UK: Hamas to be proscribed 'in its entirety' as a terrorist organisation, says Priti Patel

Hamas will be banned as a terrorist organisation "in its entirety" in the UK with threats of up to 10 years in prison for those expressing support for the movement, British Home Secretary Priti Patel announced on Friday.

While giving a speech for the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington DC, Patel claimed the move would help tackle antisemitism in the UK and claimed the Palestinian movement had "long been involved in significant terrorist violence".

“Hamas is fundamentally and rabidly antisemitic," she told the organisation. “Antisemitism is an enduring evil which I will never tolerate. Jewish people routinely feel unsafe – at school, in the streets, when they worship, in their homes, and online."

She said the move would "strengthen the case against anyone who waves a Hamas flag in the United Kingdom, an act that is bound to make Jewish people feel unsafe.

"Anyone who supports or invites support for a proscribed organisation is breaking the law," she added.

"That now includes Hamas."

The minister said she would aim to push through the change in parliament next week.

Wearing clothes that suggest support for Hamas, arranging meetings for the organisation, or publishing an image of its flag or logo that would lead to the same conclusion, would be in breach of the law.

She said "Hamas had significant terrorist capability including access" to weapons and added that the new rules would eliminate the "artificial distinction" between the political wing of Hamas and the military wing, which was already proscribed.