Twenty-six “Muslim scholars” based in Britain have called for “fascist” Israel to be returned to the Arabs, and expressed their hope that “Jerusalem will be the capital of the Islamic Caliphate when it returns, Allah willing.”

5Pillars, which describes itself as “The largest *regulated* Muslim news site in Europe & the Americas” — but has been described by Lead Commissioner for the Commission for Countering Extremism Sara Khan as “Islamist” — published the open letter on its website, and invited “Any Muslim scholar who would like to sign this open statement” to get in touch.

The statement, which 5Pillars say was “spearheaded by Shaykh Asrar Rashid from Birmingham”, asserts that the signatories “do not recognise ‘Israel’ as a legitimate state.”

“‘Israel’ must return the entirety of Palestinian land,” they demand.

“Palestinians have no link to the holocaust and the crimes of the Second World War against the Jewish people.

“We condemn the continued fascist Zionist oppression which has cost the Palestinian people their freedom, homeland and lives for over seventy years.”

The signatories insist that Islam “does not promote anti-Semitism and Arabs are also a Semitic people”, and claim that Islamic rulers treated Christians in the region with benevolence “until the Zionist occupation ended the mutual tolerance that had existed for over a millennium.”

“Jerusalem will be the capital of the Islamic Caliphate when it returns, Allah willing,” they conclude.

Some of Judaism’s holiest sites are located in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem; the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron; and Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus.

Who are Britain's "Muslim reformers" and what do they want to change about Islam? Watch | Share | Like | Retweet pic.twitter.com/YNWDCtODVC — 5Pillars (@5Pillarsuk) November 17, 2017

Sara Khan, who was appointed to her role at the Commission for Countering Extremism by former home secretary Amber Rudd in 2018, previously described 5Pillars as a “British based Islamist” organisation with an “anti-Western agenda… which include[s] support for a caliphate, Islamic penal codes and physical jihad.”

5Pillars, for its part, has repeatedly denounced Ms Khan, accusing her commission of being “deeply motivated by Islamophobia” and criticising her for praising Ahmadiyya Muslims — who 5Pillars brand a “heretical sect” despite describing themselves as “non-sectarian” on social media — for their peacefulness and tolerance of others.

MI5: Number of Far Right Terror Cases ‘Absolutely Dwarfed by the Number of Islamist Cases’ https://t.co/eikJsW7UUG — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 21, 2019