Like Hamas and Hezbollah, already banned under this act, the PFLP are a terrorist group. They have never hid this fact. Yet in Britain they, and support for them, remain legal.
This is not an issue we should ignore, especially after last Wednesday’s chaos in Parliament. But the language of some Conservative MPs has been hyperbolic and wrong.
Mike Freer’s announcement is a significant milestone. As he prepares to leave the room, Labour is knocking on the door. We have little sense of how it would rearrange the furniture.
The MP for Finchley and Golders Green describes the pattern of abuse that has led him to announce his intention to resign from Parliament at the general election.
The Department for Education and Government Equalities Office must have a contingency plan available to deploy immediately, updating the necessary guidance to ensure that schools can remain true to their ethos.
The confidence to walk the streets safely, the right to interface directly with our elected representatives, the ability to speak our minds freely – these fruits of peaceable British toleration are being eroded by an extremist tendency that has grown unchecked for far too long.
Slowly but surely, British people from all faiths and backgrounds are being confronted by a minority who hate the liberal democratic west of which their country is an integral part and to which it has contributed so much.
Let the protesters gather in one place, have their event, and disperse. No march. I’m reluctant to believe that the Met can’t police a rally properly if it puts its mind to it.
But if such a programme extends beyond stemming the flow of cash (or at least attempting to do so), it is once again going to come back to law and enforcement. And that is thorny ground.
First, Islamist extremism will use woke like a human shield. Then, once it has exhausted its purpose, it will cast aside, like that LGBT flag last Saturday.
The Hamas support network in the UK is entrenched. But the wider network is also comprised of those who – wittingly or unwittingly – bolster Hamas’s narratives by framing their acts as merely ‘resistance’.
Hamas’ supporters or the authorities? Sunak needs to show that offenders will be prosecuted – and, if the situation deteriorates, to push for march bans, shuffle his Cabinet and show an all-party front with Starmer.
Politicians urge zero tolerance – but there’s a gap between law and enforcement. If the Met can arrest 155 anti-lockdown protestors, why can’t it do the same to pro-Hamas ringleaders?
It is imperative to grasp the group’s objectives, doctrines, and expansion tactics. Employing a combination of both soft and hard power measures is essential, targeting not only Hezbollah but also its allies and associates globally.