Hamas De-proscription Petition Re-launched
Hi,
We are re-launching the campaign to call the Home Secretary to remove Hamas from the proscribed lis. You can sign the open letter at https://www.ipetitions.com/p/call-for-removal-of-hamas-political-wing-from-the-uks-proscribed-list-of-terrorist-bodies/
Their struggle is absolutely legitimate. I am not asking you to de-proscribe support their armed wing (the Qassam Brigades) - just the political side (Hamas itself).
Throughout the troubles in Northern Ireland, we always kept lines of communication with Sinn Fein open, whilst banning the Provisional IRA. I believe a similar strategy is called for with Palestine, if we want to support and work with the Palestinian people. Hamas should be seen as fighting for the freedom of Palestinians, not as terrorists.
We’ve now re-launched our petition because it is becoming clear that as long as Hamas exists, Gaza will be bombed- and possibly completely depopulated. Because Hamas are deemed terrorists, the UK allows arms to Israel to bomb Gaza. We need to put much more pressure on our Government to recognise Hamas, as it did, up until 5 years ago. We can all see that the situation in Gaza is at stalemate, given that Hamas is used as the excuse for every bomb dropped in Gaza. As you’ll recall, Blair’s UK Government didn’t demand that Sinn Fein disown the IRA before there were peace talks almost 30 years ago and even now Blair thinks we were wrong to proscribe Hamas. Without Hamas, there can be no just peace.
I suspect we both know that much of what took place on 7th October 2023 has been misreported, as my article of November 2023 in Redress points out: https://www.redressonline.com/2023/11/israel-revises-7-october-death-toll-of-1400-israelis-dead-to-1200-plus-200-palestinian-fighters-without-declaring-that-most-deaths-were-at-hands-of-israel/. You can also read the Hamas account of the day in this submission from them to the UK government, from last year, when they were seeking de-proscription https://hamascase.com/volume-i/02_marzouk-toofan/
I'd like to reassure signers that the police can’t do much if any individual loudly supports Hamas but is not actually donating money to them. A man who was arrested at a London demo, Allen, for shouting "I support Hamas" had the following experience to recount: http://www.onepalestine.land/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/DECLARING-SUPPORT-FOR-HAMAS-WHAT-HAPPENS.pdf
I myself, as the petition organiser, have never received any attention from the police, in spite of various Tory MPs calling for my arrest!
Back in January 2024, along with our own submission to the Home Secretary for de-proscription, I delivered the first tranche of over 1,400 signatures to Downing Street https://rumble.com/shorts/v7art8y - and the campaign is ongoing. Names were redacted, unless the signer indicated they wanted to be revealed.
To help promote this campaign I have just ordered 10,000 flyers like this
My hope is that over the next few months, that as we go to demonstrations of support for Gaza, that we can distribute these. Would you like me to send you some? You could have any number between 50 and a 500- I’ll post them to you. If you want some, please email me at info@onepalestine.land
I’m based in Edinburgh, but I recently gave a talk on the campaign at Palestine House in London – the video is at https://rumble.com/v7aokiw-hamas-deproscription-petition.html . My article based on it is on my Substack. The Dorset Eye recently covered it, too.
Did you hear that more than a quarter of British undergraduates consider the Hamas attacks of October 7 to be “defensible”, according to a new survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute
Also, it is worth noting that Britain’s Muslim police body recently defended Hamas and labelled the IDF as a “terrorist group”.
Polls have shown that two-thirds to three-quarters of Palestinians approved of Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
My petition now supports the Riverways bid for Hamas de-proscription which was lodged last year (https://hamascase.com/) and is currently before the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission.
I look forward to seeing your signature on the list; once we have 1,500 more, there will be another trip to Downing Street.
Best wishes
Pete Gregson (Chair)
One Democratic Palestine
PS Do you want to help Gazans on a 1-1 basis? I am relaunching the Gaza Twinning project- see what we are offering just now at https://www.twingaza.com/gaza-twinning-re-launch/ In particular, we are always looking for volunteers to help with 1-1 conversational English classes online with a Gazan. Let me know if you’re interested by emailing info@twingaza.com