Israeli minister who champions Tommy Robinson brands Shabana Mahmood an ‘Islamist’

An Israeli minister who has championed anti-Muslim campaigner Tommy Robinson and cultivated alliances with Europe’s far right has been accused of racism after portraying British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood as part of an Islamist takeover of Britain.

Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister for diaspora affairs and combating anti-Semitism, targeted Mahmood after she announced plans allowing charities and non-profit organisations to sponsor refugees. 

In a post on X on 29 September, Chikli wrote:

“When people speak of the political takeover of a country by Islamism, they imagine bearded sheikhs in robes.

“In reality, political Islam often looks exactly like this: Oxford English, fashionable clothes and progressive rhetoric. That is true of the Islamist @NYCMayor Mamdani and it is equally true of the Islamist @ShabanaMahmood.

“I sincerely hope, for the sake of the British people, that the lunatic BDS activists who have taken over their country do not drag Britain into an abyss from which there is no way back.”

When people speak of the political takeover of a country by Islamism, they imagine bearded sheikhs in robes.

In reality, political Islam often looks exactly like this: Oxford English, fashionable clothes and progressive rhetoric.
That is true of the Islamist @NYCMayor Mamdani… https://t.co/0jb2hIam6h

— עמיחי שיקלי – Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) September 29, 2026

Chikli offered no evidence for his characterisation of Mahmood or New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Conservative shadow attorney general Lord David Wolfson rejected the attack, saying that although he disagreed with many of Mahmood’s policies, calling her an Islamist was ridiculous.

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“Politics is better when we attack bad arguments, not smear people with labels and slogans,” he wrote.

Labour Friends of Israel described Chikli’s remarks as “offensive, racist and wholly inappropriate”, while the Jewish Labour Movement condemned them as “clear racism”. The Board of Deputies also raised the comments with Israel’s Foreign Ministry, according to Jewish News.

One British pro-Israel commentator said posts such as Chikli’s had helped drive Labour’s reset in relations with the Israeli government. He argued that repeated inflammatory attacks on British politicians and the country by ministers in Netanyahu’s government had influenced the shift while fuelling division at an already dangerous time.

Whatever one thinks of Labour’s reset over its stance on the Israeli govt, there needs to be a realisation that is has been at least partly influenced by the constant stream of posts such as the one below from actual ministers in the Israeli govt. They have been a constant… https://t.co/LtfEdyqD2J

— lee harpin (@lmharpin) September 30, 2026

Chikli previously stressed on the need to turn Europe against its Muslim population.  

“Antisemitism does not interest the average European or the average American” he said in a video. 

“Radical Islam interests them very much—very, very much—and therefore we need to take advantage of that”.

When people speak of the political takeover of a country by Islamism, they imagine bearded sheikhs in robes.

In reality, political Islam often looks exactly like this: Oxford English, fashionable clothes and progressive rhetoric.
That is true of the Islamist @NYCMayor Mamdani… https://t.co/0jb2hIam6h

— עמיחי שיקלי – Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) September 29, 2026

The attack comes against a backdrop of Chikli’s efforts to legitimise European far-right figures and build alliances around hostility towards Muslims and immigration.

Chikli had claimed credit for boosting the profile for anti-Muslim campaigner Tommy Robinson, France’s National Rally and Spain’s Vox party. He described Robinson as “one of our great friends in Britain” and argued that Israel should cultivate nationalist and conservative movements capable of mobilising public support.

In October 2025, Chikli invited Robinson, who was also the former English Defence League leader, to Israel. The invitation drew opposition from leading British Jewish organisations, which accused the minister of disregarding their rejection of the far-right activist.

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