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SUNDAY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR

Israel set to Pro-Palestinian protests marred by anti-Semitic chants

hit Hamas
from ‘land,
sea and air’
Next stage is coming, Netanyahu tells troops
preparing ground operation into Gaza
By Nataliya Vasilyeva in Jerusalem
and Edward Malnick
ISRAEL is preparing an assault on
Hamas “from the air, sea and land”, as
Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “the
next stage is coming”.
The Israeli prime minister signalled
that a ground offensive in Gaza was
imminent as he visited infantrymen
close to the border yesterday.
A video showed Mr Netanyahu, clad
in military body armour, asking Israeli
troops: “You ready for the next stage?
The next stage is coming.”
Shortly afterwards, the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) said it was preparing for a
we are supporting them through intelli-
gence-sharing.”
Separately, Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s
ambassador to the UK, told The Tele-
graph: “The coming days and weeks
will be tough.
“The inhumanity of Hamas knows
no limits. We have seen the evidence
of this, of the beheaded, burned, mur-
dered and raped bodies of inno-
cent Israelis.
“Israel will do all that it can to ensure
that Hamas never again be able to make
another Israeli suffer. The only way to
do this is by destroying the capabilities
and infrastructure of Hamas.
“Hamas is responsible for the tragic
HEATHCLIFF O’MALLEY FOR THE TELEGRAPH

“significant ground operation” in the
Gaza Strip as part of a “wide range of
offensive operational plans”, including
a “joint and co-ordinated attack from
the air, sea and land”.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph,
Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Min-
ister, said Britain’s support for Israel’s
right to defend itself “must not dissipate
when the reality of fighting an enemy
that hides in tunnels and amongst civil-
ian homes, schools and hospitals
takes shape”.
He added: “The test is not of our
words now but our actions in the weeks
to come.”
Columns of tanks were seen moving
towards Gaza yesterday and
drones could be heard overhead in the
border region.
The IDF announced it had completed
its call-up of 360,000 reservists and
that bases had been set up near the bor-
der to equip soldiers with weapons
needed for combat.
A spokesman said the military’s goal
was to “completely destroy the govern-
ing and military capabilities of Hamas”.
The forces in the north were at “full
readiness”, added the spokesman, warn-
ing that the operation would take “a
long time”.
Writing in this newspaper, Mr Dow-
den said: “The Government is deter-
mined not just to say that Israel has a
right to defend itself but to show it.
“We have sent P8 Aircraft, surveil-
lance assets and two Royal Navy
ships to deliver practical support to
Israel and partners in the region, and
innocent loss of life that we are seeing,
both Israeli and Palestinian. No one
else. Hamas.”
Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national
security adviser, said that between 150
and 200 Israeli hostages remained in
the Gaza Strip.
After toppling Hamas, Israel would
find an “alternative to ruling Gaza that
does not pose any threat”, he added.
The preparations to invade Gaza
came after a day of chaos in the 140 sq Protesters at a march in central London attended by an estimated 30,000 people. Some of those attending were pictured wearing images of paragliders on their backs
mile territory, with tens of thousands of
people fleeing southwards to escape. By Edward Malnick where the Jews were in 1940.” Chants in ing behaviour and shameful anti-Semi- including Liverpool, Bristol, Manches-
Video footage confirmed by the BBC and Patrick Sawer Arabic caught on video at the London tism online and on our streets with ter, Cambridge, Norwich, Coventry,
showed several bodies strewn across rally included: “Oh Jews, the army of attempts to stir up tensions. Edinburgh and Swansea.
one of the exit roads following a strike TENS of thousands of people attended Mohammed is returning.” “I say: not here. Not in Britain. Not in Separately, The Sunday Telegraph
on Friday. pro-Palestinian protests marred by anti- The Community Security Trust, our country. Not in this century. We reveals today that Hizb ut-Tahrir, an
Israel accused Hamas of setting up Semitic chanting yesterday, as Rishi which monitors anti-Semitism has said will do everything we possibly can to Islamist extremist group that David
roadblocks to prevent citizens fleeing, Sunak insisted he would not tolerate the chant is “effectively a call for Jews to protect Jewish people in our country. Cameron and Tony Blair both attempted
while Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the hate against Jews, saying: “Not in our be killed”, and the Metropolitan Police And if anything is standing in the way of to ban, hosted an online event last week
terrorist group, said Gazans would not country. Not in this century.” said a video of the incident had been i n wh i c h p r o m i n e n t m e m b e r s
cross into Egypt.
“Our decision is to remain on our
Some 30,000 people attended a
march through central London, which
“passed to our Crime Team and officers
on the ground”.
‘We’ve seen shameful described the massacre of Israelis as
“good news” and “egg on the face” of
land,” he said. featured chants including “From the One photograph showed a stall with anti-Semitism. I say: not the Jewish state.
Hamas released a video of its gunmen
firing rocket-propelled grenades at
river, to the sea, Palestine must be free”.
Suella Braverman, the Home Secre-
piles of pamphlets on “Zionism” featur-
ing a Star of David intertwined with a
here. Not in Britain. Not The event was one of several in
which prominent, UK-based members
tanks, under the title: “This is what tary, has warned this chant could be swastika. in this century’ of the group appeared to celebrate
awaits you in Gaza.” understood “as an expression of a vio- The Met’s Counter Terrorism com- last week’s attack by Hamas – despite
The Israeli military last invaded Gaza lent desire to see Israel erased from the mand said it was reviewing 55 new keeping the Jewish community safe, we the group previously insisting that it
in 2014 and faces a dense network of world”. cases opened since the attack by Hamas, will fix it.” “does not promote fear, criminality or
tunnels and booby traps, manned by as Photographs showed some of those as it urged members of the public to Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, terrorism”.
many as 30,000 Hamas terrorists. attending the demonstration wearing continue reporting online material that said he had told members of the British Meanwhile, it emerged that the Star
Yesterday, Germany ’s air force images of paragliders on their backs, in may amount to terror offences. Jewish community “that we stand with of David had been graffitied on the
announced it was sending two planes to an echo of the tactics used by Hamas to A week on from the massacre of 1,300 Israel and with them at this time”. doors of several homes in Berlin and
evacuate its citizens from Israel, with a infiltrate Israeli territory last weekend people in Israel last Saturday, Mr Sunak He added: “There must be zero toler- France was preparing to mobilise up to
Continued on Page 2 to massacre 1,300 people. said: “At moments like this, when Jew- ance of any increase in anti-Semitism or 7,000 soldiers to increase security after
In Glasgow, a video showed one ish people are under attack in their Islamophobia.” a teacher was killed and three others
Reports: Pages 4-9 woman draped in a Palestinian flag homeland, Jewish people everywhere Outside London, pro-Palestinian ral- wounde d in an attack which
Editorial Comment: Page 19 shouting: “Free Palestine... Don’t forget can feel less safe. We’ve seen intimidat- lies took place yesterday in UK cities Continued on Page 2

BBC Arabic reporters appear to justify killing of civilians by terrorists

By Henry Bodkin
THE BBC is embroiled in an impartial-
ity row after its journalists appeared to
justify the killing of Israeli civilians by
Hamas.
The corporation said it was “urgently
investigating” after social media activity
by several of its journalists in the Middle
East appeared to celebrate the attack
that left approximately 1,300 dead.
Reporters at BBC News Arabic
endorsed comments likening Hamas,
which is a designated terrorist group, to
freedom fighters, as well as describing
the Oct 7 atrocity as a “morning of hope”.
One senior correspondent appeared
to make fun of the Israeli relatives of a
grandmother who was abducted by
Hamas.
ists also have a “particular responsibil-
ity” to uphold the principle in their
‘Language
Another tweeted that “Israel’s pres- actions on social media. matters and
tige is crying in the corner”.
Separately, the output on BBC Arabic,
Responding to the allegations, Dame
Caroline Dinenage, chairman of the
it’s vital that
which is funded by the licence fee, pro- Commons culture, media and sport the events
voked a flurry of complaints alleging
bias and inaccuracy, such as for referring
committee, said yesterday: “Language
matters and it’s vital that media cover-
are covered
to towns inside Israel’s internationally age of the heartbreaking events in Israel with the
recognised territory, rather than con- and Gaza are covered with the utmost utmost
tested areas of the West Bank, as “settle- sensitivity and impartiality by all jour-
ments” and their residents as “settlers”. nalists, especially our public service sensitivity’
Campaigners said this “ white - broadcasters.”
washed” the targeting of Jewish civil- It comes amid growing calls for the
ians. BBC to call Hamas terrorists, rather
The BBC is obliged to achieve “due than a “militant group”.
impartiality” in all its output, according An investigation by the Arabic
to its guidelines, while its news journal- department of the Committee for Accu-
racy in Middle East Reporting and Anal-
ysis (Camera) has found social media
activity by six BBC journalists and one
affiliated freelancer which it alleges dis-
plays anti-Israel bias.
Several in the past week questioned
the designation of Israeli non-combat-
ants as civilians, despite evidence of
indiscriminate slaughter of women, chil-
dren and the elderly by Hamas.
Mahmoud Sheleib, a BBC News sen-
ior broadcast journalist, tweeted sug-
gesting that young Israelis were
effectively combatants.
“[I see] In front of me on Al Jazeera,
their so-called civilians are standing
armed alongside the police and shoot-
ing because they basically don’t have
any civilians among the youth. This is
what the ignorant often don’t know. I
‘Every
am in favour of fighting them with love, member of
yes, this is the solution.” Followed by a
laughing emoji.
the Zionist
The Cairo-based journalist also took entity
part in a Twitter conversation in which
he joked about a woman whose grand-
served in
mother was abducted by Hamas receiv- the army at
ing an “inheritance”. some point
Aya Hossam, who describes herself
as a broadcast journalist at BBC Arabic, in his life’
liked a tweet saying: “Every member of
the Zionist entity served in the army at
some point in his life, whether men or
women, and they all had victims of
explicit violation. This term “civilians”
Continued on Page 2

