From the Telegraph
A man accused of being “a Hamas operative” based in London is a key figure behind Greta Thunberg’s Gaza-bound aid boat, it emerged on Monday.
Zaher Birawi, who was described in Parliament as a person with links to Hamas, called himself a “founding member” of the Freedom Flotilla International Coalition, which arranged the voyage by the aid boat Madleen.
Israeli forces boarded and seized the boat on Sunday, detaining the 12 pro-Palestinian activists it was carrying, including Ms Thunberg,
Mr Birawi, a Palestinian-British journalist at an Arabic-language satellite TV channel in London, was at the launch of the Madleen a week ago, livestreaming it from its dock in Sicily. Ms Thunberg gave a speech before the boat set sail for Gaza.
In 2013, Mr Birawi was named by Israel as a Hamas operative in Europe, and is the head of the Europal Forum, which Israel designated as a terrorist organisation in 2021. The Europal Forum has strongly denied any terror links
Speaking in the Commons in October 2023, Christian Wakeford, the Labour MP for Bury South, used parliamentary privilege to name 63-year-old Mr Birawi as a Hamas operative living in Barnet, north London.
“He is listed as a trustee of a UK-registered charity, Education Aid for Palestinians, and publicly available video shows him hosting a 2019 event in London titled Understanding Hamas,” Mr Wakeford told MPs.
Mr Birawi was photographed in 2012 with Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas leader who was assassinated last year by an explosive device suspected to have been placed by Israeli agents in his guest house in Tehran.
Mr Birawi wrote of the Madleen mission earlier this month: “It carries a message of solidarity with Gaza, a message of defiance and determination to continue popular efforts to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.”
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