UK: Islamic Relief Worldwide entire board steps down over antisemitism row

(Birmingham)  The entire board of Islamic Relief Worldwide the UK’s largest Muslim charity has stepped down after it emerged that the man drafted in to replace Heshmat Khalifa its former director who made antisemitic comments online had himself posted offensive comments on Facebook.

Almoutaz Tayara,

Islamic Relief Worldwide new director, Almoutaz Tayara, who joined the board last month after his disgraced predecessor quit over anti-Semitic comments, has described the leaders of Hamas terror group as “great men” who were answering the “divine and holy call of the Muslim Brotherhood.” he also posted an image of former President Barack Obama wearing a tie branded with the Star of David, with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Assad of Syria on his lap with quote marks saying 'Death to America!' and 'Death... death'

Tayara who also heads up Islamic Relief Germany, an independent affiliate of IRW,  was allowed to keep his position there after it was discovered  he had posted antisemitic comments on his own social media accounts. Tayara deleted them and apologised, and was allowed to continue in his position with the affiliate.

On its website Islamic Relief Worldwide made the following statement:

The board of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) have acted swiftly and decisively in the light of historic social media posts by a trustee that were offensive and unacceptable, and in no way reflect the views and core values of the organisation. A number of posts made in 2014 and 2015 on the personal Facebook account of Dr Almoutaz Tayara contravene the values of IRW, and Dr Tayara will play no further part in the governance of IRW