The Metropolitan Police has distanced itself from a festival accused of offering a platform to speakers who have defended the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
The force is understood to have told organisers of next weekend’s Global Peace and Unity (GPU) Festival to remove its name as a “supporting partner” of the event.
It followed complaints from Policy Exchange, the centre-right think tank, that by associating with the festival, the Met risked compromising its impartiality as a police force.
Stephen Timms, a senior Labour MP, has also withdrawn as a speaker from the festival after being told it would host Zwelivelile Mandela who has praised leaders of Hamas and described Oct 7 as an act of resistance.
Mr Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela, is believed to be no longer involved in the event although his name is still on GPU’s website.
After being informed by The Telegraph of its billing on the GPU website, a Met Police spokesman said: “The MPS is not a supporting partner and is not contributing financially to the event.”
Logos of the Met Police and its Association of Muslim Police had been removed by Saturday morning as “supporting partners” of the event.
Last month, the HM Inspectorate of Police warned that forces risked accusations of bias unless new national guidance was issued to set out when and how they could support community events by different groups.
In a report on the GPU event, Policy Exchange said it would be “deeply unwise” to explicitly support the festival just two weeks after the anniversary of the Oct 7 attack. “The Met must be seen to be impartial in its often fraught role policing the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London,” it said.
Ahead of next weekend’s event, GPU organisers have issued a warning to participants not to voice support for banned groups like Hamas.
“Please be reminded that under English law, promoting or endorsing proscribed organisations is illegal and can result in prosecution, both for the speaker and the organisers,” they said in their guidance for speakers.
“While we encourage open discourse, and the purpose of the GPU Festival is to promote justice as a path towards peace and unity amongst diverse communities in the UK and internationally, please be mindful of these legal boundaries.
“If you’re unsure about specific content, err on the side of caution or consult our on-site legal advisor.”
Organisers of the GPU told The Telegraph it was “a family event, the purpose of which is to foster peace and unity amongst the many diverse communities which make up our vibrant country, the UK.”
They added: “The aim of the GPU Festival is to spread understanding, not just of Islam, but amongst people of all faiths and none and to celebrate British Muslims, showcasing the impressive contribution which we make to British society and to the world. It is an event which has been held in a peaceful and organised way since 2005.
“We do not condone any form of extremism or anti-Semitism and stand firmly with those who combat all forms of prejudice, racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. You may like to see our Guidelines for Speakers which make this very clear.”
Other festival speakers
Among the speakers billed for the event is Ismail Patel, the founder of Friends of Al Aqsa, one of the coalition partners of the pro-Palestine marches in the UK. On Oct 7 2023, he reposted X content referring to Hamas as “freedom fighters” and the Israeli hostages as “occupation soldiers.”
Another speaker is Ali Hammuda who said the massacre at the pop festival on Oct 7 2023 was journalists “concocting stories that simply never happened.”
In a video shared with his 161,000 YouTube subscribers on Oct 12 last year, the cleric accused the media of “concocting stories that simply never happened, the latest of them being, of course, this claim that a huge massacre took place at a rave where 260 people were killed as they were dancing and singing”.
The video has since been removed by Youtube for “violating Youtube’s policy on hate speech.”
A third speaker is Fatima Barkatulla, an author and Islamic scholar, who posted on Oct 8 2023 saying: “This Palestinian uprising is 100% legitimate. It is an uprising again[st] European settler colonialism.”
Another speaker is Prof Ilan Pappe, an Exeter University academic, who just after Oct 7 2023, said he “admire[d] the courage of the Palestinian fighters who took over a dozen military bases, overcoming the strongest army in the Middle East… Hamas had to act, and quickly so.”
Prof Pappe also called for a “de-Zionised, liberated and democratic” Palestine “from the river to the sea.” He also said that Hamas was not a terrorist movement, though he condemned the attacks.
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