Teacher suspended after saying mastermind of Oct 7 attack was a martyr

A teacher at a specialist school has been suspended after describing the mastermind of the Oct 7 attacks as a martyr.

Mohammad Dahlan, who teaches design and technology, made the remarks about Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar following his death last month.

Mr Dahlan was also reported to the police after posting online that “killing Zionists is an act of worship”.

In a string of social media posts, Mr Dahlan, who works at Burlington House School, an independent school in south west London which teaches pupils with specific learning difficulties, expressed his support for the terrorist group Hamas.

After it was alerted to the posts on Friday, Burlington House School immediately suspended Mr Dahlan and notified the Metropolitan Police.

A spokesman for the school said it had “a strict zero-tolerance policy towards any form of racism, anti-Semitism, or discriminatory behaviour, whether on or off school grounds”.

In one post on the social media platform X, Mr Dahlan posted a photo of Imad Akel, a former commander of the military wing of Hamas, who was killed by the Israel Defense Forces in 1993.

Akel is suspected of taking part in the killing of 11 Israeli soldiers, an Israeli civilian and four Palestinian informants in a series of attacks.

In the post’s caption, Mr Dahlan wrote a quote which he attributed to Akel, which read: “Killing Zionists is an act of worship through which we draw closer to God.”

In another post, responding to the death of Sinwar, the former chairman and leader of Hamas, he said: “May God have mercy on him and on all the martyrs.”

The Telegraph has seen other posts by Mr Dahlan in which he asks how to contact “pro Palestinians (sic) hackers” and seemingly refers to the Oct 7 attack as “the flood”.

His account, which has now been deleted, included a link to a GoFundMe page, which featured Mr Dahlan’s picture and name, which was asking for funds for his aunt in Gaza.

Burlington House School, which was alerted to the posts by The Telegraph, said: “As soon as we were informed of this matter, the individual was immediately suspended pending a comprehensive disciplinary investigation into potential violations of our code of conduct and social media policy. . . Our school is firmly committed to being a secular, non-discriminatory organisation that upholds the values of respect, inclusivity, and unity. . . “