik is banned from entering the UK, however he remains a trustee of the IRFI. In 2015, the IRFI gave over one million dollars to support Peace TV. The charity received over $100,000 last year in tax relief on donations.
