A cast of household names, from Stephen Fry to Sting, demand the release of a man convicted of directing deadly terror attacks. I doubt any of them would ever work again if he had been convicted in the UK and his victims were British
December 3, 2025 12:42
Here’s a thought experiment (it’s more of a question, but “thought experiment” makes it sound so much more important). Imagine there was a prisoner serving time in a British prison over five counts of murder relating to his involvement in three separate terrorist attacks in England. In one attack, a monk was killed. In another a petrol station was targeted. And in the third, three people were murdered in a seafood restaurant. These were specific and clear convictions over which the court carefully deliberated. Indeed, at his trial the terrorist was acquitted of 21 other counts of murder relating to 33 more attacks because the prosecution was unable to convince the court of his direct involvement.
In his sentencing remarks, the judge said the terrorist was “responsible for providing the field units with money and arms….” and that he was acting "based on instructions" from the leader of his terror group.
Then imagine that after he had served 23 years of his sentence a group of cultural icons and celebrities signed an open letter demanding his release. The signatories included writers such as Margaret Atwood, Sir Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith and Annie Ernaux; actors like Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sir Stephen Fry, Tilda Swinton, Josh O’Connor and Mark Ruffalo; musicians including Sting, Paul Simon, Brian Eno and Annie Lennox; and others such as cookery writer Delia Smith, director Sir Richard Eyre, artist Ai Weiwei, and businessman Sir Richard Branson.
Here's the question: if these people really had signed a letter demanding the terrorist’s release would you think they had all taken leave of their senses? I suggest you would, to put it mildly. There would be mass outrage. I doubt any of them would ever work again if, for example, they had signed a letter demanding the release of the Manchester Arena bombers, Salman and Hashem Abedi. The very idea is mad.
But they did indeed all sign such a letter, about a terrorist exactly as I outlined in the thought experiment above.. We know, because the Guardian has made a song and dance about it. The only difference is that Marwan Barghouti, the terrorist in question, was convicted not here in the UK of those exact murders, in those exact circumstances as detailed above, but in an Israeli court. And the victims were all Israelis.
Not that you would know it from the Guardian’s report, which makes not a single mention of the fact he is a convicted murderer, describing Barghouti only “as the jailed Palestinian leader seen as capable of uniting factions and bringing the best hope to the stalled mission of creating a Palestinian state.” Blessed are the peacemakers, especially if they are also mass murderers, although best not mention that.
The signatories are the very definition of a motley crew. When I tell you that one of the others to sign the letter is Gary Lineker, it all falls into place. Some, however, have no particular history of anti-Israel activism; my assumption is that they are merely arrogant idiots, so used to being told how wonderful they are that they have come to believe it. Oh to have the self-belief of Delia Smith, who appears to think that her prowess at teaching people the best method to boil an egg means that Israel needs her wisdom over its national security.
All the signatories are, of course, entitled to their opinion. And we are equally entitled to point out the grotesque warped morality of their demand that because Barghouti’s victims were Israeli, he should be treated as some sort of saint rather than as a cold-bloodied murderer.
It is much the same mindset as those who are seeking to have Israel expelled from next year’s Eurovision Song Contest because it has dared to fight back against terror. The crunch vote is due tomorrow, and the division list is entirely predictable. The German and Austrian broadcasters, who for obvious reasons understand the nature of Jew hate, have both said they will pull out of the competition if Israel is expelled. Meanwhile broadcasters from countries which have long behaved as if Israel was the embodiment of the dirty Jew – Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland – are the ones leading the charge against the Jewish state.
Meanwhile the BBC says that it will “continue to be part of the discussions”. Given its record as the leading broadcaster of anti-Israel hate, I’d expect it to find that those discussions lead it to join in kicking out Der Jude. If you’re looking to the BBC for moral backbone, expect to be disappointed.
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