INSIDE Alex Chalk Duke’s lodgings Alan Titchmarsh Rugby

News Focus 22 ‘We’ll break costly Windsor home at ‘I’m terrified of Pumas maul
Business 25 cycle of crime’ heart of squabble being cancelled’ Welsh dragons
TV & Radio 33 Comment Sunday Sunday Interview Sport

Weather 35
ISSN-0307-1235

t:HRKDKH*cgjdha+ (ì}ó) ‘We’re moving to a house in

the catchment area of a
good prison. It’s so hard
to get a place these days’
4 *** Sunday 15 October 2023 The Sunday Telegraph

News

Invaders planned killing and capture

Papers found on the bodies of terrorist
gunmen show detailed orders to target the
most vulnerable in attack on kibbutz
By Nataliya Vasilyeva in Jerusalem
and Roland Oliphant in Tel Aviv
HAMAS terrorists targeted primary
schools to kill babies and children or
take them hostage, according to plans
retrieved from the bodies of dead gun-
men. The documents, published by
NBC News yesterday, reveal the terror-
ists were ordered to attack schools and
a youth centre in the Kfar Sa’ad kibbutz.
“Combat unit 1” was directed to “con-
tain the new Da’at school” while “Com-
bat unit 2” was told to “collect hostages,”
"search Bnei Akiva youth centre” and
“search the old Da’at school,” one page
labelled “Top Secret” said.
Another page, with multi-coloured
tables and labels, instructed a separate
unit to “kill as many as possible” and
“capture hostage” on the east side of
Kfar Sa’ad, one of several kibbutzim
overrun by Hamas.
Other documents leaked to US media
suggest that Hamas had extraordinary
intelligence about border units and
how the Israeli military operated.
Another set of documents retrieved
‘We by Israeli emergency responders who
responded
spoke to The New York Times showed
the attackers were organised in well-de-
to Israel fined units with clear goals and plans.
One group had a specific target – the
suffocating kibbutz – and the attackers were sup-
the people posed to storm it from specific angles.
The document dated October 2022 also
of Gaza for estimated how many Israeli troops were
17 years’ in nearby posts and how long it would
take them to reach the site.
The discovery comes a day after a
senior Hamas official called a rare press
conference for international media in
an apparent attempt to limit interna- ‘I want my
tional outrage at the atrocities perpe-
trated by its gunmen on Israeli soil. daughter
Basim Naim, head of international
relations for the terrorist group, insisted
home now. I
that their gunmen wanted to avoid want my
harming civilians and targeted only mil-
itary bases and compounds in response
daughter to
to Israel “suffocating the people of Gaza sleep in her
for more than 17 years”. bed now’
Other Hamas officials went as far as to
claim the 260 partygoers who were
massacred at an open-air festival last
Saturday may have been mistaken for

