To think that Kier Starmer shouldn't be welcoming extremists into Britain?

[Twiglets1]

Reported in The Telegraph today that Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed an alleged Islamist extremist, who labelled British people “dogs and monkeys” and called for Zionists to be killed, into the UK.

The Prime Minister said he was “delighted” that Alaa Abd el-Fattah had arrived from Egypt on Friday evening after a travel ban imposed by Cairo was lifted following lobbying by ministers.

Mr Abd el-Fattah, an activist with dual British-Egyptian citizenship, previously said that it was heroic to kill Zionists “including civilians”. He urged Londoners to burn Downing Street, told his supporters to kill police and said he hated white people.

Ministers are facing calls to revoke his British citizenship, which he was granted in 2021 while imprisoned in Egypt, where campaigners described him as a “prisoner of conscience”.

Sir Keir’s tweet yesterday said how “delighted” he was that Alaa Abd El-Fattah is back in this country. Does that seem a reasonable stance to take for someone who has claimed at the same time to be committed to "eradicating antisemitism in the UK"?

These questions should be really be addressed to Chris Philp the Tory Shadow Home Secretary who was the responsible Immigration Minister at the time he was granted citizenship. Philp has been attempting to rewrite history by appearing on the media calling for this “scumbag’s” deportation.

It will take an age to revoke citizenship and the test is incredibly high. This man could argue that he has freedom of expression and that these do not represent his views any more (see apology). There would need to be some risk to national security cited to try and take it now; presumably the very thing that the Egyptians may have informed the FCDO and government that granted this citizenship about. Does not look good.

How embarrassing would it be for there to have been a grant where there was some element of national security risk?

The case of David Fenton Bangs is relevant to the good character test being dropped in some incidences. The ECHR ruling.

Some info below might be incorrect.

Starmer is getting it far more outside mn, whether he can just sit it out I guess we’ll see.

According to this, Chris Philp was Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport between 17 September 2021 and 7 July 2022;

https://www.gov.uk/government/people/chris-philp-mp

Abd El-Fattah was granted citizenship in December 2021.

Has Patel said anything?

My worry is the because the Tories are involved this debacle, they will be just as eager to sweep it under the carpet at PMQ's as Labour will.

Sadly I think you are right.

Robert Jenrick certainly isn't being quiet on the matter on socials, so lets see if he actually raises it.

I have found this to be one of the most worrying thread I’ve read on mumsnet for quite some time.

The amount of whataboutery has been astonishing and makes me concerned for our country’s future.

So according to some posters, it would appear that it is ok to let this individual in as Israel have done something wrong somewhere along the line. It is ok to let this man in as the Tories started it. It is ok to let him in as Labour let him in and so forth. It would appear that the ability to stand back and take a critical look is completely missing in some quarters.

Any reasonable person should question why we as a country would want to allow someone into the country who hates the majority of the population due to their skin colour, hates our culture, ie acceptance of gays, wants to harm our police and our government. He is also very critical of a mainstream religion which again goes against our cultural values.

This man goes against everything that we as a generally inclusive nation believes in so why did our Prme Minister roll out the red carpet for him, telling us that this was one of the government’s top priority. So not child poverty, rise in the use of food banks, homelessness, lack of suitable housing, nope none of this, just this man who hates us and doesn’t appear to be bringing of any value to our country.

Have you read the whole thread or looked at the voting (89% agree with OP)? Most people on the thread are appalled, regardless of their political leanings.

ETA:

It is ok to let this man in as the Tories started it. It is ok to let him in as Labour let him in and so forth

No-one has said any of this, have they?

But nevertheless@YellingAway makes very valid points.

Are you absolutely sure you've read this thread?

Yes, true enough.

Yes I have read the thread and whilst the majority are making rational points, there is a number that is on the whataboutery that is quite astonishing.

This worries me as this is leading right into the hands of Reform and with an election due here in Scotland this is not what the country needs.

I just read Yvette Cooper's letter, tweeted by Starmer this morning. Even in acknowledging the problem the Labour Party still miss the mark massively. Her letter focuses only on antisemitism.

Antisemitism is abhorrent and she's quite right to call it out. However, this man also called for a genocide of white people. He called the British people dogs and monkeys. Called for British women to be raped and British children to be murdered by terrorists.

This evil peice of shit can call for the rape and murder of you and your children and Kier Starmer is delighted to welcome him, he'll make it an urgent priority to bring him here at your expense. But if he says something about a minority group, well now he's crossed the line.

The Labour Party absolutely despises you, don't ever forget it.

Yes I agree this is leading right into the hands of Reform but we appear to have the weakest, ill informed and most incompetent bunch of politicians leading this country currently.

So much for his apology as well if he's happily liking posts raving on about him being the victim of a "Zionist plot".

Do we have an official source for the fact that he was granted citizenship in December 2021? In any case if citizenship was granted in December 2021 then the application was made many months prior to that. Philp was Immigration Minister from 10 September 2019 – 16 September 2021. The decision as to whether or not he was granted citizenship could well have been taken while Philp was the responsible minister.

According to Hansard, reporting a debate held on 5th Dec 2024.

.."Then, in December 2021, his application for his British passport—his right under the British Nationality Act 1981 —came through. A one-time use emergency passport was handed to his family who then went to the prison."

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-12-05/debates/6F78BF94-8DAB-4107-A87F-CC2D8C98C398/DetentionOfAlaaAbdEl-Fattah

In fact Hansard is quite illuminating on this whole issue..put El-Fattah's name into the Hansard search facility and I think many will be surprised just how often his name has cropped up in debate....

I find it quite worrying how well his lobbyists seem to have done at getting Parliament to spend time discussing his case....shame nobody spent a similar amount of time digging and debating the whole story, not just the redacted, rose tinted glasses, imprisoned activist version.

Does look like Westminster isn't reaĺly working when it comes to the general population.

I am surprised that the British government campaigned so much for him, given his spurious claim to nationality, criminal background and poor character.

On the other hand, the British nationality Emily Damaris, who was taken hostage by Hamas and of good character, had no assistance. As a gay women, she was particularly vulnerable in Gaza.

Very interesting. Now to see the backlash. No wonder some are very quiet on it.

Indeed, in fact elsewhere in that 5 Dec 24 debate John McDonnell, who seems to be a keen advocate of El-Fattah states:

"Alaa’s case is becoming a cause célèbre, not just in this country but across the globe, as demonstrated by the number of significant figures and also by the number of constituents who are now contacting us about the case."

Some interested parties do seem to have been working very hard at keeping up the pressure on HMG and I guess others in Westminster.

Thanks for this @notimagain illuminating Indeed.

From John McDonnell's speech in December 2024

Let me briefly offer a list of who has called for Alaa’s release, because the scale of support for him internationally is extraordinary. Our last four UK Prime Ministers have demanded his release. Also on the list are the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, the White House, the editorial boards of some of the most significant newspapers from across the globe, including The Guardian and The Washington Post, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and 14 Nobel laureates for literature—and that is just a few.

This is about as hypocritical as it can get. Emily Damari, a young British/Israeli citizen who happened to be female and Jewish, yet the government ignored her plight after she was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

One has to ask - is a Jewish woman's life worth so much less here in Britain than an Egyptian man who processes hate for us all?
He was in his 30s when he made his appalling statements, so I don't believe one word of his weasely apology.