A leading think tank has now been criticised by its regulator, Britain’s Charity Commission, after its chairman made antisemitic remarks last year.
The Oxford Initiative for British Islam became subject to a compliance investigation after chair Dr. Taj Hargey gave an interview where he compared Zionism and Nazism. He also claimed that politicians with family links to Judaism or Zionism should be “identified”—so that “the public should know that [they] aren’t objective and unbiased.”
Hargey did not disclose a precise method for identifying Jews, or whether the same procedure should apply to public figures linked to Islam or other faiths and ideologies.
Charitable trustees for the think tank—whose role is to protect its constitution and its integrity—argued that he was speaking in a personal capacity. Yet the Commission found that, by failing to call out their chair’s speech, the trustees opened up the charity to “harm.”
Steve Roake, assistant director of investigations and compliance at the commission, said:
We also found that the trustees didn’t take sufficient steps to distance their charity from comments made by its chair, and are critical of the trustees for this failure.
Previously, Dr. Hargey was seen as a moderate figure prepared to stand up to the Labour government’s censorious official definition of Islamophobia. He also condemned Oxford’s Imams as far back as 2013 for preaching the social attitudes that encourage ‘grooming’ (i.e. rape and torture) gangs among predominantly Pakistani-heritage men in Britain.
The think tank also received an official warning after repeatedly failing to submit its accounts on time.
