A former bodyguard to Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh who received asylum and citizenship in the UK allegedly went on to plot terrorist attacks against Jews in Europe.
The man, who cannot be named by the British media for legal reasons, is accused of planning to target Jewish community centres, Israeli diplomats and pro-Israel demonstrations in Germany or Austria, The Sunday Times reported.
The attacks were meant to mark the second anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 massacre, according to the newspaper.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested the man in central London in November 2025 after Mossad and German intelligence services learnt of the plan. He now faces extradition to Germany.
A German indictment, first obtained by the German newspaper Bild, alleges he transported five pistols and ammunition from Berlin to a storage facility in Vienna in July 2025.
It alleges he also recorded a video, masked and armed in front of a Hamas flag, calling the planned attack retribution on behalf of the terrorist group’s military wing.
The man was granted refugee status and indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 2015 and later became a citizen.
At the time, it was public knowledge that he had worked for Haniyeh and was the son of a senior Hamas official, The Sunday Times reported.
A Westminster magistrates’ court judge imposed a 100-year anonymity order on the man, prohibiting the British media from publishing his name or other information that could identify him. The order was amended on Thursday following a query from the newspaper.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called it an “appalling scandal” in a post on X.
She also called for then UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, in order to be able to “deport those who arrive here illegally and strip British passports from naturalised citizens who commit these deeply serious offences”.
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