Ahmed Bhamji told the rally: “I feel Mossad is behind this.” A bystander responded: “It’s the truth. Israel is behind this.” 

By Benjamin Kerstein, Algemeiner

The chairman of a New Zealand mosque was caught on video telling a rally in the city of Auckland that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and “Zionist business” were behind the recent shooting attack on two mosques in Christchurch.

Fifty people were killed and dozens more wounded in the attacks on March 15. Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant, a white supremacist, was arrested and charged with the crime.

According to New Zealand news outlet Newshub, the Saturday rally was intended to memorialize the victims of the attacks, but at one point Ahmed Bhamji, chairman of the Mt. Roskill Masjid E Umar mosque, stated, “I really want to say one thing today. Do you think this guy was alone? … I want to ask you, where did he get the funding from?

“I stand here and I say I have a very very strong suspicion that there’s some group behind him and I am not afraid to say I feel Mossad is behind this,” he added.

A bystander then responds, “It’s the truth. Israel is behind this. That’s right!”

After the video of the speech was posted on Twitter, the New Zealand Jewish community quickly responded.

“These conspiracy theories are dangerous lies. They put the Jewish community at risk at a time of heightened security concerns,” said New Zealand Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses. “Conspiracy theories – particularly the idea that Jews (whether through the Jewish state or otherwise) are a malevolent controlling force in the world – are at the very core of anti-Semitism.”

Referring to Love Aotearoa Hate Racism, the group that organized the rally, Moses said, “It is unfortunate that they did not appear to put its anti-racism message into practice by challenging or condemning the racism in their midst.

“We must call out hateful dehumanizing language, whatever the source, target, and circumstances, and even when it is not politically expedient to do so,” she admonished.

Bhamji himself was contacted by Newshub and proved unapologetic about his remarks. “Mossad is up to all these things,” he stated. “When I talk about Mossad, why should the Jews be upset about it? Give me an answer.”

Asked for comment, Love Aotearoa Hate Racism co-founder Joe Carolan said that Bhamji was only one of many speakers, and denied believing his claims.

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Bob Bland apologized for sharing an accusation on social media against the Jewish establishment, originally posted by Jesse Rabinowitz, who worked for J Street.

By World Israel News Staff

Bob Bland, a co-chair of the 2017 Women’s March, has apologized for sharing a social media post which accused the “American Jewish establishment” of bearing responsibility for the attacks on two New Zealand mosques earlier this month, in which 50 people were killed.

The Facebook post said: “The same language and hate that folks spew against Sisters Linda Sarsour and Ilhan Omar killed 54 Muslims in New Zealand. You can’t stand in solidarity with the Muslim community and simultaneously disavow Muslim women for speaking their truths. American Jewish Establishment, I’m looking at you.”

It was posted by Jesse Rabinowitz, who lists on his Facebook account that he worked for J Street.

This past weekend, Bland apologized for sharing the post.

“It has come to my attention that some people are upset that I shared Jesse’s post. I was juggling two kids on a Sunday and not being mindful. I’m sorry. I do agree with the first two sentences that Jesse said, except I would extend it to all establishment politicians of both parties, of any or no faith. Words matter and I should have clarified,” said Bland in a comment on the Facebook post.

“If I had time, I would have also said that white Christian supremacy is the real threat,” she wrote.

“What all the recent terrorists have in common are a shared ideology of anti-Blackness, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia. Again, my apologies and I will be more considerate in the future,” she concluded

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“No one should be harmed in any way while peacefully praying in a house of worship,” writes a daughter-in-law of a Pittsburgh victim.

By The Algemeiner

Members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community are reaching out to the Muslims of Christchurch after the massacre at two mosques in the New Zealand city on Friday in which 50 worshipers were killed by a white supremacist gunman.

Marnie Fienberg — whose mother-in-law was one of the 11 Jews murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October, also by a white supremacist assailant — wrote in NOW Magazine: “New Zealand may be halfway around the globe, but it’s the same story of hate and violence against people peacefully praying to their Creator.”

In addition to those killed, seven people were wounded during the attack at the Pittsburgh synagogue.

“I wish I was there to comfort the families and help support them in their pain and agony,” she added.

“I can’t stop crying for those left behind, especially the children — children who are old enough to understand that there is loss, but don’t understand the meaningless and utterly insane hatred that spawned it. Remembering the look on your children’s faces when you told them that their grandmother is dead from hatred haunts you every day,” said Feinberg.

“No one — no matter one’s religion, age, color, anything — should be harmed in any way while peacefully praying in a house of worship,” she wrote.

“To the families that are reeling, I want to say that we in the Jewish community are your siblings; we are all children of Abraham. We are appalled at this attack and mourn your loss deeply. We pray for peace, and I personally will pray today that your families are sitting beside Allah in paradise.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is collecting donations for Christchurch’s Muslim community.

“Unfortunately we are all too familiar with the devastating effect a mass shooting has on a faith community,” Meryl Ainsman, the chair of the federation’s board, said. “We are filled with grief over this senseless act of hate. May those who were injured heal quickly and fully, and may the memories of the victims forever be a blessing.”

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At a vigil for the victims of the attacks on two Christchurch mosques, an NYU student accused Chelsea Clinton of using rhetoric encouraging attacks on Muslims.

By World Israel News Staff

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son Don Jr. has come to the defense of Chelsea Clinton, daughter of the Democratic presidential candidate who his father defeated in 2016.

In the immediate aftermath of the New Zealand mosque massacres on Friday, the younger Clinton was confronted by a student while attending a New York University (NYU) interfaith vigil for the victims of the terror attacks on the two mosques.

A Twitter user by the name of “@Esor_Fasa” uploaded a video of a confrontation between NYU senior Leen Dweik and Clinton at the vigil on Friday night, according to the Washington Examiner, which adds that the account on which this video originated has since been deleted.

“This, right here, is a result of a massacre stoked by people like you and the words that you have put out into the world,” Dweik told Clinton in the video. “And I want you to know that and I want you to feel that deep down inside. Forty-nine people died because of the rhetoric you put out there.”

The student was referring to Clinton’s comments last month about the rhetoric used by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a Muslim who criticized the support many members of Congress maintain with Israel. In various critical comments made by Omar about Israel, she has been accused of using anti-Semitic tropes.

Clinton joined the condemnations against Omar saying that “we should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism.”

On Saturday, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that “it’s sickening to see people blame Chelsea Clinton for the New Zealand attacks because she spoke out against anti-Semitism. We should all be condemning anti-Semitism and all forms of hate,” wrote Don Jr., adding that “Chelsea should be praised for speaking up. Anyone who doesn’t understand this is part of the problem.”

Clinton co-founded an interfaith leadership institute at NYU in 2012, the Washington Examiner noted.

Dweik appears to be a left-wing student activist who helped disrupt a talk by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the university last year, and a student senator representing Middle East and North African students, it said.

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