Does partaking in mass killing, raping and hostage-taking make one a terrorist? Hamas isn’t so sure. In a mind-boggling development, it transpires that the Palestinian Islamist group is employing lawyers to fight its designation as a proscribed terrorist group by the UK government. Instead, it argues, Hamas is a ‘Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project’. That’s certainly one way to reframe the atrocities it has committed…
Twenty years after Hamas’ military wing was proscribed in the UK, its political wing – which runs Gaza – was also proscribed in 2021, making it a criminal offence to express support for it. At the time, the UK government labelled the divide between the two groups as ‘artifical’, slamming the movement as a ‘complex but single terrorist organisation’. Protesting the illegality of his group in Britain, Hamas’ international relations chief Mousa Abu Marzouk has now submitted the organisation’s claim to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, stating that:
The British government’s decision to proscribe Hamas is an unjust one that is symptomatic of its unwavering support for Zionism, apartheid, occupation and ethnic cleansing in Palestine for over a century. Hamas does not and never has posed a threat to Britain, despite the latter’s ongoing complicity in the genocide of our people.
Er, right. The legal team representing Hamas – from Riverway Law – is doing so for free, as it would be illegal to accept payment from the terrorists. In defence of the terror group’s case, the firm claims:
Rather than allow freedom of speech, police have embarked on a campaign of political intimidation and persecution of journalists, academics, peace activists and students over their perceived support for Hamas. People in Britain must be free to speak about Hamas and its struggle to restore to the Palestinian people the right to self-determination.
The Home Office has said it does not comment on proscription matters, but shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel has hit out at the legal action, raging:
Hamas is an evil Iranian-backed terrorist organisation, which kidnaps, tortures and murders people, including British nationals. They pose an ongoing threat to our security and to the peace and stability of the Middle East and they have weapons and training facilities that put lives at risk and threaten our interests. They show no respect for human rights, life and dignity and have oppressed people living in Gaza for too long.
Quite.
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