Leaders of terror blitz are humanitarian organisations including

killed by Israeli air strike
Military says Ali Kachi,
who led invasion, was
eliminated in air strike
with intelligence help
By Nicola Smith
THE Israel Defence Forces have killed
the Hamas commander who led last
weekend’s deadly terrorist attack, they
announced yesterday.
The air force said Ali Kachi had been
eliminated with the help of intelligence
agency Shin Bet in an air strike on a
Hamas base.
The announcement was accompa-
nied by a black and white aerial video of
a massive explosion.
Kachi had previously been arrested
in 2005 for the abduction and killing of
Israelis, but was released as part of the
2011 deal between Israel and Hamas to
free Gilad Shalit – an Israeli soldier who
had been kidnapped and held captive
for five years.
Kachi was one of for 1,027 Israeli-held
prisoners who were released under the
deal, 280 of them serving life sentences
for planning and perpetrating various
terror attacks against Israeli targets.
Earlier yesterday, the IDF said it had
killed the leader of Hamas’s air forces in
an overnight air strike in the Gaza Strip.
Murad Abu Murad was killed in a
bomb targeting the HQ of the terrorist
group’s aerial activities, reported the
Times of Israel, citing the IDF.
According to the Israeli security
forces, Abu Murad “took a big part in
directing terrorists during the massa-
cre” last weekend, which began with a
barrage of missiles and attackers who
entered Israel from the air on hang glid-
ers just after dawn.
The Israeli air force confirmed the
strike that killed Murad on Twitter, say-
ing: “During the last day, fighter jets of
the Air Force attacked the operational
headquarters of the terrorist organisa-
tion Hamas, from where the organisa-
tion’s aerial activities were managed.
“During the attack, Murad Abu
Murad, the head of the air formation in
Gaza City who took a large part and
directed terrorists in the murderous
attack on Saturday, was killed.”
In a separate post the air force stated:
“Last night, IAF fighter jets conducted
wide-scale strikes throughout the Gaza
Strip.
“These included dozens of Hamas
terror targets as well as ‘Nukhba’ terror-
ist operatives that were in a staging
ground in the Gaza Strip.”
Nukhba, meaning elite, is the name
given to the Hamas commando unit
believed to have spearheaded the incur-
sion into Israel last weekend.
The air force also posted a video
showing the dropping of thousands of
leaflets into north Gaza from the air,
telling 1.1 million citizens to leave for
their own safety ahead of an expected
major military operation.
Lieut Col Jonathan Conricus, the IDF
spokesman, said yesterday that people
in the Gaza Strip were listening to Isra-
el’s warning and that there had been
significant movement towards the
‘IAF fighter jets conducted
wide-scale strikes in Gaza.
These included dozens of
Hamas terror targets’
south as instructed.
“We have seen people listening to
our warning, understanding that they
are doing the clever thing, moving out
of the dangerous area, and the right
thing for their family,” he said.
“We advertised our intentions in
advance not because it has any military
logic but because we want civilians not
to be affected by the war. We didn’t put
those civilians there and they are not
our enemy.”
However, the United Nations, and
the Norwegian Refugee Council and
Amnesty International, are among
those who have called for Israel to
rescind its order.
“Moving more than one million peo-
ple across a densely populated warzone
to a place with no food, water, or accom-
modation, when the entire territory is
under siege, is extremely dangerous –
and in some cases, simply not possible,”
said Antonio Guterres, the UN Secre-
tary General.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces announced
they had killed several “terrorists” try-
ing to cross from Lebanon amid height-
ened tensions, and after repeated
cross-border shelling.
The military “identified a terrorist
cell which attempted to infiltrate from
Lebanon into Israeli territory,” a mili-
tary spokesman said, adding that a
drone strike “targeted the terrorist cell
and killed a number of the terrorists”.
Israel declared itself on a war footing
with Hamas following the carnage
inflicted by the Palestinian Islamist mil-
itant group on Oct 7.
Hamas terrorists killed at least 1,300
people in what was the worst attack
ever on Israel.
Israel has since launched a major
bombing campaign on Hamas targets in
the crowded territory of Gaza ahead of a
likely ground invasion.
On Monday, the Lebanon-based Hiz-
bollah militant group said Israeli strikes
had killed three of its members, while
Palestinian fighters claimed a thwarted
infiltration bid. On Tuesday, Israel said
it hit Hizbollah observation posts and a
day later, Hizbollah said it targeted an
Israeli position near the Lebanese vil-
lage of Dhayra. Retaliatory Israeli fire
wounded three people.
Soldiers setting foot in Gaza
will walk into a death-trap
By Edmund Bower in Beirut
AS THE generals of the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) ready their troops for the
first ground invasion of Gaza in almost a
decade, they will have one question on
their minds: what don’t we know?
The Israeli military fought a bloody
war in Gaza in 2014, losing 73 soldiers
over a seven week-conflict that saw
more than 2,000 Palestinians killed. Mil-
itary technology has evolved rapidly in
the years since and analysts note that the
soldiers entering the Strip may face new
threats, new traps and new ways of war.
Unlike in previous bouts with Israel,
Hamas presides over what John Spencer,
chairman of urban warfare studies at the
Modern War Institute at Westpoint, calls
“a poor man’s air force”.
During last weekend’s terrorist attack,
Hamas unveiled its fleet of drones: small,
commercially available quadcopters
capable of reconnaissance and deliver-
ing payloads of explosives. The drones
were able to neutralise mounted
machine gun posts. Ukrainian forces
have shown how effective even cheap
drones can be at disabling expensive
heavy armour such as tanks. Mr Spencer
says that their ability to drop munitions
from above, where vehicles are typically
more vulnerable than face-on, is a threat
that the IDF has not faced before.
Additionally, Mr Spencer says, “there
are a lot of unknowns”. Hamas has previ-
ously claimed to have sophisticated
anti-aircraft weapons. Whilst these
claims have never been substantiated,
Spencer says “it’s reasonable to expect”
that the group possess “unknown capa-
bilities” acquired from foreign sponsors.
Even without new weapons, the IDF
will find Hamas deeply entrenched.
Since taking power in 2006, the group
has turned Gaza into a fortress, diverting
concrete from civil and developmental
projects to build defensive structures
both above and below ground.
The most famous of these is the “Gaza
Metro”, a series of tunnels that Hamas
claims stretches 500 kilometres, about
100 kilometres further than the total
length of the London Underground. “It’s
a city under a city,” says Spencer.
The tunnels connect buildings built
with steel rebar reinforced concrete that
“can take a real hit and provide a very
protected position for an urban
defender”, says Mr Spencer. Steel rebar
also gives protection against radar and
some types of thermal imaging.
Within the buildings themselves,
Israeli troops could encounter booby
traps, ranging from hand-grenade-sized
trip wires, to artillery shells. The idea is
not so much the amount of explosives,
but the spread so as to cover “every
street, every house”, says Mr Spencer.
“In some ways, conditions couldn’t be
worse for a ground invasion", says Natan
Sachs, of the Centre for Middle East Pol-
icy at the Brookings Institute. “Urban
warfare is the hardest kind of warfare.
Hamas has been entrenching itself in
Gaza, preparing for just this.”
The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 15 October 2023
of young children, documents reveal
“resting” soldiers.” In another attempt
at damage control, Hamas has released
videos which appear to show terrorists
comforting children at the captured
kibbutzim.
One clip showed a little boy sitting on
the knee of one gunman in the garden
of someone’s home. In another, the
same boy is offered a drink from a cup.
Dozens of Israeli children are known
to have been killed and kidnapped in
the incursion.
Hamas’s unprecedented cross-border
raid and ensuing attacks on the south of
We’re paying for a war we never wanted, say refugees
Special report
By Nataliya Vasilyeva
JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT
Palestinians who have fled
south say they are still in
danger as UN warns they
face waterborne diseases
A
s Nihal spoke to The Sunday
Telegraph in a voice note sent via
Whatsapp, a loud thud sounded
in the distance.
The 33-year-old mother had fled
from her home in Gaza City on Friday
following an Israeli order to evacuate
the northern part of the Palestinian
territory.
She paused as the blast sounded –
one of more than 6,000 to have hit the
Gaza Strip in the past week – before
gathering herself to speak again.
The message she wanted to deliver
was clear, she was a civilian, a mother
of a young child, who wanted no part
of Hamas’s war – and she was running
out of water.
“We are now held as hostages. We
do not want this war. What can we do
to escape this genocide by the Israeli
forces?” she said from the town of
Khan Younis, where she arrived on
Israel killed at least 1,300 Israelis. In
Gaza, the death toll from Israeli’s air
strikes climbed yesterday to 2,215 with
over 8,000 injured.
Meanwhile, families and friends of
some of the hostages taken by Hamas
gathered outside the Israel Defence
Force’s headquarters in Tel Aviv yester-
day to demand the government bring
their loved ones back alive.
“I want my daughter home now, I
want my daughter to sleep in her bed
now,” said Shira Albag, whose 19-year-
old daughter Liri, a soldier, was
Clockwise from
left: Benjamin
Netanyahu speaks
to soldiers as Israel
prepares to attack
the Gaza Strip;
families flee
northern Gaza on
donkey-drawn
carts; Rescuers
hunt for survivors
after an air strike
HATEM MOUSSA/AP; MUSTAFA HASSONA/GETTY
Friday with about 30 extended family
members.
“We are only civilians. We’re always
the ones to pay the price for every
aggression.”
Today, Nihal woke up in a stranger’s
house in Khan Younis to find the taps
had run dry.
“There may be water in the pump
but we don’t have electricity or fuel for
a generator to push the water tanks,”
said Nihal, who is also worried about
running out of medication for her
panic disorder.
Yesterday, the United Nations
warned of a potential outbreak of
waterborne diseases.
Gaza’s water purification plants have
now stopped running after Israel cut
off supplies of water and power to the
region.
“As a last resort, people are
consuming brackish water from
agricultural wells, triggering serious
concerns about the spread of
waterborne diseases,” the UN said in a
statement.
Meanwhile, shops and markets in
Khan Younis were running out of
bottled water yesterday, according to a
Telegraph reporter.
Israel insisted it was acting within
the framework of international law,
with an Israel Defence Forces
spokesman denying accusations that it
had forcibly displaced more than a
million people.
Lt Col Richard Hecht told the BBC
yesterday: “We’re not putting people
‘Hamas, if abducted by Hamas on Oct 7. Abigail
Hayat, a friend of the family of Mia
let all the girls and the children, all the
hostages, go home.”
you have Shim, a 21-year-old tattoo artist who The crowd’s anger was also directed
Mia, you vanished from the SuperNova music
festival near Re’im, was also among the
at Benjamin Netanyahu and his govern-
ment, who many blame for last Satur-
need to take hundreds of demonstrators, and said day’s national disaster. The crowd
care of her. her main message was for Hamas.
She went on: “I want to say to them:
regularly broke into chants of “Bibi to
jail.”
Let all the you are accountable for her well being. One man held a poster reading:
hostages go If you have her, you need to take care of “There is 14 billion shekels for the reli-
her. gious. There is no money for surveil-
home’ “If you want the world to think you lance balloons.” The message referred
are fighting for some kind of humanity to neglect of border security and to the
and you are not just savages, you have to generous funding Mr Netanyahu prom-
“Are these comments sarcastic?”
Erez Israel has guaranteed safe passage
crossing for civilians down two main roads
south of Gaza City.
Area of Late on Friday, a strike on a civilian
evacuation convoy killed at least 12 people,
including a small child, according to
MEDITERRANEAN video footage verified by the BBC.
SEA In a separate incident, an explosion
Wadi Gaza on one of the roads hit cars travelling
south, with open source intelligence
Two main roads analysts suggesting it may have been a
roadside bomb.
used for evacuation
Hamas has told civilians to stay in
GAZA
their homes and has been accused of
STRIP
ISR AEL trying to hold back the exodus.
But some Gazans who fled south fear
Rafah crossing they may not be safer there as the IDF
5 miles
EGY P T also hit targets in Khan Younis
yesterday afternoon.
Na’oom Hazem, a 20-year-old media
in trucks. We’re telling people to move student who was trying to cheer
south.” herself up by scrolling through old
Gaza’s citizens, he said, would be photos on her phone, said her parents
sure to “find places to stay”, either were even thinking about returning to
moving in with relatives or bringing a the north.
tent with them as they made the move “We have five families now at my
south that had been ordered. father’s friend’s house – the place is
Moshe Tetro, an IDF colonel, not as safe as we expected. The sounds
maintained yesterday that there was of bombing are very loud,” she told The
“no humanitarian catastrophe” in the Telegraph in a text message.
Gaza Strip. “We just want to go home. We can
Nihal, who is now living on dry food die here and we can die out there.”
taken from her home, was angered by The Egyptian authorities yesterday
the remarks. morning partially sealed the only
“How can the Israelis say there’s no non-Israeli border out of Gaza with
humanitarian catastrophe while they cement barriers.
decided on Day One to cut water and A local activist in North Sinai
electricity in the Gaza Strip?” she said. confirmed pictures circulating on
‘There is
14 billion
shekels for
the religious
– no money
for border
surveillance
balloons’
social media that show cranes lifting
large blocks into place across the Rafah
border crossing.
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas,
said Gazans would not leave the
territory and emigrate to Egypt.
“Our decision is to remain in our
land,” he said in a televised speech.
Unofficial reports yesterday
suggested that Egypt and Israel had
come to a deal to allow foreigners and
dual nationals to leave Gaza by
crossing into Egypt.
6,000
The number of strikes estimated to have
hit the Gaza Strip in the past week
following the Hamas attack on Israel
Sky Arabia, however, reported later
in the day that Cairo was blocking the
move unless Israel allowed aid into
Gaza.
The US government last night
encouraged its citizens in Gaza to
move south closer to the Rafah
crossing to be ready for its possible
reopening.
Mohammed Aborjeela, a Palestinian
content creator, said that around 500
people holding foreign passports had
already tried unsuccessfully to enter
Egypt.
“The border crossing itself isn’t
safe,” he told the BBC. “There’s
*** 5
ised to ultra-orthodox institutions to
secure the support of religious parties
in the Knesset.
At one point protesters nearly
clashed with police officers who arrived
with a lorry of concrete blocks to close
the entrance to the military HQ.
Asked about the anti-Netanyahu
chants, Ms Hayat said: “He is accounta-
ble, but this is not the time. Our soldiers
are on the border and they need to see
unity behind them. We will deal with
that bastard of a prime minister after
the war. And we will show him.”
British lawyer
trawls Hamas
footage for
glimpse of
missing sister
By Rozina Sabur
A BRITISH lawyer said yesterday that
he fears his sister, her husband and
their two children are being held hos-
tage by Hamas in Gaza.
Ahal Besorai, 60, said he frantically
called his family in his hometown of
Be’eri, a small farming community in
southern Israel, when he heard the area
was under attack last Saturday.
His 89-year-old father and middle sis-
ter sheltered in their homes for hours
while Hamas fighters roamed the kib-
butz. The pair were ultimately rescued
by Israeli soldiers.
But he has not heard from his sister,
Yonat Or, 50, her husband, Dror, 50, or
two of their three children, 15-year-old
Noam and 13-year-old Alma, since Sat-
urday morning.
“When I called her for the final time,
I think it was around 9am in the morn-
ing, she just said, ‘I cannot really talk,
people are around’,” he told The Sunday
Telegraph.
“She sounded frightened and she just
hung up. I didn’t call again because I
understood there were people around
the house and I didn’t want the phone to
ring and attract attention,” he said.
Mr Besorai said he suspected they
were being held hostage since another
resident of Be’eri saw the family being
“pulled out” of a safe room in their
house by Hamas gunmen.
He was told that Hamas fighters had
forced his sister Yonat and her family
out by burning down their home.
Israeli officials have confirmed that
one of the family’s phones was traced to
Gaza at 11.45am last Saturday.
But Mr Besorai has no more informa-
tion on his relatives’ condition, or
whether they are all together.
The Cambridge-educated lawyer
said he had since set himself the horrific
task of trawling through Hamas propa-
ganda footage in the hope of catching a
glimpse of his sister and her family.
“It’s just a horrendous experience
because there’s so many atrocities that
you encounter going through this, it’s
truly draining,” he said.
But Mr Besorai said he had reasons to
hope his family had escaped a fate
worse than many of their neighbours
in Be’eri, the site of one of the worst
atrocities.
More than 100 bodies from the com-
munity’s gutted streets and burned-out
homes have been recovered already,
with many of the victims yet to be iden-
tified.
Mr Besorai, who grew up in the small
community, before travelling to the UK
to study at Cambridge University, said
he could not believe what had taken
place in his small community.
“Everybody knows everyone. You
never lock any door, never lock any car.
It’s just a very safe sort of place. There is
no crime. So the whole community is
devastated,” he said.
bombing and there’s no shelter.”
He posted an interview on his
Instagram page with a young girl
holding a British passport.
“I’m scared of dying. There’s no
water, electricity, internet,” she said.
“There’s bombing everywhere and I
just don’t know where to go. Where
should I go?”
Prospects for a safe passage of
civilians there still seemed slim
yesterday evening, with many
Palestinians fearing if they left they
would be unable to return to their
homes.
In a social media video that emerged
yesterday, an elderly woman in a
checked headscarf and sandals was
seen being offered a route to safety in
the car of several young men.
“May God be pleased with you and
protect you,” the old woman, who
apparently had no family of her own,
said as the men urged her to evacuate
with them.
Negotiations on a safe passage out of
Gaza have so far only covered
foreigners and dual nationals.
Nihal, who would be eligible for an
evacuation thanks to her dual
Palestinian and Moroccan citizenship,
told The Telegraph she is still reluctant
to go even if the agreement were
reached
“We are afraid that if we left, we
would never come back,” she said.
“I will not leave. All we have now is
God and a miracle to save us from this
situation.”
6 Sunday 15 October 2023 The Sunday Telegraph

