Clarification: Since the publication of this article, the JC has received new information suggesting that no visa application for Sheikh Sabri had been received by the Home Office.
A Palestinian preacher who allegedly described the number of Jewish dead in the Holocaust as a “fairytale” has been reportedly barred from entering Britain, after a petition opposing his visit received over 18,000 signatures.
Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the former grand mufti of Jerusalem and current Imam of the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, was due to visit the Houses of Parliament as part of a delegation organised by Europal, a pro-Palestinian group based in London.
As reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri), Sheikh Sabri told the Italian newspaper La Republica in 2000: "Six million Jews dead? No way, they were much fewer. Let’s stop with this fairytale exploited by Israel to capture international solidarity.”
