The remarks came as the Metropolitan Police sought urgent guidance on what’s the charging thresholds relating to hate crime as the force receives more reports.
Some speakers in pro-Palestine rallies may have broken the law by glorifying terrorism, the UK’s terrorism watchdog said.
The remarks made by Jonathan Hall, KC, came just before the Metropolitan Police deployed more than 1,000 officers on Saturday to police another pro-Palestinian demonstration in central London as the Israel-Hamas war entered the eighth day.
After being shown footage of speeches from previous demonstrations, Mr. Hall, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told the BBC that some of the remarks appear to be in breach of the law.
“If you take what happened in the Be’eri kibbutz, where babies were massacred, that is unambiguously an act of terrorism,” he said, referring to the horrifying scenes found at the Israeli settlement after Hamas terrorists slaughtered villagers on Oct. 7. On the same day, the group launched missile attacks from Gaza, seized Israeli villages, killed and raped civilians, and took hostages.
“People need to know, if you glorify that you risk committing a really serious terrorism offence,” Mr. Hall said.
Mr. Hall said one would be “in the territory of encouraging terrorism” if they are “referring by name to a Hamas terrorist operation, which we know involved acts of terrorism, and invite people to do something similar,” adding, “And that’s where the police will be looking, I would have thought.”
Hamas is a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, the United States, the European Union, and some other jurisdictions.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman wrote to police chiefs on Tuesday, suggesting chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” or the waving of a Palestinian flag may be considered illegal in certain contexts. Ms. Braverman also said she expected the Online Hate Crime Hub to “ensure the perpetrators can be brought to justice.”
On Monday, Met police arrested three people during a demonstration near the Israeli embassy in London over suspected assault on an emergency worker, racially motivated criminal damage, and possession of an offensive weapon.
Only one person, a 22-year-old woman, is known to have been arrested so far on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation, Hamas, during her speech at a protest in Brighton on Oct. 8.
She was arrested on Thursday and has since been bailed, pending further enquiries, Sussex Police said.
By Lily Zhou