News

Islamist group
in UK hailed
‘egg on the
face’ of Israel
Extremists that PMs tried to ban appear to celebrate
‘good news’ of Hamas’s attack on the Jewish state
By Edward Malnick
SUNDAY POLITICAL EDITOR
AN ISLAMIST extremist group that
David Cameron and Tony Blair both
tried to ban hosted an online event
i n wh i c h p r o m i n e n t m e m b e r s
described the massacre of Israelis as
“good news” and “egg on the face” of
the Jewish state.
The event was one of several in
which prominent UK-based members
of Hizb ut-Tahrir appeared to celebrate
the attack by Hamas – despite the group
previously insisting it “does not pro-
mote fear, criminality or terrorism”.
Prominent members of the group
called for “Muslim armies” to now
“move to liberate the whole land of
Palestine”.
One article posted on Hizb ut-Tahrir
Britain’s website, entitled “Let 7th Octo-
ber be remembered”, claimed Muslims
were “overjoyed at the events”.
The Sunday Telegraph understands
that some of the remarks have been
reported to the Metropolitan Police by
the Community Security Trust (CST),
which monitors anti-Semitism.
On Friday, ahead of demonstrations
this weekend, the Metropolitan Police
said: “We will not tolerate the celebra-
tion of terrorism or death, or tolerate
anyone inciting violence.”
The group is also understood to be
one of several being monitored by
Whitehall officials, after the Home
Office warned that its members
“express views that Islam is fundamen-
tally incompatible with the Western lib-
eral democratic system”.
Dave Rich, the CST’s director of pol-
icy, said: “Hizb ut-Tahrir is an extremist
organisation with a long record of
overtly anti-Semitic statements.
“They seek to stir up hatred and divi-
sion in our society and ought to be held
to account.”
In a statement, Hizb ut-Tahrir said it
was “a lie to state that Hizb ut-Tahrir
have a long record of overtly anti-
Semitic statements” and insisted: “We
do not support the Hamas group.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir seeks the establish-
ment of a caliphate in the Middle East.
Experts, including former members of
the group, have claimed it is a gateway
to violent extremism.
It is banned in countries such as Ger-
many, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but
not the UK.
In 2021, The Telegraph revealed that
the group had been stepping up its
activities in Britain.
Beginning last Saturday, the day
some 1,300 people were killed in Israel
by Hamas terrorists, Hizb ut-Tahrir
hosted a series of discussions on the
Twitter Spaces platform, which allows
organisations to host mass audio con-
versations, relating to the events that
unfolded.
Opening a discussion last Saturday,
after it emerged that terrorists had infil-
trated Israel and were killing Jewish
civilians, Taji Mustafa, one of the four
Gaza, within this massive prison, have
been able to go into the Zionist entity,
and the fear and the running of the
Zionist left, right and centre, really
something which has been a sight to
behold.”
Mr Mustafa continued: “A question I
want us to try and bear in mind through-
out this Space, how do we help our
Ummah [community] in Pales0tine so
the land is liberated?”
Yahya Abu Yousuf, who is described
as the media representative of Hizb
ut-Tahrir in Britain, then said: “Alham-
dulillah [praise be to God] we woke up
to this news and it was, to coin a phrase,
egg on the face of the occupation forces
in Palestine.
“Some people today, they took some
pieces back, or they invaded in order to
be the spark that leads to revolution.
“The fact that they were able to do so
much with so little it completely lies
waste the idea that an actually equipped
army couldn’t achieve much ... fully
equipped armies can do an awful lot
and they ... could really just annihilate
and end the existence of Israel.
“It’s often said, within one hour the
whole place could be taken.”
The remarks chime with a campaign
by Hizb ut-Tahrir in the UK urging
Muslims to support the “liberation of
Palestine” by “Muslim armies”, defined
in the group’s discussions as the
armed forces of countries such as Egypt
and Jordan.
In a later discussion, on Tuesday, Mr
Mustafa said: “The Muslims outside
should be calling their relatives in the
armies of the Muslim world and saying
this is an issue of jihad, this is an issue of
liberation from occupation, you
who are trained soldiers you who are
our cousins, our uncles, you need to
move to liberate the whole land of
Palestine.”
An article posted on Hizb ut-Tahrir
Britain’s website after the attacks by
Hamas last weekend stated: “While yes-
terday’s revenge may not offer a lasting
solution in the current context, it
becomes a poignant expression of the
overwhelming emotions that engulf the
Ummah.”
“The events of Oct 7 have ignited a
wave of joy and elation among Muslims
globally.
“For Muslims, Palestine holds a
deeply cherished place in their hearts
and souls.
“The people of Palestine are an insep-
arable part of the global Muslim com-
munity.
“Their triumphs and struggles reso-
nate with Muslims on a profound level,
generating a sense of collective pride
and unity.”
In a statement, Hizb ut-Tahrir said:
“We do not support the Hamas group,
but support the people of Palestine.
“We do not encourage people to do
similar actions but instead want a polit-
ical change so that the resources of
Muslim countries are used to liberate
and rescue the beleaguered people of
HEATHCLIFF O’MALLEY FOR THE TELEGRAPH;

prominent figures listed on Hizb Palestine.

ut-Tahrir Britain’s website, said: “It’s a
day most of us will remember, inshallah
[God willing] because it is a day of news,
good news ... really an amazing day in
the sense that some things which were
said to be undoable we now see the pos-
sibilities of that.”
In the discussion, which had an audi-
ence of 2,800 people, Mr Mustafa
added: “Fighters from within occupied
‘Amazing “To say that Palestinians should be
free of this brutal occupation is not a
day, some divisive statement.”
things Sir Tony Blair, the then prime minis-
ter, pledged to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir as
‘undoable’, part of a counter-extremism plan fol-
we now see lowing the July 7 2005 bombings, but
possibilities the plan was dropped. Mr Cameron also
said, as prime minister, he would ban
of that’ the group but did not do so.

