An Arab-Israeli influencer and activist has been reported to the Metropolitan police for spray painting “f*ck Hamas” over a mural of a Palestinian journalist in east London.
Yospeh Haddad videoed himself covering several Palestinian murals in pro-Israel graffiti, including the Star of David and the phrase “bring them home”.
On Tuesday night Haddad and other activists graffitied “f*ck Hamas”, “liars” and “Hamas is Isis” on top of murals between Shoreditch and Whitechapel, an area that has been dubbed “Little Palestine” due to the prevalence of Palestinian flags in public.
One of the murals, by east London artist Lucy Danielle, depicted a Palestinian flag and a portrait of Al Jazeera reporter, Hind Osama Al-Khoudary, wearing a flak jacket marked with 'Press' and holding a camera. It was part of a wider “heroes of Palestine” project that saw similar graffiti pop up across London.
Haddad called Al-Khoudary a “liar of Palestine” and “fixed” the wall by painting over it.
Haddad shared a video of the graffiti to his social media: “We are seeing a sentence called ‘heroes of Palestine’ and we are seeing a journalist from Al Jazeera.
“Al Jazeera channel is the official spokesman of the terrorist organisation Hamas, so they are not the heroes of Palestine. They are actually the liars of Palestine and we are going to make sure everybody knows that.”
Al Jazeera is a Qatari-owned news channel that has been accused of publishing pro-Hamas propaganda.
After painting over the mural, Haddad said: “So now we fixed it, we have the ‘lies of Palestine.’ It’s an important message and we are here, and nobody will silence us,”
In a tweet, he wrote: “We fight back against the anti-Israel population in London in every possible way... even with graffiti!”
Haddad suggested that the graffiti was in response to anti-Israel protesters who vandalised images of the hostages in London: “The anti-Israel activists in London vandalized a mural of Kfir Bibas - so we will no longer stay silent and we have thought about an Israeli answer to this crime!”
One social media user said he had reported Haddad to the Met police, “as an instance of racist hate crime and act of vandalism.”
Another said: “Why is this Israeli running amok on the streets of London? He's filmed himself inciting racism with hate speech”
Haddad has been in London to talk to schools and community groups about the war in Gaza. He addressed a crowd of anti-Israel protesters in Camden on Saturday, calling them “terror supporters, each and every one of you.”
The Met police has been approached for comment.
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