Metropolitan Police have come under pressure to investigate links between pro-Palestine protest leaders and Hamas, a registered terrorist organization in the United Kingdom, after the Jewish Chronicle (JC) found several links during an investigation, the JC reported on October 19.
In some of the evidence discovered by JC investigators, protest leaders were seen meeting with Hamas chiefs in Gaza. Additionally, many of the leaders have openly posted content praising Hamas’s violent actions.
Supporting Hamas in the United Kingdom can result in a 14 year prison sentence, as it falls under the Terrorism Act.
Who are the protest leaders supporting Hamas?
The leaders of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), the Friends of al-Aqsa, the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), and the Palestinian Forum for Britain (PFB) all have connections with Hamas terrorists, the JC claimed.
The investigation claims to have found that Ismael Patel, the leader of the Friends of al-Aqsa, has visited Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Additionally, the JC reported that Patel had been filmed at a rally in 2009 saying that “Hamas is no terrorist organization. The reason they hate Hamas is because they refuse to be subjugated, to be occupied by the Israeli state, and we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel.”
Patel had also stated that “We are all Hamas” and in 2021 praised the killer of tour guide Eli Kay in Jerusalem as a “martyr” on X, according to the investigation.
Additionally, two former PSC leaders met with Haniyeh in Gaza in 2012.
Zaher Birawi, from the Palestinian Forum for Britain, met Haniyeh and other leaders of the Hamas terror group in Gaza in 2012 and in a later visit met with Hamas military chief Mahmoud Zahar.
Anas Altikriti, a director of the Muslim Association of Britain and former president for the group, posted a picture on Facebook of his meeting with Haniyeh in June 2012.
Altikriti also shared a Facebook post celebrating the battle of Khaybar, when a Muslim army massacred Jews in the year 628.