Councils face ban on Xinjiang being used in supply chains,”

boycotting Israeli goods
By Will Hazell and Edward Malnick
LEGISLATION aimed at stopping
councils from boycotting Israeli
goods is likely to return to Parliament
next week, The Sunday Telegraph
has learnt.
In June, Michael Gove, the Commu-
nities Secretary, introduced a Bill
banning all public bodies from impos-
ing their own boycott or divestment
campaigns on foreign countries and
territories.
The legislation was promised in the
Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto after a
series of local councils backed the
BDS (boycott, divestment and sanc-
tion) movement against Israel in pub-
lic procurement contracts or
pension schemes.
In the wake of an upsurge in anti -
Israel protests following Hamas’s terror
attack on the country and Israel’s bom-
bardment of the Gaza Strip, the Bill is
shortly due to move to its next stage in
the Commons. The Telegraph under-
stands that on Thursday, the Govern-
ment is likely to announce that the
Economic Activity of Public Bodies
(Overseas Matters) Bill will have its
report stage the following week.
The third reading of the Bill is
expected to happen after the King’s
Speech in November.
Making the case for the legislation in
the summer, Mr Gove said that it was
“simply wrong that public bodies have
been wasting taxpayers’ time and
money pursuing their own foreign pol-
icy agenda”.
He added: “The UK must have a con-
sistent approach to foreign policy, set
by UK Government.”
As well as undermining UK foreign
policy, he said councils supporting the
BDS movement led “ to appalling
anti-Semitic rhetoric and abuse”.
However, some Conservative MPs
have previously expressed concern
about the Bill.
In June, Alicia Kearns, the chairman
of the foreign affairs select committee,
said that while she supported the
“principle that taxpayers’ money should
not be politicised and should not be
used to undermine the Government’s
foreign policy”, she disagreed with the
decision to “specifically name Israel on
‘It is wrong that public
bodies have been wasting
taxpayers’ time and money
pursuing their own agenda’
the face of the Bill”. She said: “We
should not do country-specific legisla-
tion as it undermines our foreign policy.
“I also worry whether this will under-
mine community cohesion.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former
Conservative Party leader, meanwhile
said he was worried that it could
stop public bodies from refusing to buy
Chinese-made goods.
“We have to make sure nothing gets
in the way of stopping slave labour from
he said.
The Government has however
insisted that the Bill contains exemp-
tions allowing public bodies to boycott
goods where modern slavery has
been involved.
The return of the Bill could put
Labour in a tricky position.
While the party has been steadfast
in support of Israel following Hamas’s
attack and is opposed to the BDS
movement, in July it said the Bill was
“deeply flawed”.
Other organisations have said that
the legislation is a curb on free expres-
sion or could open up new divisions.
Earlier in the year, the Union of Jew-
ish Students announced it was oppos-
ing the Bill.
A motion passed by the group said:
“UJS reaffirms its support for the
democratic right to non-violently
protest and opposes the Government’s
proposed boycott Bill, which is a
curtailment of that right, as well as
presenting a risk to British Jewish
communities and a set-back to Israe-
li-Palestinian peace.”
Before 2019, Leicester city council,
Swansea city council and Gwynedd
council all passed motions to boycott
produce from “illegal Israeli settle-
ments in the West Bank, until such time
as Israel complies with international
law and withdraws from Palestinian-
occupied territories”.
Ex-Premier League star hits
out at FA over arch snub
By Patrick Sawer
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
YOSSI BENAYOUN, the Jewish former
English Premier League star, has con-
demned the Football Association (FA)
for refusing to light up the Wembley
Arch in Israeli colours, saying it has put
itself “on the dark side of history”.
Benayoun, who played for West Ham,
Liverpool and Chelsea between 2005
and 2014 and also captained the Israeli
national team, said the FA had failed in
its duty to stand firm in the face of
hatred.
He spoke out after England’s football
bosses decided not to light up the Wem-
bley Arch in solidarity with Israel when
England played Australia on Friday,
even though they did so after previous
terror attacks such as Paris in 2015, the
Istanbul bombings in 2016 and Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine last year.
The FA also ignored the call from
Lord Mann, the Government’s adviser
on anti-Semitism, to project the names
of the British citizens who were killed in
the Hamas terror attack last Saturday.
Benayoun said that by refusing to
properly memorialise the terror attacks,
the FA had failed to stand alongside vic-
tims of hate and inhumanity. He told
The Sunday Telegraph: “After the Holo-
caust, the world promised ‘Never again’.
But now a brutal massacre in the same
shocking inhumane way is taking place
– a horrendous massacre that took the
lives of over 1,300, pure evil.”
Benayoun, who is the sporting direc-
tor of the Israel national team, added:
“Every big corporation has a massive
duty to raise awareness and stand tall
with a clear rejection of such hate. The
English FA must do so as they always
knew to condemn and to rightfully
memorialise any act of terror and other
global disasters. Any other action can be
only described as being on the wrong
and dark side of history, and history will
judge them.”
Benayoun’s condemnation followed a
letter from the Israeli Professional Foot-
ball Leagues to the English Premier
League criticising its failure to openly
condemn the Hamas attacks. Erez Hal-
fon, the chairman of the Israeli Profes-
sional Football Leagues, stated: “We are
amazed, shocked and disappointed
beyond words at The Premier League’s
lack of ability to condemn these acts.”
The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 15 October 2023 7

Day of protest
full of marches,
fury and chants
against Israel
Chants of slogan seen as
calling for destruction of
Jewish state as thousands
vent anger over conflict
By Patrick Sawer SENIOR NEWS
REPORTER, Genevieve Holl-Allen
and Keith Perry
Others were at pains to disassociate
themselves from any of the visibly anti-
Semitic gestures seen among small
pockets of the march.
Mariam, a mother of three girls, held
up a home-made placard reading: “If
Ukrainian lives matter more then you
are racist”,
The 34-year old, who works in the
finance sector, said: “If you’re going to
preach a message that message has to

A
s tens of thousands of marchers
snaked their way past London’s
crowded shops and restaurants,
there was one contentious slogan that
resonated jarringly above the others.
“From the river, to the sea, Palestine
must be free,” they chanted, as they
moved from BBC Broadcasting House
to Whitehall in protest at the Israeli
bombing of Gaza that followed last
Saturday’s Hamas terror attacks.
The chant has been widely
interpreted as calling for the
destruction of the state of Israel and is
regarded as both offensive and
threatening by many Jews.
Indeed the Home Secretary, Suella
Braverman, suggested that it could be
regarded as a hate crime over which
police could take action if it is seen as
threatening public order.
That didn’t stop it being taken up by
the crowds, who sang it openly as
police maintained a low-key presence.
And though the overwhelming
majority of those who took part
marched peacefully, a minority
appeared happy to glorify violence.
A group of hotheads confronted a
line of police officers, pushing and
shoving before moving on the rejoin
the main body of marchers. A number
of arrests were understood to have
been made.
A small, but vocal number of youths
could be heard chanting in Arabic the
cry of “Patience, patience, Jews, the
army of Muhammad will return” in an
obvious show of support for attacks on
Jews, past and present.
A few also wore stickers showing
photographs of a paraglider, in a
reference to the tactics sometimes
adopted by Hamas to launch missiles
and bombs onto Israel – a barely coded
Thousands of celebration of such attacks.
pro-Palestinian Among the chants were also
supporters line the accusations that Israel is a “terror
streets of London
state”, with loud cries of “Israel, Israel,
from BBC
Broadcasting you can’t hide, we charge you with
House to genocide”.
Whitehall. Some Many of the marchers made it clear
wore images of they did not support the attacks
Hamas paragliders carried out by Hamas last Saturday.
taped to their But they insisted that Israel was also
clothes, right. guilty of terror tactics by its bombing
Others, far right, of Gaza, with the resultant deaths.
carried placards
Zeiba, a student from Westminster
bearing the slogan
‘from the river to College holding a hand-made placard
the sea, Palestine reading “50 per cent of them are
must be free’, the children”, said: “The sheer amount of
chanting of which bombs and white phosphorus that
Suella Braverman, Israel is dropping is horrendous.
the Home “I don’t support Hamas and, of
Secretary, had course, their attacks on Saturday were
urged police to horrendous. It’s not okay for either
consider a ‘racially
side to attack civilians.”
aggravated’
offence Her friend Meriem, 19, who is of
Middle Eastern origin, added:
“Western governments are doing
nothing to stop Israel’s war crimes.
That’s why I’m here protesting.”
be the same across the board.”
Asked what she felt on waking to
news of the Hamas attacks on Israeli
civilians, she said: “My heart goes out
to the innocent who have been killed.
Nobody here wants to see the death of
Israelis and to make out that is what
Muslims want is to create more harm
than good.”
But among the protesters there were
also many who carried placards
reading “End Israeli Apartheid” and
“Palestine, Exist, Resist, Return”, both
of which are widely interpreted as
questioning the existence of Israel.
Others waved Palestinian flags and
called for economic sanctions against
the Jewish state.
As the march made its way along
Lower Regent Street a group of young
women, several in headscarves,
chanted “No justice, no peace”.
A few yards away was a small
delegation from the group, Jewish
Voice for Labour, their flags declaring
“always with the oppressed, never
with the oppressors” – an echo of the
words of Marek Edelman, one of the
leaders of the Jewish ghetto uprising
in Warsaw during World War Two.
Outside Downing Street, where a
stage had been erected by the
organisers, including Stop the War
Campaign and the Palestine Solidarity
Campaign, the Palestinian ambassador
to London received among the loudest
cheers of the day, as he led chants of
“Free, Free Palestine”.
As the marchers dispersed, a couple
of hundred made their way to High
Street Kensington to protest outside
the Israeli Embassy, previously the
scene of ugly clashes.
Here they were met by a barricade
and around 100 police officers
blocking their path.
The protesters again took up the
chant of “From the river to the sea,
Palestine must be free”, along with
“Israel is a terrorist state”, while riot
police stood nearby, ready to disperse
anyone tempted to scale the gates.
Rallies took place elsewhere,
including Liverpool, Bristol,
Cambridge, Norwich, Coventry,
Edinburgh and Swansea.
In Manchester, more than 2,000
people are estimated to have marched
through the city’s famous curry mile in
support of Palestine. Hassan Galanni,
one protester, said: “It is important to
be here today, we can’t turn a blind eye
to what Israel is doing. It’s genocide, a
war crime.”
In Glasgow, a woman draped in a
Palestinian flag shouted: “Free
Palestine. Don’t forget where the Jews
were in 1940.” Glasgow Friends of
Israel posted the footage, labelling it
#Nazi on the streets of #Glasgow.
One social media user tweeted that
the woman ‘‘should be jailed’’.

