(Jewish News) A social media influencer notorious for approaching strictly Orthodox Jews in Golders Green on a Shabbat to quiz them about Israel has lost a defamation case against the Spectator magazine and its associate editor Douglas Murray, with the judge ruling that he had “lied on significant issues.”
Mohammed Hegab, who has 1.3 million followers on YouTube, where he operates under the name “Mohammed Hijab,” had brought the case against Murray and the Spectator in relation to a September 2022 article in the magazine. The piece in question focused on Hegab’s role during rioting that broke out that month between Muslims and Hindus in Leicester, stating that Hegab had given a speech to a group of Muslim men — many wearing balaclavas, masks, hoods or caps, in which he ridiculed Hindus and their belief in reincarnation. Hegab had argued that he was specifically referring to Hindutva — Hindu nationalists — rather than Hindus as a whole. But the judge found that it was “substantially true” to say that he was referring to Hindus, saying “it was them that he was ridiculing.”
