Palestinian activist Mohammed el-Kurd called to “normalize the massacres as the status quo.” He did so in a speech he delivered during an anti-Israel protest in London last weekend. Now he says he “misspoke.”

Thousands of protesters marched through central London Saturday as part of a global day of action against the Israel-Hamas war. It was an anti-Israel protest. Video was posted on social media that showed Mohammed el-Kurd addressing a crowd of protesters in Parliament Square.

“I dare you to look into the eyes of a Gazan child and tell him you tried your best,” he told the crowd. “Our day will come. But we must not be complacent. Our day will come. But we must normalize massacres as a status quo.”

That is pretty clear, right? He clearly called for normalizing massacres. As you might imagine, the statement caused a stir on social media. Soon el-Kurd posted that his words were taken out of context and he may have “misspoke.”

Obviously not an idiot and would never say that. I was clearly saying we shouldn't be complacent, we shouldn't normalize massacres. Willfully distorting my words is an indication of your own bankruptcy. I'm allowed to misspeak. Also: idagf. Call the police! Write a Yelp review!

— Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) January 13, 2024

“I was clearly saying we shouldn’t be complacent, we shouldn’t normalize massacres,” he wrote. “Willfully distorting my words is an indication of your own bankruptcy. I’m allowed to misspeak. Also: idagf. Call the police! Write a Yelp review!”

Misspoke? More like he got caught and sane people objected to his radical call for mass violence.

London Police are aware of the comments and released a statement that they are “assessing the matter.”

A video of remarks made by one of the speakers at yesterday’s protest in central London has been shared extensively online.

Officers are aware of the remarks, the commentary surrounding them and the subsequent statements issued by the speaker.

They are assessing the matter and…

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) January 14, 2024

“Officers are aware of the remarks, the commentary surrounding them and the subsequent statements issued by the speaker,” Metropolitan Police said. “They are assessing the matter and as part of that assessment will be seeking to speak to the individual concerned.”

That kind of statement is meant to reassure the general public that they are pro-actively monitoring potentially dangerous people. What it does, though, is give off vibes that produce statements we often hear from law enforcement after a mass shooting or other tragic violent event – law enforcement had the person on their radar. That has almost become a standard response in the United States. We had the guy on our radar…

A problem for el-Kurd is that Saturday’s speech wasn’t the first time he has called for violence.

Despite claiming that he misspoke in that one instance, videos posted online show el-Kurd’s speech also directly called for Zionism to be extinguished from the world.

“Zionism is apartheid, it’s genocide, it’s murder, it’s a racist ideology rooted in settler expansion and racial domination, and we must root it out of the world,” el-Kurd said.

He continued: “We must de-Zionise because Zionism is a death cult, Zionism is indefensible.”

Hmmm. Sounds like he’s inciting violence to me.

There is this tweet from 2021:

https://twitter.com/m7mdkurd/status/1442857610902974473

Today marks 21 years since the start of the Second Intifada. Glory to those who resisted and sacrificed. Glory to the martyrs, the women and men whose makeshift weapons confronted artilleries, the children whose stones intimidated tanks. The struggle continues, until liberation.

Glorifying Intifada doesn’t show an activist as a peace-loving person.

A pro-Israel rally in Trafalgar Square took place on Sunday. Tuesday marks the 100th day of the Israel-Hamas war.

This man sounds like other pro-Hamas activists, supporting mass violence for political and social change. He declares he misspoke now because he came under the spotlight as his words were repeated on social media. If he had not captured international attention, would he have tried to say he misspoke? With his history of remarks, who would believe that? Believe them when they tell you who they are.

El Kurd has a big following on X, formerly Twitter. In 2021, he and his sister were recognized by Time as influential people.

El-Kurd, originally from the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem, became a prominent Palestinian activist following the 2021 clashes in this east Jerusalem neighborhood.

He usually takes to X, where he has some 380 thousand followers, to voice his controversial statements. In the past, these have included praising the six terrorists who had escaped from the Gilboa prison in 2021, labeling them “political prisoners,” and calling the US military a “murderous, terrorist organization.”

Along with his sister Muna, he was nominated in 2021 as one of Time’s 100 most influential people for “helping to prompt an international shift in rhetoric in regard to Israel and Palestine.”

The comments last Saturday were not unusual from him. He knows exactly what he is saying, as do his followers. It was no slip, he did not misspeak.