Now they march with a

demonic energy that
revels in killing Jews
Schoolchildren stage ‘abhorrent’ protest to Commentary
By Nicole Lampert
too busy counting its dead to retaliate.
They tried to interrupt as we had a
vigil outside Downing Street to mourn

back Palestinians and shout IRA slogans

our dead. The marches are always

I
By Genevieve Holl-Allen
A SCHOOL in Belfast has faced a back-
lash after pupils staged a “completely
inappropriate” lunchtime protest
in support of Palestinians and repeated
IRA slogans.
Photographs shared and later deleted
by Coláiste Feirste school on Twitter
showed a group of at least 50 students
demonstrating in the playground with
teachers appearing to monitor them.
The organiser of the protest, sixth
former Pádraig de Brún, addressed the
demonstration and ended his speech by
quoting Bobby Sands, the IRA hunger
striker: “Our revenge will be the laugh-
ter of our children”.
In a post that remains on their Twit-
ter page, the school said: “Some stu-
dents organised a demonstration for the
rights and justice of Palestine yesterday,
showing the big and generous heart
they have and their commitment to the
people around the world.”
The Irish-medium secondary school
faces calls to take action and to “educate
their pupils” on the atrocities taking
place in Israel following the demonstra-
tion. In a written statement provided by
the school to The Sunday Telegraph, Mr
de Brún said he was aware of “some of
the similarities” between the Israel-Pal-
estinian conflict and “here in the north”.
He said: “On Wednesday, I organised
a peaceful protest in solidarity with the
people of Palestine.
“Having a keen interest in politics
and studying A-level history, I am aware
of some of the similarities to the conflict
here in the north.
“I spoke to my fellow students and
briefly explained some of the back-
ground of the region.
“This protest was not an endorse-
ment of Hamas or any other political
organisation, but merely to highlight
the ongoing plight of these people.”
Speaking of his choice to quote
Sands, he said: “My interpretation
of that quote is that during times of con-
flict and hardship, it is our hope
that love will prevail and that the laugh-
ter of our children will be heard
once again as opposed to the suffering
that children on both sides of this con-
flict have been subjected to.” Bob Black-
man, the MP for Harrow East and the
chairman of the All Party Parliamentary
Group on Israel, said teachers “should
have prevented these demonstrations
taking place”.
Mr Blackman said: “It’s completely
inappropriate for things like this to take
place in schools full stop.”
He added: “It demonstrates the con-
‘It would be interesting
to see what would have
happened if children
had waved Israeli flags’
cern about what is being taught in
schools and what opportunity there is
to look... at the levels of premeditated
violence towards civilians that obvi-
ously have taken place.
“The teachers have responsibility in
this regard as well.”
Mr Blackman also questione d
whether students holding a demonstra-
tion in support of Israel, following the
terror attacks, would have been han-
dled similarly by teachers.
“It would be interesting to see what
would have happened if some children
had come out and one was, or several
were, waving Israeli flags and one was
making a speech about the dreadful
things that have happened. Would the
teachers have intervened?”
A spokesman for the Union of Jewish
Students (UJS) said schools should be
“inclusive environments with balance
and impartiality at the centre of a well-
rounded education”.
They added: “To imply in any way
that Hamas’s brutal terrorist onslaught
against innocent civilians was laugha-
ble or positive is [abhorrent] and we call
on the school to take action and educate
their pupils on this atrocity.
“We urge all schools to reach out to
their Jewish students, or their local
Jewish community, or UJS, and ensure
they are equipped to handle these mat-
ters during these deeply challeng-
ing times.”
Coláiste Feirste has been approached
for comment.
n 628AD, in the city of Khabar,
Arabic forces had a famous victory
over their local Jews. They
massacred dozens, raped and enslaved
the women and then levied a huge tax
on the remaining community.
The battle is recalled by those who
hate Jews: those who hate us so much
they want to see us dead. It’s now
common to hear the refrain on “pro
Palestine” marches “Khaybar, Khaybar
ya Yahu, Jaish Mohammed Sauf Ya’ud”,
meaning, “Watch out Jews, the army of
Mohammed is returning”.
Yesterday, a week after Hamas killed
1,300 Israelis and kidnapped 130
others, some protesters were gleefully
singing it on the streets of London.
Thousands marched in the capital
and other cities around the country. In
Leeds, local police told the Jewish
community there to avoid the city
centre. As a British Jew, I can say none
of us needed to be told. We are a
community in fear. We are angry, we
feel alone and unprotected.
Wanting to stand up for Palestinian
rights is one thing. Wanting peace is
totally understandable. No one I know
wants to see dead Palestinian civilians.
But many on these marches seem to
want more than that. They started
marching on Monday when Israel was
nasty. But now there is something new
now; a gleeful, a demonic energy
revelling in the death of Jews. It is like
they don’t see us as humans.
You could see it in the emblems
worn by protesters depicting
hang-gliders, used by Hamas to get
into Israel to begin their slaughter. You
could hear it as they sang “From the
river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
Hamas has never made any secret of its
desire to free the land of Jews and last
weekend we saw how. “Dead Jews, the
more the merrier, catnip for them,” as
historian Simon Schama said online
yesterday.
France and Germany banned
marches like these knowing people
would glorify activities of terrorists.
I’m sad that so many people seemed
so joyous about Jewish deaths. I’m
scared because this anger is only going
to increase once war properly starts.
I’m upset because I see the full extent
of hatred for Jews among the nation
that has been the home for my family
for more than 100 years. And I’m angry
that the police do almost nothing about
these people who are quite open about
wanting to hurt people like me and my
family. It is no wonder that many
British Jews are worried about
whether we have a future here.
8 *** Sunday 15 October 2023 The Sunday Telegraph

News

Sunak urged to sanction ‘The Qataris

hosting the Hamas leadership on its soil dominium in Doha? The answer is no.”
only to avoid them relocating to Iran While Israel prepares for a ground
and further expanding Tehran’s influ- should be invasion and drops thousands of bombs
ence across the Middle East. ostracised across the region, Hamas has told peo-

