A Rochdale charity has been investigated by officials after a trustee reportedly posted a video on Facebook accusing “f***ing Jews” of trying to hack people’s phones.
The bizarre conspiracy theory was apparently spread in a video on the Facebook page for the Ghulam Mustafa Trust, but has since been taken offline.
In the video, a man can be seen dismantling a Samsung smartphone and peeling something off the phone’s battery which he describes as a tracking device.
“You should take that off because they are recording every photograph of yours, these f****** Jews,” he can be heard saying, imitating the style of an online tutorial. “Look at that, they should not be on your phone battery.”
The video was first flagged up by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which said that despite its protestations the trustee remained in his role with the charity. It said it was discussing the matter with police to establish if a crime had been committed.
Warning: Video contains strong language
A spokesperson for the Charity Commission confirmed to The Independent that it had intervened over the “wholly inappropriate” video, which was uploaded earlier this year.
But the commission said that until it is given more powers under measures proposed by David Cameron and Theresa May, its ability to remove trustees from charities was limited.
“We engaged with the charity on this matter and made clear that the posting of the video on the charity's website was wholly inappropriate, and unacceptable for a trustee to do so,” a spokesperson for the commission said.
The Ghulam Mustafa Trust would be required to follow a new code of conduct on its Facebook page as part of “immediate regulatory action” taken by the commission, the spokesperson said. “Failure to comply with these steps could lead the Commission to take further action.”
On its website, the Campaign Against Antisemitism said the video amounted to “dangerous extremism”, and said it was “referring the Charity Commission’s decision on this matter to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman”.
The Independent has reached out to the Ghulam Mustafa Trust for comment, but is yet to receive a response.
