Palestinian citizen of Israel wins bid to stay in UK

A barrister acting for a Palestinian man facing deportation to Israel has told the BBC that “this is a case about Zionism, Israeli apartheid and colonialism”.

But Franck Magennis, whose Twitter/X account displays an image of Hamas attackers breaking into Israel on October 7 last year, was jubilant that his 24-year-old client, known only as “Hasan”, had won his bid to stay in Britain after the Home Office changed its mind at the last minute.

According to his crowdfunding page, in which he has been raising money to pay his lawyers, Hasan, who has Israeli citizenship, has lived in Britain since he was a year old and has only returned once, aged 14. He has been fighting attempts to send him back to Israel since April 2023.

Describing himself as an artist, he has written: “I have been attending demonstrations against the genocide here in the UK. I have also participated in peaceful protest aimed at closing down the factory of UAV Tactical Systems (a subsidiary of Elbit) in Leicester that manufactures and supplies lethal weapons to Israel. I refuse to be silenced while my people are being obliterated. If I were to be sent to Israel, I would carry on my activities, even though the Israeli government is seeking to clamp down on any dissent, particularly from Palestinians. I would no doubt expose myself to further persecution if I did that”.

Speaking to presenter Sarah Montague on BBC Radio 4’s World At One on Tuesday, Magennis said that Hasan would, if returned to Israel, “be persecuted by his own government”, on the basis that he was anti-Zionist and Muslim.

The barrister repeated several times that Israel was an “apartheid regime”, until Sarah Montague said: “You can be sure that Israel would say it is not an apartheid state”. However, she did not challenge any of Magennis’ other assertions, one of which was that the UK, as a “staunch ally of the Zionist regime”, had accepted, in changing its mind about Hasan’s deportation, that “there was a real risk that Israel will persecute its own citizens”.

The Home Office — asked why it had changed its mind about returning Hasan to Israel — said: “All asylum claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the Immigration Rules. Where more information is provided or becomes available, the outcome of a decision can change.

“It is longstanding government policy that we do not routinely comment on individual cases”.

In a statement to Jewish News, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said: “The state of Israel is a democratic country that abides by international law, in which every citizen, regardless of one’s identity, enjoys full human rights and can freely practice their beliefs and way of life”.

A JN reader who heard the World At One interview said that the BBC’s “failure to mention Hasan’s actual background makes the interview pretty much unforgivable. It means they were effectively —knowingly — advancing the agenda of an arguably extremist anti-Israeli (and, many would argue, antisemitic) activist. It cannot be allowed to stand.

The reader, who is not Jewish, observed: “Day after day, I keep encountering this kind of editorial dishonesty about issues relating to Israel. Perhaps, in isolation, each individual instance of it may not seem all that consequential — but collectively, in their totality, I believe they may have — are having — a profound, quite chilling, impact”.

A BBC spokesman told Jewish News: “The interview focused on the last- minute change in the Home Office’s decision to grant asylum to a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and what that might mean more broadly for policy in the future. Both the Home Office and the Israeli government were asked for comment, but neither responded before the broadcast. Sarah Montague did challenge the interviewee and would have included responses and information from the Home Office and Israeli government, had they provided this”.