Corbyn wanted Hamas to be taken off UK terror list

Labour leader told Al Jazeera that contact with Islamist group would help Middle East peace process

JEREMY CORBYN once called for militant Palestinian group Hamas to be removed from Britain’s list of banned terror groups, it can be revealed.

The so-called “proscribed list” is made up of groups the Home Secretary believes are “concerned in terrorism”. Anyone found to be a member or supporter of such a group faces being charged with a criminal offence.

On April 16, 2009, Middle Eastern broadcaster Al Jazeera quoted Mr Corbyn’s views on Hamas and its position on the proscribed list.

“At some point, Hamas should be removed from this list because contacts with Hamas by politicians are increasing day after day. All want to find a peaceful solution to the problem,” Mr Corbyn said. His comments were reported by BBC Monitoring.

At the time, Mr Corbyn was a Labour backbencher who often campaigned on foreign policy issues.

Hamas is the largest of several Palestinian militant Islamist groups. For years it was committed to armed struggle against Israel but it has also engaged in the Palestinian political process.

Since becoming Labour leader, Mr Corbyn has been challenged repeatedly over once calling members of Hamas and Hizbollah “friends” at an event. “The language I used at that meeting was actually here in parliament and it was about … encouraging there to be a discussion about the peace process,” Mr Corbyn said in July 2016.

Asked if he still regarded the groups as “friends”, he said: “No. It was inclusive language I used which with hindsight I would rather not have used. I regret using those words, of course.”

Mr Corbyn’s 2009 comment about Hamas jars with previous remarks by Andrew Gwynne, who is co-running Labour’s campaign. He signed a letter saying “Hamas shows no interest in peace” in 2008 when he was chairman of Labour Friends of Israel.

Mr Gwynne also accused the group in 2010 of attempting to “undermine any peace talks” and “launching terror attacks against Israel” in a piece for the Labour group Progress.

Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative candidate for North West Leicestershire, said: “It is clear that Jeremy Corbyn had some very strange friends and he is no friend to the United King- dom. Why on earth would the British people ever elect him as prime minister? This is an indication of the shape of any future Corbyn government and their foreign policies.”

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: “Jeremy was echoing a political consensus that had emerged across Europe and the US at that time. Among others, former US president Jimmy Carter had met Hamas and reached the view it wasn’t possible to achieve peace in the Middle East without recognising the elected government in Gaza.”