UK faces legal challenge over Hamas terrorism designation
JVL Introduction
This is a remarkable piece from Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News, outlining the case being presented to UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper that Hamas should not be designated a terrorist organisation.
The news brought an immediate dismissive reaction from Cooper and a predictable response from right-wing media. This Opinion piece from the Daily Express is a fine example, comparing Hamas to ISIS, declaring that the group seeks the obliteration of Israel and the Jewish people worldwide, demanding “if Hamas is a “resistance” group, what exactly are they resisting?” and asking incredulously “If Hamas is removed from the list of proscribed organisations, what happens to the sanctity of international law?”
Back in the real world, where many millions of people recognise Palestinians as full members of the human race whose rights have been trashed for a century and more, the main sources for Scahill’s illuminating report are a witness statement by the applicant, Mousa Abu Marzouk, head of international relations for Hamas, and the team of British lawyers presenting the case against proscription.
The legal submission discusses the history of Hamas as a movement of resistance against Zionist occupation and settlement, maintains that it is neither terrorist nor antisemitic, gives the movement’s account of events in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and argues that the terror designation prevents honest discussion in the UK “about Hamas and its struggle to restore to the Palestinian people the right to self-determination.”
NWI
This article was originally published by Drop Site News on Wed 9 Apr 2025. Read the original here.
Hamas Launches Unprecedented Legal Case in Britain, Demanding the Government Remove its Terror Designation
In a legal filing, a Hamas founder argues that the group has the right to use armed resistance to achieve Palestinian liberation—and that Britain is crushing honest debate about its aims.
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Wht isn’t the IDF on the list?
It’s an odd coincidence that the UK just happened to designate the political wing of Hamas as a terrorist organisation shortly after Hamas started planning and training for an attack on Israel. But purely coincidental of course.
In this Guardian article from November, 2023, it says the following:
Hamas officials have said planning for the attack began two years ago, after Israeli police raids at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. Israeli sources say the timescale was shorter – perhaps a year or 18 months – and that during this period an effort was made to reinforce an Israeli belief that Hamas had switched its focus from violence against Israel to economic development in Gaza.
The incident at the mosque happened in May, 2021, and the UK government proscribed the political wing in November, 2021.
A deadly cascade: how secret Hamas attack orders were passed down at last minute
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/07/secret-hamas-attack-orders-israel-gaza-7-october
No that I agree with the methods of Hamas on the 6th October but, comparing Hamas with ISIS show the little understanding our political class has.
Hamas advocates in favour of a Palestinian State very much like the IRA advocated in favor of a united Ireland or ETA in favour of an independent Basque State or the PKK for an independent Kurdistan.
For those that oppose their national independent aspirations Hamas, the IRA, ETA, PKK are terrorist organisations.
The differences between them an ISIS are that they have the support of a large percentage of the populations they claim to represent. ISIS claims to represent Muslim but most of them don’t support ISIS.
Perhaps more importantly, unlike ISIS the IRA for example never wanted to dismantle the British State anymore that ETA wanted to dismantle the Spanish State, or the PKK wish to dismantle the Turkish State.
Hamas post 2015 has moved to recognise Israel’s borders. Thus, Israel can negotiate with Hamas in the same way that Britain negotiated with the IRA and Spain with ETA and bring peace.
No such possibility with ISIS as it advocates for the creation of a Caliphate from Iraq to Southern Spain. ISIS wishes to dismantle the existing states. Therefore, it is impossible for any State to negotiate with ISIS.
I still remember back on the summer of 2016 Corbyn and Owen Smith asked about if they were willing to negotiate with ISIS. Corbyn replied with a NO while Owen Smith was in favour of negotiating. The next day Owen Smith tried to cover it up by saying that he has served in the North Ireland Office and understood these things. Only for me to think that Owen Smith after serving in the North Ireland Office understood nothing.
I wish that this move could be successful. It would require extraordinary courage on the part of Yvette Cooper and in view of her record I don’t hold out much hope that she will find in Hamas’ favour. The impasse at present allows Israel to kill and lay waste Palestinian lands and lives with impunity, a situation the present Israeli government seems perfectly content with, supported as they are by the US, the UK and billions of dollars’ worth of weapons.