Muslim advocacy group MEND have cancelled an event featuring a controversial American chaplain after the JC revealed he had made inflammatory remarks about Jews, Zionism and the Holocaust — as well as criticising homosexuality.
The organisation confirmed to the JC that had taken “immediate action” over the blogs posted by Gareth Bryant, who had been scheduled to a lecture to an online event organised by the group titled ‘A Critique of Anti-Blackness Via Muslim Religio-Scholarship’ on Thursday.
MEND added that it “apologised unreservedly for the incident.”
In an advert MEND had described Mr Bryant’s appearance as a “fantastic opportunity to educate yourselves and ask questions to increase your understanding of this topic”.
But on Tuesday, the JC has revealed a series of controversial blogs written by the New York-based activist including one titled, “What’s happening in Palestine/Israel is very simple…here’s what I call it: #HolocaustRemix”.
In the article he wrote: “Why are people so pathologically afraid to just admit that the Zionists are the new Nazis & Fascists..?”
Another blog by Mr Bryant described New York as “Jew York City”, while a further article alleged homosexuality was “sinning”.
MEND told the JC that it “apologised unreservedly for the incident.” It added: “We do not know how the comments and the blog were missed by our team, and are looking into ensuring such an issue does not repeat itself in the future.”
In a further statement, the organisation confirmed: “MEND is deeply concerned with revelations regarding statements previously made by Mr Gareth Bryant. We have, therefore, taken the decision to cancel the event ‘A Critique of Anti-Blackness Via Muslim Religio-Scholarship’ that was scheduled to feature Mr Bryant on Thursday 29 October 2020.
“We believe that some of the language used by Mr Bryant is indefensible and totally at odds with our ethos and values. We have contacted Mr Bryant to seek his views.
“MEND would like to wholeheartedly apologise for any offence caused and reiterate our commitment to standing firmly against antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all other forms of racism and prejudice.”
