This is an expanded version of my column in today’s Times (£).
At the weekend, the Prime Minster, Sir Keir Starmer, said he was “delighted” to welcome to Britain Alaa Abd el Fattah, an Egyptian activist who also has British nationality.
Long lauded in progressive circles as a pro-democracy and human rights activist, Fattah had previously been banned from leaving Egypt after spending much of the previous twelve years in jail for anti-government activities.
Within a few hours, however, his tweets from 2010 to 2012 were circulating on social media. These revealed that he considered “killing any colonialists and especially Zionists heroic, we need to kill more of them”.
He urged Londoners to burn Downing Street, told his supporters to kill the police and said he hated white people.
Cue immediate screeching of brakes. On Friday, the “delighted” government had said that working for Fattah’s release had been its “top priority”. A few hours later, Downing Street called his views “abhorrent”. Some of the dozens who had campaigned for Fattah and welcomed his arrival in Britain also abruptly changed their tune. We never knew he said such things, they claimed.
Really? Then they must suffer from attention deficit disorder. In 2014, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “A dissident for hate”. This noted that Fattah, who had been nominated for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought named in tribute to the great Soviet dissident, wasn’t exactly a proponent of human rights. Indeed, he didn’t regard some people as human at all.
In 2009, Fattah had tweeted: “One should only debate human beings. Zionists and other imperialists are not human beings.” In 2010 he tweeted: “Dear zionists [sic] please don’t ever talk to me, I’m a violent person who advocated the killing of all zionists including civilians”.
In 2010 he tweeted, linking to a news article marking the death of Abu Daoud, the Palestinian terrorist who masterminded the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of 11 Israeli athletes: “My heroes have always killed colonialists.” In 2012 he wrote: “Assassinating [Egyptian President Anwar] Sadat [who had made a historic peace with Israel] isn’t something that should shame a man, but instead honour him.”
After the revelation of such “abhorrent” tweets, the Sakharov Prize withdrew his nomination.
Why was such an individual given UK citizenship in the first place? And should Britain now revoke it and throw him out of the country?
Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, broadcaster and author - you can follow her work on her website HERE
He urged Londoners to burn Downing Street, told his supporters to kill the police and said he hated white people.
Cue immediate screeching of brakes. On Friday, the “delighted” government had said that working for Fattah’s release had been its “top priority”. A few hours later, Downing Street called his views “abhorrent”. Some of the dozens who had campaigned for Fattah and welcomed his arrival in Britain also abruptly changed their tune. We never knew he said such things, they claimed.
Really? Then they must suffer from attention deficit disorder. In 2014, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “A dissident for hate”. This noted that Fattah, who had been nominated for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought named in tribute to the great Soviet dissident, wasn’t exactly a proponent of human rights. Indeed, he didn’t regard some people as human at all.
In 2009, Fattah had tweeted: “One should only debate human beings. Zionists and other imperialists are not human beings.” In 2010 he tweeted: “Dear zionists [sic] please don’t ever talk to me, I’m a violent person who advocated the killing of all zionists including civilians”.
In 2010 he tweeted, linking to a news article marking the death of Abu Daoud, the Palestinian terrorist who masterminded the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of 11 Israeli athletes: “My heroes have always killed colonialists.” In 2012 he wrote: “Assassinating [Egyptian President Anwar] Sadat [who had made a historic peace with Israel] isn’t something that should shame a man, but instead honour him.”
After the revelation of such “abhorrent” tweets, the Sakharov Prize withdrew his nomination.
Why was such an individual given UK citizenship in the first place? And should Britain now revoke it and throw him out of the country?
Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, broadcaster and author - you can follow her work on her website HERE
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