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U.K. Muslims Criticize Blair's Envoy to Middle East
LONDON, July 8 (IslamOnline) - The multimillionaire former record producer Lord Levy, who is Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair's personal ambassador to the Middle East, was criticized by supporters of a British-based Islamic rights group, a British newspaper said Sunday.
The Times of London said Levy, whose brief is to help the American-led Israel-leaning effort to reach a security agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, is understood to have taken extra security precautions after police advice that he could be a target.
The Foreign Office confirmed last week that it knew of a campaign against Levy by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, which openly supports Hezbollah and Hamas. Both occupation resistance groups are classified as terrorist by the British government.
The commission's website demands Levy's immediate dismissal as a Middle East envoy. Massoud Shadjareh, the commission's chairman, calls him an "unashamed Zionist whose Zionist connections and involvement in Israeli affairs make him an inappropriate envoy".
The organization, which recently said that Hezbollah had a "legitimate" right not to be banned under British anti-terrorism laws, says it has sent more than 1,000 letters to the Foreign Office calling for Levy to be sacked.
The group says Levy, who attracted controversy last year after The Sunday Times revealed how he had paid just £5,000 in taxes in one year, is biased because his son Daniel is an adviser to Israel's justice minister, The Times reported.
The website statement added: "It is therefore amazing to see that Tony Blair appointed him as a special envoy . . .
[W]ith Levy on the scene, there was little chance that Britain might play a more sympathetic role to the Palestine victims of Zionist aggression." The Foreign Office denies Levy is biased.
One of those backing the anti-Levy effort is Asghar Bukhari, an Islamic activist who has previously criticized pro-Israeli politicians, according to The Times.
He said: "A lot of people in the Muslim community feel strongly about Lord Levy. He's pro-Israeli and he's not being fair to Palestine. He's a
Labor fundraiser and he's got financial influence."
During the election Bukhari was accused of running a campaign of intimidation against Mike Gapes, Labor MP for Ilford South. Gapes is a prominent member of
Labor Friends of Israel. A leaflet distributed by Bukhari's group accused Gapes of being a "Muslim-hater".
Gapes said he called the police after Bukhari and several fellow supporters confronted him in the street in his constituency.
Massoud said Muslims were especially angered by a Labor election advertisement in the Jewish press suggesting Levy's role as Blair's Middle East envoy was evidence that Labor was listening to the Jewish community.
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