A Hamas refugee who “led the group’s terrorist operations in the West Bank” is living in a council estate in a north London neighborhood that is home to around a fifth of Britain’s Jewish community, a report has revealed. report.
Muhammad Qassem Sawalha, 62, who was a member of the Hamas ruling body, managed to evade Israeli security services using a relative’s passport and left for Britain in the 1990s before later acquiring British citizenship. The times reports.
In Britain, Sawalha continued to work for Hamas. According to a 2004 U.S. Justice Department indictment, he held secret discussions about “revitalizing” terrorist acts in Israel and helping launder money to finance activities in the West Bank and Gaza.
In 2003, the father-of-four became a council tenant in a two-storey house with a garage and a garden in Colindale, in the north London borough of Barnet, where he lives with his 56-year-old wife Sawsan.
According to the Office for National Statistics, there are approximately 56,616 Jews living in the Barnet borough, the highest Jewish population of any country in Britain.
Muhammad Qassem Sawalha, 62, who was a member of the ruling body of Hamas, managed to evade Israeli security services using a relative’s passport and left for Britain in the 1990s before later acquiring British citizenship. according to a report
The address is a 10-minute drive from two synagogues.
In June 2021, Sawalha and his wife used the Right to Buy scheme to buy their home for £320,700.
The council granted them a discount of £112,300 on the market value of the property, £500 less than the maximum discount available for that financial year. They do not have a mortgage on the property.
Through the Right to Purchase Scheme, municipal tenants can receive a discount on the market value of a home. According to Land Registry data, the average price of a house in the area is almost £600,000.
Council leader Barry Rawlings said he was “shocked to think (Sawalha) could be living among us” and noted he had launched a review.
He said: ‘We will work with other stakeholders, including the police and government, to review the full history of this case and will take all appropriate action.
“This has come to light at a time when local communities are in desperate need of reassurance following the escalating conflict in the Middle East, and we as a council have a responsibility to ensure we can provide that reassurance.”
In 2020, Rawlings said that the campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel had informed the council of Sawalha’s background and that once officers received this information, they “reported it to the Met Police counter-terrorism unit”.
Employees of the National Terrorism Financing Investigation Unit determined whether the lease agreement may have violated sanctions legislation.
But a spokesperson said ‘the evidentiary test was not met’ and no further action was taken.
The sale of the property the following year was not subject to investigation.
In 2019, Sawalha met Vladimir Putin’s Deputy Foreign Minister during an official Hamas delegation to Moscow. He was a member of the Hamas politburo from 2013 to 2017 and was photographed with the group’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in 2010 and 2012.
In 2009, Sawalha signed a statement praising Allah for “putting the Zionist Jews to flight,” advocating sending weapons to Gaza and demanding that a “Third Jihadist Front” be established in Palestine, alongside Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense has officially identified Sawalha as belonging to Hamas and he will be arrested if he returns.
Despite his controversial activities, Sawalha managed to obtain a British passport in the early 1990s. Home Office guidelines state that anyone who “incites, justifies or glorifies” terrorist violence or “seeks to provoke others to commit acts of terrorism” will be denied citizenship under normal circumstances.
Sawalha has never been charged with crimes in Britain.
Footage shows fighters training ahead of the Hamas operation in Israel
Footage shows fighters training ahead of the Hamas operation in Israel
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast and Cardiff on Saturday to protest the rights of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, following the violent response to the horrific Hamas terror attacks on Israel earlier this month. launched. .
About 1,000 Met police officers are on duty to monitor events in the capital after a similar event last week saw a large crowd turn out in solidarity with Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip.
Protesters held signs reading “Freedom for Palestine” and “Stop the Bombing of Gaza.”
Participants called for an end to the Israeli blockade and airstrikes launched in the wake of a brutal incursion into southern Israel by the Hamas terror group that controls Gaza.
The Egypt-Gaza border crossing opened Saturday to allow a trickle of much-needed aid to flow into the besieged Palestinian territory for the first time since Israel closed it following Hamas’ bloody rampage two weeks ago.
Only twenty trucks were allowed in, an amount that aid workers said was insufficient to deal with the unprecedented humanitarian crisis. More than 200 trucks carrying 3,000 tons of aid have been waiting nearby for days.
Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom have fled their homes, are rationing food and drinking dirty water.
Smoke rises as Israeli airstrikes continue on 15th day in Beit Hanoun, Gaza on October 21, 2023
Hospitals say they are running low on medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators due to a nationwide power outage.
Five hospitals have stopped functioning due to fuel shortages and bombings, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said.
Israel says Hamas has released two American hostages held in Gaza since the war began on October 7, but still holds at least 210 prisoners.
Israel continues to launch waves of airstrikes over Gaza, while Palestine fires back rockets.
Israel’s military spokesman said the country plans to step up its attacks from Saturday in preparation for the next phase of its war against Hamas.
Asked about a possible ground invasion, Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters that the military was trying to create optimal conditions in advance.
“We will deepen our attacks to minimize dangers to our forces in the next phases of the war. We are going to intensify attacks from today,” Hagari said, repeating his call for Gaza City residents to move south for their safety.
There are growing expectations of a ground offensive that Israel believes would be aimed at eradicating Hamas.
Israel said Friday it has no long-term plans to take control of the small but densely populated Palestinian territory.
This aerial view shows humanitarian aid trucks arriving from Egypt after crossing the Rafah border crossing and arriving at a storage facility in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 21, 2023
An Israeli ground attack would likely lead to a dramatic escalation in casualties on both sides in urban fighting.
The war, which entered its 15th day on Saturday, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Saturday that the death toll had reached 4,385, while 13,561 people had been injured.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly in the first attack on October 7.
Rishi Sunak has warned that the war between Israel and Hamas risks unleashing a ‘contagion of conflict’ across the Middle East.
The prime minister, who visited Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week for talks with key regional players, said leaders agreed that “we must do everything possible” to prevent the spread of the war.
He said his two-day visit to the region showed “Britain’s solidarity with them against terrorism” and that “there can be no justification” for the atrocities committed by Hamas.
He said the opening of the border crossing with Egypt to allow an aid convoy into the Gaza Strip was an example of what could be achieved.