‘Hamas operatives’ living in Britain are a risk to our national security, warns MP
A ‘SENIOR Hamas operative’ is running a pro-Palestine charity from his home in a London suburb, an MP has claimed.
Zaher Birawi, who helped organise recent protests against Israel on the streets of the capital, was described in the House of Commons as a ‘serious national security risk’ last week. Birawi, 62, who has previously been photographed with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, is the trustee of a UK-registered charity, Education Aid for Palestinians, which has raised more than £3million since 2017.
He described Israel as a ‘racist colonial crime state’ on his Facebook page last week, and berated those who have supported Israel following the appalling October 7 Hamas terror attacks, which left more than 1,400 dead and 200 in captivity, including women and children. He wrote: ‘Shame on them and f*** all the accomplices in killing our people.’
On Thursday, Labour MP Christian Wakeford named Birawi as a Hamas operative living in Barnet, north London. He also named another alleged Hamas operative, Muhammad Qassem Sawalha, who bought a council flat in a London and attained British citizenship.
Mr Wakeford told MPs: ‘Zaher Birawi lives in Barnet, not far from Sawalha. He was designated by Israel in 2013 as a senior Hamas operative in Europe. He is listed as a trustee of a UK-registered charity, Education Aid for Palestinians, and publicly available video shows him hosting a 2019 event in London titled Understanding Hamas.
‘Two weeks ago, Hamas launched the deadliest terror attack the world has seen since 9/11. This House rightly voted to proscribe Hamas in its entirety in November 2021. It is therefore a serious national security risk for Hamas operatives to be living here in London, especially where at least one appears to have done so through the use of fake documents and obtaining British citizenship.’
Birawi is a high-profile British-Palestinian activist linked to several charities and organisations, including the Palestinian Forum in Britain. Hamas has been proscribed as a terror group in the UK under the Terrorism Act 2000 since 2021.
He urged his Facebook followers to attend a mass demonstration yesterday to ‘raise the Palestinian flag high’ and ‘protest the British Government’s support for the crimes of occupation’.
Originally from Nablus, a Palestinian city in the West Bank, Birawi studied Information Systems Management at the University of Sheffield from 1994 to 1995, and is now a presenter on Al Hiwar TV, an Arabic-language satellite TV channel. He lives in a one-bedroom terrace house in Colindale, north London, which he bought in 2007 for £380,000.
As well as being the trustee of Education Aid for Palestinians, he has also been involved with EuroPal Forum, a charity that has been designated as a ‘terrorist organization’ by the US and Israel. It has fiercely denied any terror links.
In a video posted online, Birawi is seen speaking at a EuroPal event in London called Understanding Hamas. In heavily accented English, he says there is a ‘critical information gap when it comes to knowledge and understanding of Hamas politics’.
He adds: ‘Understanding the Hamas movement has now become an important requirement for understanding the Palestinian question and Palestinian resistance more generally.’
Attempts to contact Birawi were unsuccessful this week.
‘Urged his followers to protest against Israel’