Former moderate Muslim magazine editor in Sweden comes out as an ‘Islamist radical,’ forms anti-Semitic political party.

According to Mohamed Omar, a 34-year-old author and commentator born in Uppsala in eastern Sweden, he is prepared to welcome all political stripes into his new party – from the radical left and Islamic extremists to neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists – as long as they subscribe to the party’s core principles.

“We’re going to focus not on Islamic questions, but solely on anti-Zionism in order to reach out to as many as possible,” Omar told the Sveriges Radio (SR) documentary programme Kaliber.

On his website, Omar denies that the Holocaust happened and refers to Judaism as “a parasitic culture of greed”.

The Omar of today is a far cry from the measured and moderate man who once edited one of Sweden’s most respected Muslim publications, Minaret magazine, and condemned protests by Muslims angered by the 2007 decision of Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda to publish a drawing by artist Lars Vilks depicting the head of Muslim prophet Muhammad on a dog’s body.

Why?

According to Omar, Israeli incursions into the Gaza strip in the second half of 2008 played a key role in his radicalization.

“Last week I joined a protest against Israel for the first time,” Omar wrote in an opinion article published in the Expressen newspaper on January 9th, 2009.

“The latest bloodbath was simply too much. I felt compelled to take a public stance. But not only that. I decided to support Hamas and Hezbollah – the Islamic resistance movements.”

He concludes by declaring, “I’m a radical Muslim. And I say that with pride.”