The U.K. Foreign Office held a seminar where officials were instructed not to call Hamas “terrorists,” according to a report from the Jewish Chronicle.
Martin Hetherington from the Foreign Office organized the event, titled, “Israel/Gaza: What next for Hamas.” Four academics led the seminar, with one suggesting there could be “no future without Hamas.”
Calling Hamas a terrorist organization is an “obstacle to peace,” according to the speakers. One speaker noted that applying the “terrorist label” to Hamas is “unhelpful.”
Another lecturer, Dr. Tristan Dunning, suggested that Israel was a “white, settler” nation.
“I know all about white, settler colonialism and stealing land from the native population,” Dunning stated.
Following the seminar, a Foreign Office spokesperson said, “The UK Government’s position is unequivocal that Hamas is a terrorist organisation. Many of the views expressed by the academics in the seminar were wrong and contrary to the government’s position,” adding, “We have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination, including antisemitism. We are reviewing guidance on internal seminars to ensure speakers invited are appropriate.”
Similarly, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said that Hamas is a “political movement.”
An anchor with Sky News asked, “In terms of Israel’s plans to eliminate Hamas and have them never be part of any future negotiation when it comes to Gaza, do you think that’s realistic?”
“I think it’s very difficult, and as you say, I’ve worked with many, many, many different terrorist and insurgent groups,” Griffiths responded. “Hamas is not a terrorist group for us, of course, as you know. It’s a political movement.”