Qatar for hosting Hamas

Mr Wallace, who has called on the US
government to take similar action, said:
“The Qataris should be ostracised and
their role should forever change in the
world, given what happened. But right
now there are innocents [held hostage
in Gaza] and the leaders of the massacre
that directed the taking of those inno-
cents are in Qatar.
ple in northern Gaza to stay at home.
and their But those responsible for what will
role should likely result in the death of thousands of
civilians are living in opulence and
forever safety. Several Hamas leaders moved to
change in Qatar after falling out with their previ-
ous host, Syria, when Palestinian refu-
the world, gees participated in the 2011 uprising
given what against the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Call for action over terror

group leaders said to be
US-based Counter Extremism Project,
also called for the UK’s diplomatic ties
with Doha to be suspended if the regime
‘[Freeze Qatar, which has said it holds Israel
responsible for last weekend’s massa-
assets] until cre. Footage last week showed Haniyeh,
“The UK has an outsize role with the
Qataris. Much of the Qatari wealth is sit- happened’ Also in last week’s video from Doha
was Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’s former
ting in London. It should be frozen … No leader and now serving as se c-

living life of opulence and

safety in capital Doha
By Edward Malnick SUNDAY POLITICAL
EDITOR and Susie Coen
RISHI SUNAK is facing calls to impose
sanctions on Qatar for continuing to
host the Hamas leaders who directed
the attack on Israel.
Mark Wallace, a former US ambassa-
dor to the UN, said that “much of the
Qatari wealth is sitting in London” and
called for assets linked to the Qatari
state and royal family to be frozen “until
the Qataris turn over the worst of the
worst terror leaders in the world”.
Mr Wallace, who now runs the
fails to apprehend Ismail Haniyeh,
Hamas’s political leader, and hand him
over to American or Israeli authorities.
Bob Blackman, the joint secretary of
the Conservatives’ 1922 Committee and
vice-chairman of the all-party parlia-
mentary group against anti-Semitism,
said: “I agree with him.”
Along with Frances Townsend, who
was a counter-terrorism adviser to
George W Bush, Mr Wallace has
insisted that Haniyeh should be tar-
geted in Doha in a similar manner to the
US assassination of Osama bin Laden if
he is permitted to continue directing
Hamas with impunity from Qatar.
For years, Hamas’s architects of ter-
ror have been running the bloodthirsty
unit while living in five-star luxury in
the Qataris 61, smiling and praying from the com-
fort of his air-conditioned Doha office to
turn over celebrate the slaughter of Israelis.
the worst of In the video, Haniyeh and 12 of his
henchmen are seen dressed in freshly
the worst pressed suits as they watch the horror
terror unfold on a widescreen TV. The group
then congregates behind Haniyeh to
leaders in kneel down in prayer on a plush, grey
the world’ carpet. Qatar denies supporting Hamas
and says the group is simply part of the
reality on the ground.
Doha is viewed within Whitehall as
an ally of the UK, meaning that it is
likely there would be resistance to calls
for sanctions or downgrading diplo-
matic relations. A source who has dis-
cussed the issue with Qatari officials
said that Doha privately insisted it was
asset should be allowed to be accessed,
no funds repatriated to the Qataris. Any
ond-in-command.
Meshaal called for a day of jihad on
asset in London should be frozen until Friday, saying: “Head to the squares and
the Qataris turn over the worst of the
worst terror leaders, which they host.
streets of the Arab and Islamic world.”
Meshaal fled to Qatar in 2012 and he
“Hopefully, if they do that we can use has been pictured working out in an
those leaders to convince their compa- upmarket gym and gorging on food.
triots in the Gaza Strip to free hostages. A Foreign Office spokesman said:
How can the British authorities allow “The UK and its allies have an enduring
the Qataris to act with impunity from a relationship with Qatar. Without Qatar’s
business or diplomatic perspective in engagement in highly sensitive issues
London under these circumstances? such as the Israel Occupied Palestinian
“The Qatar authorities should arrest Territories conflict and on wider
each and every Hamas member and regional stability, there would not be
turn them over to US and Israeli author- the opportunity to bring about solu-
ities. Do you think that we would have tions to this type of tragic conflict.”
allowed Bin Laden to sit in a luxury Qatar’s ministry of foreign affairs
office tower in Doha? Would we have let and London embassy were contacted
the Isis leadership sit in luxury in a con- for comment.

BBC building
sprayed with
red paint over
‘occupation lies’
By Genevieve Holl-Allen
A PRO-Palestinian protest organisation
has claimed responsibility for the BBC
New Broadcasting House being splat-
tered with red paint, saying it was a pro-
test to “leave a message” over coverage
of events in Israel and Gaza.
Palestine Action said on Twitter that
it had “left a message overnight for the
BBC” after blood-red paint had covered
the building entrance.
The group tweeted: “Spreading the
occupation’s lies and manufacturing
consent for Israel’s war crimes means
that you have Palestinian blood on your
hands #ShutBBCDown.”
There appeared to have been unsuc-
cessful attempts to clean the paint off
the front of the building in the early
hours of yesterday morning. The van-
dalism came ahead of a March for Pales-
tine that began in front of the building.
Palestine Action calls itself a “direct
action network dismantling British
complicity with Israeli apartheid”.
The Metropolitan Police said it was
“investigating an incident of criminal
damage to a building in Portland Place”.
It added that officers were aware of a
“video posted online claiming responsi-
bility”. No arrests have been made.
This week, the group claimed
responsibility for spraying red paint
on the offices of the recruiters for Elbit
Systems UK, an Israel-based defence
electronics company, in Manchester.
Edward Adoo, a BBC broadcaster,
shared photographs of the incident on
Twitter, and wrote: “Just got to the BBC
the main entrance is blocked, someone
sprayed red paint at the entrance.
JAMIE LORRIMAN FOR THE TELEGRAPH

Regardless of your view on what’s going

on this is not the way. Props to the secu-
rity team on duty tonight.”
The broadcaster has come under
pressure to describe Hamas as “terror-
ists”. Lawyers acting for the Board of
Deputies of British Jews have told the
BBC to investigate complaints made
against them over their failure to refer
to Hamas as terrorists. The BBC has
A contractor cleans BBC New Broadcasting House after Palestine Action said it had sprayed blood-red paint over the building, accusing the corporation of ‘manufacturing consent for Israel’s war crimes’ been contacted for comment.

Support for Israel must not dissipate when reality of fighting sets in
Commentary
local life from civic leaders to
charitable philanthropy.
Over the past 80 years, the UK has
been at the forefront of efforts to
support Jewish communities. To make
them feel safe, to give them a
By Oliver Dowden homeland and to ensure they can
defend themselves.
describe Hamas as a terror
organisation or the FA take a stand on
Black Lives Matter but not on the
slaughter of more than 1,000 men,
women and babies, it is not
unreasonable for them to question
why those organisations single them
out as not worthy of their support.
‘Jews must feel free to
express their faith freely
in public whether going
to school or synagogue’
we are supporting them through
actions in the weeks to come.
Likewise, we cannot allow terror in
their schools, no one should need
armed guards as they worship.
Israel to breed terror in the UK. Jews The Home Secretary has rightly
must feel able to express their faith
freely in public whether wearing
taken a robust stance on policing and
supported the Community Security
kippah, going to school or synagogue. Trust with an extra £3 million to
The Left are fond of trigger protect British Jewish communities.
warnings and safe spaces but curiously We’ll do what it takes to make

I
have the honour of representing
one of the largest Jewish
communities in Britain. Thriving
synagogues in Bushey, Borehamwood,
Radlett and Shenley draw generations
together in celebrating the Jewish
faith. They in turn form the bedrock of
Right now though, the joy in those
communities has been replaced by
sadness and grief. There is also fear of
the ultimate indifference of some
people to atrocities committed against
Jewish people.
When they see the BBC refuse to
That is why the Government is
determined not just to say that Israel
has a right to defend itself, but to show
it. We have sent P8 Aircraft,
surveillance assets and two Royal Navy
ships to deliver practical support to
Israel and partners in the region, and
intelligence sharing.
Our support towards Israel must not
dissipate when the reality of fighting
an enemy that hides in tunnels and
among civilian homes, schools and
hospitals takes shape.
The test is not of our words but our
lose all zeal when it comes to Jewish people in Britain feel safe
aggressive pro-Palestinian and because ultimately these aren’t attacks
anti-Israeli demonstrations that seek to just on Israel or the Jewish people.
intimidate Jews. This cannot be They are attacks on all of us. On
allowed to happen. decency, freedom and humanity.
No one should fear walking our Oliver Dowden is the Deputy Prime
streets, no one should have to close Minister and MP for Hertsmere

