A government adviser on extremism was criticised last night after sending an email claiming “Jews” were behind a number of websites that undermined Islam.
Using his government email address, Maqsood Ahmed, who works at the department for Communities and Local Government, forwarded an email which stated that a number of websites it listed had been “developed by Jews who intentionally are spreading wrong information about the Qur’an, the hadith [sayings of Muhammad] and Islam itself”.
Ahmed was criticised last night by Muslim and Jewish groups for forwarding the email. “What is absolutely bewildering is that someone like Maqsood Ahmed should forward the email without any comment and from his official address,” said Anas Altikriti of the British Muslim Initiative. “At the very least sending this email reveals a serious lack of judgment.”
Last night Ahmed admitted he had made an error of judgment.
The department for Communities and Local Government said: “Mr Ahmed is clear that he in no way subscribes to any of the views expressed in this email chain. He forwarded the email to academic and interfaith colleagues in order to alert them to the kind of distasteful comments that are in circulation.”
Louise Ellman MP, a member of the British Israel parliamentary group, said the content of the email played into the antisemitic idea of a Jewish conspiracy. “I am concerned ... that the sender did not make his intentions clear.”