Radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary said that Conservative MP Sir David Ammes, who was stabbed to death by a Muslim man with Islamist extremist ties on Friday, may have been targeted for his pro-Israel stance, The Jewish Chronicle reported.

“Many people do [believe] that [Israel] is a terrorist state, and who would possibly be a friend of Israel after you see the carnage that they carried out against Muslims in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and continue to do with the appropriation of properties,” Choudary told the Mail on Sunday.

In fact, Amess was a close friend of the Jewish people and Israel. He served in the past as the honorary secretary of Conservative Friends of Israel and attended a number of events in the Jewish community, including the Chareidi community. He was also an active supporter of the Holocaust Educational Trust.

Another Chronicle report added that beginning in the 1980s, Amess campaigned for the erection of a statue honouring Raoul Wallenberg. He eventually succeeded and the statue was unveiled in 1997 by Queen Elizabeth outside the Western Marble Arch Synagogue.

During a discussion (via teleconference) in the Parliament on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day last January, Amess spoke out against anti-Semitism and said that he would have been proud to have been born a Jew.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)