Army ‘deliberately’ killed White House fears fallout

reporter, claims Lebanon
By Sophia Yan
L EBAN ON has accused Israel of
“deliberately killing” Issam Abdallah, a
Reuters journalist, and plans to submit
a complaint to the UN Security Council.
Abdallah, a Lebanese national, was
killed in suspected Israeli shelling near
the Lebanese border on Friday.
Najib Mikati, the Lebanese prime
minister, has blamed the death on
Israel. The Israeli army said yesterday
that it is investigating the incident.
“We are aware of the incident with
the Reuters journalist,” Lt Col Richard
Hecht, an army spokesman, said. “We
are looking into it. We already have
visuals. We’re doing cross examination.
It’s a tragic thing.”
Abdallah was reporting alongside
journalists from Al-Jazeera and Agence
France-Presse (AFP), when he was
killed in southern Lebanon.
The reporters were working near
Alma al-Shaab, close to the Israel bor-
der, along which the Israeli military and
Lebanese militia, Hezbollah, have
exchanged fire in recent days. Two
other Reuters journalists were also
injured in the same incident.
One of them, Maher Nazeh, said they
were filming missile fire coming from
the direction of Israel when one hit Mr
Abdallah; seconds later, another missile
hit the car the group had used, Reuters
has reported. Mr Abdallah was killed
‘They were all wearing
journalists’ gear and the
word “press” was visible.
Israel can’t deny this crime’
late on Friday afternoon while provid-
ing a live video signal for broadcasters.
A loud explosion shook the camera, the
air filled with smoke and people could
be heard screaming.
AFP and Al-Jazeera say they have
each had two journalists injured in the
same incident.
“Israel deliberately killed my son,”
Fatima Kanso, Abdallah’s mother, told
Fatima Kanso mourns at the funeral of her son, journalist Issam Abdallah, in Al Khiyam
Reuters. “They were all wearing jour-
nalists’ gear and the word ‘press’ was
visible. Israel cannot deny this crime.”
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s envoy to the UN,
said: “Obviously, we would never want
to hit or kill or shoot any journalist that
is doing their job. But you know, we’re
in a state of war, things might happen.”
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, a
peacekeeping unit that patrols the
Lebanon-Israel border, said it was
“deeply saddened” to hear a journalist
was killed and that others injured.
“The potential for this escalation to
spiral out of control is clear, and it must
be halted,” it said in a statement.
from Gaza ground invasion
By Susie Coen US CORRESPONDENT evacuate northern Gaza within 24
hours, with John Kirby, the National
PRESIDENT Joe Biden’s administration Security Council spokesman, acknowl-
is concerned over the fallout from Isra- edging it would be “a tall order.”
el’s looming ground invasion of Gaza, On Friday, Mr Biden said people
despite publicly backing the country in should not “lose sight of the fact that the
its war against Hamas. overwhelming majority of Palestinians
While Mr Biden, 80, pledged to give had nothing to do with Hamas”.
the country whatever it needs to It comes amid concerns the war
respond to the slaughter of hundreds of could spread across the Middle East
Israelis, the White House is concerned
there is no plan for what comes next.
become more fraught, with threats that
Hizbollah “have their fingers on the
Mr Biden’s staunch support for Israel trigger to shoot”.
after the Hamas terror attacks has so far
won plaudits from unlikely sources,
Iran’s foreign minister warned from
Beirut that the Lebanese terror group
including Republicans and George W has scenarios “designed” and “pre-
Bush, the former president. pared” if Israel does not stop its attacks
But the administration is pressing Tel on Gaza.
Aviv to make a plan to follow the poten- “I know about the scenarios that Hiz-
tial destruction of Hamas, sources bollah has put in place,” Hossein
told Bloomberg. Amir-Abdollahian told reporters. “Any
Mr Biden’s aides have not publicly step the resistance [Hizbollah] will take
questioned Israel’s response, but anxi- will cause a huge earthquake in the
ety is understood to be building over Zionist entity.”
the humanitarian crisis facing Gaza. “There is still a political opportunity
They were also reportedly concerned to prevent a widespread crisis in the
about Israel’s demand that civilians region,” Mr Amir-Abdollahian said.
The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 15 October 2023
How Iran spent £13bn building web of terror
Fingers point to Tehran as
West believes Hamas alone
could not be responsible
for terror attacks on Israel
By Sophia Yan
W
hen Hamas terrorists floated
over the heavily-fortified
border with Israel using
motorised paragliders, it struck
Western intelligence as a sign that the
assault which followed could not have
been planned entirely within Gaza.
To train dozens of gunmen on how
to use the contraptions – garish,
three-wheel buggies attached to large
sails 150 would have attracted too
much attention within the surveilled
confines of the 141 square-mile Gaza.
The deployment of paragliders
“surely required training outside of
Gaza,” Marc Polymeropoulos, a former
CIA official who served as a counter-
terrorism officer in the Middle East,
told The Washington Post.
Like many in Western intelligence
circles, he did not have to look far for a
culprit: Iran, he said, must have been
involved, along the web of proxies it
has spent £13.1 billion developing since
2012 alone.
By the end of the week, evidence
had started to emerge. Hizbollah, a
Lebanese armed group backed by Iran,
trained elite Hamas gunmen on
paragliders within Lebanon, The New
York Times reported. In Syria, its
commandos showed more Palestinian
operatives how to storm an Israeli
base. It remains unclear how much
involvement Iran had in the generation
and timing of the assault.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the
Supreme Leader, denied any role, but
said he “kisses the hands” of the
terrorists who carried it out.
What is undeniable, analysts say, is
that Iranian funding and training
equipped Hamas, a group previously
known largely for its ability to home-
make rockets, with the skills needed
for a multi-pronged attack that has so
far killed more than 1,300 Israelis.
Tehran has provided support to
Hamas, Hizbollah 150 – a militant
group that grew into one of Lebanon’s
dominant political players – and a
range of other groups that surround
Israel from every angle for decades.
There is little effort to keep this
secret: Hamas officials have publicly
boasted about their links to the Islamic
Republic, while in 2016 the leader of
Hizbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said
“Hizbollah’s budget, everything it eats
and drinks, its weapons and rockets,
comes from the Islamic Republic of
Iran”. All this feeds into Tehran’s wider
strategy to boost its influence as the
dominant Arab power in the region,
capable of sowing chaos and carnage
across a wide geographical sphere,
while deterring attack on itself.
The effort to encircle Israel this
week appeared to be paying off, as
Hizbollah exchanged fire with Israel
on the northern front, forcing the
deployment of Israeli military assets
that could otherwise focus on Gaza.
As of 2022, Iran was estimated to
have allies among a dozen major
militias in at least six countries,
Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian
Territories, Syria and Yemen, with
relations led by the Revolutionary
Guards (IRGC) and elite Quds Force.
‘Hizbollah’s budget,
everything it eats and
drinks, its weapons and
rockets are from Iran’
The US State Department estimates
Iran sends $100million (£82million) a
year to Palestinian terror groups,
including Hamas, while in 2020 it sent
$700million to Hizbollah.
Much of that goes towards building
up a weapon’s cache. Rockets
including the Fajr-3 and Fajr-5, which
have a range of roughly 25 miles and 43
miles respectively, have been
smuggled into Gaza via underground
tunnels, and by air into Lebanon.
Many of these lack precision, but
amassing them at great volume makes
it possible to rain down destruction in
Israel. Hizbollah is estimated to have
the largest arsenal, comprising
130,000 rockets.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other
Palestinian groups in Gaza have a
smaller stock – around 30,000 rocket
and mortar projectiles, according to a
2021 estimate from the Israeli military.
Iran has supercharged Hamas’
ability to produce rockets locally,
using foreign technical expertise and
smuggled components.
Experts have highlighted that
rockets produced in Gaza have Farsi in
the blueprints. The drones used by
Hamas, such as the Shehab suicide
drone, also appear to be based off
Iranian designs. An Al-Jazeera
9
News
Iran’s funding for extremist groups
TURKEY
SYRIA
LEBANON Assad I R A Q
regime Shia
Hizbollah militants
IRAN
PA L E S T INI A N
TERRITORIES
Hamas I S R A E L
$100m
SAUDI
ARABIA
A YEAR TO HAMA S
$16bn
YEMEN
TOTAL TO ALL Houthis
GROUPS SINCE 2012 200 mi
A Palestinian child Hizbollah is also now the most
poses with an M-16 heavily-armed non-state actor in the
rifle during the world. This week, Syria said Israeli
funeral of a man in
missiles hit airports in its capital of
the West Bank,
following clashes Damascus and the city of Aleppo,
with Israeli forces though, as ever, the Israeli military
at a demonstration refused to comment.
supporting Gaza The Iranian foreign minister was
reportedly forced to turn back from
Damascus, where he had been due to
land for a discussion with Syrian
officials on the growing crisis.
Iran has also set its sights further
afield, supporting insurgent groups
like the Houthis in Yemen as they
battle against Saudi Arabia, another
longtime rival of Tehran.
MAJDI MUHAMMAD/AP
A total encirclement of Israel,
however, is complicated by local
dynamics. Groups like Hamas and
Hizbollah have their own interests. A
rift formed between Iran and Hamas
after the Syrian civil war broke out in
documentary from 2020 meanwhile
showed how Hamas could get creative
2011, with Tehran allying with
president Bashar al-Assad while Hamas
in terms of weapons procurement, joined the rebels; ties were restored in
revealing how terrorists scavenged
parts from fallen Israeli missiles and
2017, and Iran began again funding.
For now, “Iran’s support is not really
turned old water pipes to turn into replaceable” for the Palestinian
new rockets. terrorist group, said Fabian Hinz, a
It has, in sum, been a long journey research fellow for defence and
from the day Hamas launched its first military analysis at the International
homemade rocket, partly powered by Institute for Strategic Studies, a
molten sugar, in 2001. London-based think tank.
Today, the longest-range rocket at As the Israeli army moves in to crush
its disposal is believed to be the Ayyash Hamas, the full extent of that arsenal
250, with a range of 250 kilometres may well be revealed.
(155 miles). Most Hamas targets, Either it will be enough to hold off
however, are much closer – Jerusalem the might of a military superpower – or
and Tel Aviv are both within 50 miles Iran will lose an army of the
of Gaza. According to the Centre for encirclement strategy it has spent
Strategic and International Studies, decades, and billions of pounds,
Washington-based think tank, developing.