Home Office warns LSE ahead of next week’s Hamas book event
EXCLUSIVE: Speakers warned they will face 'full force of law' if breaching terror laws at next week's 'Understanding Hamas' book event at London university
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
The Home Office has warned speakers taking part in an “Understanding Hamas” event being held at the London School of Economics (LSE) next week they will face the “full force of the law” if they express support for the proscribed terror organisation.
In a significant intervention ahead of next Monday’s event, at the LSE’s Middle East Centre, a Home Office spokesperson said police “routinely monitor for breaches in terrorism law.”
The Home Office urged anyone taking part in the event “to seriously consider their actions and any views they plan to publicly express.”
Jewish News understands Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is among senior government ministers to be “concerned” about the potential impact of the March 10th event at the London university, promoting a book titled “Understanding Hamas and Why That Matters”.
A Home Office spokesperson told Jewish News:“National security remains our top priority. Hamas is a proscribed organization and it is an offence to be a member of, invite or express support for them, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine.
“We would urge anyone who plans to take part in an event that discusses Hamas to seriously consider their actions and any views they plan to publicly express.
“While it is a matter for the police to determine whether an offence has been committed, and police routinely monitor for breaches in terrorism law, anyone found to have committed an offence will face the full force of the law.”
Jewish News understands that LSE chiefs have been given a firm warning about the consequence of speakers actively promoting Hamas at next week’s event.
Promotional notes for the event on the LSE’s website have been altered on three occasions, toning down original comments on Hamas, an organisation proscribed in its entirety in the UK since 2021.
But the LSE website advert for the event still claims Hamas has been transformed from “early anti-Jewish tendencies” and now “differentiates between Judaism and Zionism.”
A description of the event states: “Across Western mainstream discourse, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has been subjected to intense vilification. Branding it as ‘terrorist’ or worse, this demonization intensified after the events in Southern Israel on October 7, 2023.”
It claims:“This book does not advocate for or against Hamas. Rather, in a series of rich and probing conversations with leading experts, it aims to deepen understanding of a movement that is a key player in the current crisis.”
An LSE spokesperson defended the event saying: “Free speech and freedom of expression underpins everything we do at LSE.
“Students, staff and visitors are strongly encouraged to discuss and debate the most pressing issues around the world.
“We host an enormous number of events each year, covering a wide range of viewpoints and positions.
“We have clear policies in place to ensure the facilitation of debates in these events and enable all members of our community to refute ideas lawfully and to protect individual’s rights to freedom of expression within the law. ”
But communal leaders have also been horrified by past statements by the co-authors of the book, and by other speakers lined up to address students on Monday evening.
Other speakers appearing include pro-Hamas activist Dr Azzam Tamimi, along with academics from the LSE itself with histories of criticising Israel and Hamas on social media.
Tamimi was previously investigated by the police for delivering a lecture at London’s School of African and Oriental Studies where he praised Hamas, calling himself a terrorist.
The Board of Deputies and other communal groups including the Campaign Against Antisemitism have called for the event to be cancelled on the grounds it is “difficult to see how this is anything other than an attempt to whitewash a group proscribed as a terrorist organisation in this country. ”
The UK Lawyers For Israel group has now also written to Professor Larry Kramer, president and vice-chancellor of the LSE, to draw attention to legal concerns about the event going ahead.
Accepting that the LSE has a requirement to ensure free speech at the institution, UKLFI also notes the proscription of Hamas under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000.
It says it therefore “seems inevitable” that speakers at the event will “express views supportive of Hamas if it goes ahead.”
In a statement, the Union of Jewish Students said she was “deeply concerned” about the upcoming event.
“This event risks legitimising Hamas rather than critically analyzing its actions, ideology and impact,” added UJS.
Last week a spokesperson for the Department of Education told Jewish News:”While everyone is entitled to their political opinions, HE providers have duties to protect freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law, but any discussions must be lawful.
“It is a matter for any university, as an autonomous institution, to assure itself of the lawfulness of speech at events it is hosting, particularly where they relate to proscribed terrorist organisations.”
It is a criminal offence for a person to belong to a proscribed organisation such as Hamas, or invite support for a proscribed organisation, arrange a meeting in support of a proscribed organisation, or wear clothing or carry articles in public which arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation .
Anyone convicted of this offence in the UK faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison/or an unlimited fine.
But the investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, including determining whether an offence has been committed or not, is a matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service who are operationally independent.
Previously social media posts by the book’s co-author Cobban include frequent use of the term “Zios” in relation to describing journalists and activists seen as being supportive of Israel.
Cobban also claimed “every accusation” made by Israel in relation to the Hamas massacre of October 7 was in fact “a statement of intent”.
She also shared a post claiming Hamas “is not a terrorist organisation” and that Israel is a “genocidal, perverted, irreligious terrorist organisation”.
Jewish News had revealed how author Cobban’s social media feed on X also confirms how she retweeted a post from Irish comic Tadhg Hickey who claimed to have attended last month’s funeral of the late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah with “all the best freedom fighters”.
Days earlier, on 23 February, Cobban also retweeted another post from Hickey, which saw him photographed with his “hero” Leila Khaled, who took part in the infamous 1969 plane hijacking as a member of the PFLP terror group.
In response to the confirmation that the Bibas family had been murdered in Gaza, Cobban also shared a post claiming it is “racist and a form of genocide whitewashing to act like two dead Israeli children is earth-shattering news while actively ignoring or justifying the 20,000+ Palestinian children.”
Co-author Rami G. Khouri is a director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.
A regular contributor to Al Jazeera, last week he wrote:”Effective Israeli propaganda has long demonised Hamas in the West as a reckless and vicious terror group that wants to destroy Israel. The reality, however, is that Hamas has been a successful Palestinian national political organisation.”
The launch event is chaired by Michael Mason, from LSE’s Middle East Centre, while other speakers include the Centre’s Jeroen Gunning, and Catherine Charrett of the University of Westminster.
Days after the Oct 7 massacre, Gunning told an event:”If you reduce Hamas to a gang of irrational terrorists, you will never understand why this is happening.”
He also claimed: “Normal life does not exist in Gaza. The population are in a de facto open-air prison.”
In June 2024, Charrett shared a post on X which stated: “Zionists can’t get over the fact that Zionism did not originate among the indigenous Jewish communities of the Middle East.”
Last May, Mason, who chairs the book launch, posted on X: “It is impossible to understand the current global wave of student protests and other Palestinian solidarity gatherings without understanding at least the basics of the 1948 Nakba.”
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