A leading political commentator has called for supporters of Hamas in the UK “to be treated exactly the same way as supporters of Isis”.
Speaking at an event on Jewish leadership in London, Douglas Murray, who isn’t Jewish, told the audience: “If you stand in Britain with the Hamas flag, you should not be allowed to be free in Britain. You should have your citizenship withdrawn. You should have your passport withdrawn. You should be deported.”
Referring to a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Israeli embassy this week, Murray, who founded the Centre for Social Cohesion, the first think-tank in Britain to study extremism and terrorism, said: “These people were not protesting against the Israeli counter-measures – they hadn’t even had any counter-measures – they were protesting because Jews by the hundreds had been slaughtered in Israel and they wanted to wound us more.”
"No one should be given the right to taunt Jews after the death of Jews"
— The Jewish Chronicle (@JewishChron) October 12, 2023
At a Jewish event last night @DouglasKMurray said UK Hamas supporters must be treated like supporters of ISIS.
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He added that it “should not be acceptable that the Jewish community among all the communities in this diverse country should be the one community expected to accept with equanimity those who cheer on the murder of Jews and those who support the murder of Jews”.
Murray, who is associate editor of The Spectator, warned not to let the atrocities of the past weekend go “down the line of [media] stories”, adding: “We always have to be very careful in the weeks and months ahead to remember Saturday and to keep it in mind. The BBC and others can’t even define a terrorist and are already passed this.
“The slaughter that is only still now being uncovered is currently somewhere down the line of stories[…] We mustn’t allow it to fall away.”
Telling the audience that “all my life, I have chosen to be surrounded by Jews”, he stressed that Israel and the Jewish community in the UK were not alone.
“There is a Democrat president of the United States who has been fully behind the Jewish state. You have a Conservative prime minister in the UK, who has been utterly supportive of the Israeli state to date. The whole civilised world is behind the Jewish state today.”
Stressing his own sense of solidarity with Israel and Anglo-Jewry, Murray said: “They may come for Zionists. Very well. I am a Zionist. They may keep coming for the Israelis. Very well. I am an Israeli. They may continuously come for the Jews. Very well. I’m a Jew. Am Yisrael Chai.”
Murray was speaking alongside several prominent rabbinical figures at an event titled Jewish Solidarity and Wisdom in a Time of Crisis.
