Faith Matters drops rabbi, following Middle East Monitor expose

An interfaith charity has dropped a controversial rabbi as patron, following an expose in Middle East Monitor.

Yitzchak Schochet’s appointment as patron was announced by Faith Matters on 26 January. The charity also runs the Tell MAMA hotline, though the two have separate boards of patrons.

On 3 February, Middle East Monitor reported that Schochet had expressed disturbing views on social media related to Palestine and Muslims, including an appeal last August for Israel to “finish what they started” in Gaza.

In May 2011, he had told a Twitter user: “Hey. Happy Nakba Day! Hope you celebrate! I have a spare Israeli flag if you want to hang yourself on it.” The following month, following a report of 45 per cent unemployment in Gaza, he commented: “if you include terrorism as work its 100% employed.”

When presented with these statements, Faith Matters founder and director Fiyaz Mughal stated that “if any individual associated with Faith Matters or its projects” were “found to promote any form of bigotry”, then they would “no longer be associated with the organisation.”

This morning, a statement from Faith Matters confirmed that the charity would be “moving forward without [Schochet’s] involvement”, in light of the “very strong positions” expressed by the rabbi in the highlighted tweets.

Noting “that Rabbi Schochet has every right to say what he wants”, the “anti-extremism” charity explained that given the “frameworks” they “try to work within”, he could no longer continue as patron.