Over the weekend senior figures at Eton Road Mosque in Ilford welcomed the Embassy of Israel and many other community leaders to a "Love Your Neighbour" exhibition of Muslim Holocaust heroes.
Attendees of the exhibition included Councillor Jas Athwal, Leader of Redbridge Council, Fiyaz Mughal of Faith Matters, Vivian Aisen, Director of Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Embassy, Sara Khan, Lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism, and Rabbi Wollenberg who represented the Chief Rabbi.
The Mosque faced pressure from the local community to cancel the event, but Chairman of Eton Road Mosque Bashir Chaudhry defiantly stood his ground.
“When I was asked to host this event I said we certainly shall support it and we shall learn something from it. This exhibition opened my eyes to how Jews and Muslims worked together in that difficult time."
“For the last couple of weeks, I’ve had emails and calls saying I shouldn’t be hosting this event here in a Muslim centre. I said to them: no, you are wrong.
“No protest was going to stop us, and we were determined that whatever happens, we would go ahead with the event,” Bashir Chaudhry said addressing the audience.