A London School of Economics (LSE) donor is being investigated after the JC revealed that he had shared a post saying that any faith leader who engages in interfaith dialogue with the Chief Rabbi should be “publicly shamed”. 

Canada-based entrepreneur Saqib Iqbal Qureshi, who has written for national newspapers and produced a BBC documentary about British Muslims, has made many inflammatory statements on X/Twitter.

On 8 March, he shared a post that showed Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis meeting Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, accompanied by a comment saying: “Any Muslim faith leader that engages in ‘interfaith dialogue’ with the genocide-supporting chief rabbi has betrayed the Palestinians, and should be publicly shamed.”

Demonstrators at the London School of Economics (LSE) during the Student Protest For Palestine (Credit: Vuk Valcic / Alamy Live News)

The same day he wrote a post saying it was “strange that Zionists want Jews to be recognised as human beings, but have for a century refused to see Palestinians as such”.

Qureshi has shared or posted several statements comparing Israelis to the Nazis.

Recently, he posted that American politicians who support Israel had been “bribed” and claimed Jews were “weaponising the Holocaust” over Gaza.

He has stated that the “core” mission of Hamas is “resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation” and to “free the occupied territories”, rather than to destroy the Jewish state or “kill Jews”.

On 6 March he shared photos of Hitler and Netanyahu posing with their right arms outstretched, with the comment: “Same s***, different a**hole”.

He has repeatedly claimed that American politicians who support Israel have been “bought” by the “Israeli lobby”.

On 28 February he asked: “Can anyone identify an American politician who backs Israel and 1) has not been bribed by Zionists or 2) is not Zionist or married to one?”

In December last year LSE was accused of “turning a blind eye” to academics who appeared to have celebrated or supported Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

One of them, assistant professor of human rights Mai Taha, posted on October 7: “Good morning, Palestine… Solidarity to the long Palestinian revolution!”, adding a smiling face and a red heart emoji.

In its response at the time, LSE said it considered both “freedom of expression” and “mutual respect” to be important.

Qureshi, who has written books about Islam as well as articles for The Financial Times, The Wall St Journal and The Spectator, went to school in London and has a PhD from the LSE.

The chief executive of Western Capital Inc, which builds Canadian student housing, is an LSE “fellow”, according to the university’s website.

Last year, the businessman presented the LSE with what the university described as “generous” funding for a new Jinnah Visiting Fellowship, which is intended to “spark meaningful conversations about Pakistan and its place in the world”.

A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “These tweets, apparently posted by Dr Saqib Qureshi, are vile and divisive.”

An LSE spokesperson said in relation to Qureshi: “We are aware of these social media messages and have begun an urgent investigation.”

Qureshi said any suggestion that he supports Hamas is “completely false and without any evidence.”

He added: “I do not support Hamas. It is a mistake to misconstrue my unwillingness to blanket-condemn Hamas as synonymous with support for Hamas.”​

He also said: “I condemn the attack on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and several other organisations on Israeli civilians.​...​ I have long maintained that Hamas is as much a terrorist organisation as was the Irgun.”