“>Nazim Ali is well known to those in the Jewish community fighting antisemitism. Ali has been a visible face of anti-Zionist, antisemitic activity, fronting the Al-Quds day march for years. But it was his public remarks at the 2017 Al-Quds demo, about ‘fake Jews’, Rabbis, the Board of Deputies and Grenfell, that led to the complaints about him to the General Pharmaceutical Council.
It took three years to organise and in the end, the hearing by the ‘Fitness to Practise’ Committee of the General Pharmaceutical Council was a complete whitewash. The Committee was not interested in witness statements provided by Jews, nor did they pay any attention to the IHRA definition of antisemitism. In the end they dismissed the antisemitism charges because the Committee did not understand what the comments meant and couldn’t be bothered to take the effort to find out. It was an exercise in colonial, supremacist thinking that tried to find the middle ground between the racist and the victims.
After the decision was made public, UKLFI [UK Lawyers for Israel], as early as the 16th November, wrote to the Professional Standards Authority to notify them of ‘serious concerns about Nazim Ali decision’. Others involved such as Jonathan Hoffman also turned to the PSA. On Friday the PSA gave their response. The Committee had ‘erred in its approach’ to antisemitism. They have referred the case to the High Court to quash the judgement – they want a do-over – this time conducting a hearing that deals with antisemitism properly….
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