Explosive revelation: Hamas chief, who ran terror groups in West Bank, got govt discount to buy home in London

Palestinian militant group Hamas' fugitive chief who "ran the group's terrorist operations in the West Bank" and also served on its ruling body is the resident of a council property in London. The Hamas fugitive was given a discount of over 112,000 pounds on a Barnet Council two-storey home worth around 320,700 pounds.

The fugitive, Muhammad Qassem Sawalha, lives on this sprawling property with his wife Sawsan. The house has a garden and garage, is mortgage-free.

How did Sawalha avail such huge discounts on his Barnet Council property?

In 2021, the couple had used the 'Right to Buy Scheme' to buy their home for around 320,700 pounds and the Barnet council granted the couple a discount of over 112,000 pounds on its market value, according to a report in The Sunday Times.

This was only 500 pounds short of the maximum discount that could be granted on that property during the financial year. Under the Right to Buy Scheme, council tenants are entitled to a discount on a property's market value. The average price of a property in the area is nearly 600,000 pounds. 

Barnet Council's leader Barry Rawlings told the publication that he was "horrified to think [Sawalha] could be living in our midst". He added that the Council will cooperate with the police and the government in reviewing the complete history of this case and will take appropriate action.

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Who is Muhammad Qassem Sawalha?

The Hamas fugitive evaded Israeli security services through a relative's passport and fled to the UK in the 1990s. He fled Israel after helping Hamas establish a terrorist presence in his homeland during the late 1980s and arrived in the UK from Jordan in the early 1990s.  

Despite his activities, Sawalha later obtained citizenship in the UK in the early 2000s and continued to work for Hamas. The Israeli defence ministry has officially designated Sawalha as a Hamas member and will be arrested if he returns to the country.  

The UK, on the other hand, declared Hamas' military wing as a terrorist organisation in March 2001 but not its political wing. Due to this ambiguity, Sawalha has not been charged with any of the crimes he has committed so far.

The UK government, however, did away with the ambiguity in 2021 and declared the whole group a terror outfit that year. Some of his activities include holding clandestine talks about 'revitalising' terrorist acts in Israel and supporting money laundering to support activities in Gaza and the West Bank, a US Department of Justice indictment read.

It stated that Sawalha was "the Hamas military chief for the West Bank" and named him as being "in charge of Hamas terrorist oeprations" within the territory. It further said that Sawalha used several aliases such as “Muhammad Khadhem Sawalha,” “Abu Obeida,” “Abu Ubada,” “Abu Ubaydah,” “Abu Ubeida,” and “Abu Obadah”.

The indictment further said that in August 1992, he met fellow agents to discuss "the need to revitalise Hamas terrorist operations in the West Bank". During this meeting, he "identified specific Hamas members still residing in the West Bank who could be used".

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One of these members was Salah Al-Arouri, the deputy chief of Hamas and Hamas military wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which is currently being led by Mohammed Deif. Mohammed Deif is considered to be the mastermind of the dastardly attacks launched on Israel on the October 7 weekend.

Seven years later, in 1999, he was appointed the director of the Muslim Association of Britain, a Sunni group that became prominent during the Iraq War. In February 2009, Sawalha joined around 90 clerics in signing the Istanbul Declaration, a document organised at a Turkish conference last year.

The Istanbul Declaration described Hamas as the "legitimate elected Palestinian government" and called for "jihad and resistance to the occupier". In 2015, he even met the former Labour politician Jeremy Corbyn, who hosted Sawalha in the UK parliament during an event to discuss the Israel-Palestine situation along with Humza Yousaf. Humza Yousaf is Scotland's first minister at present.

In 2019, Sawalha participated in an official Hamas delegation meeting held in Moscow and met Putin's deputy foreign minister. He also served on Hamas' politburo. In the same year, he became the director of the Finsbury Park mosque, which was once headed by the controversial Islamist preacher Abu Hamza.

Barry Rawlings said that UK Lawyers for Israel, an advocacy group, had apprised the Council of the Hamas fugitive's background and that officials "reported it to the counterterrorism unit at the Metropolitan Police" as soon as they were apprised of the same.

Metropolitan counter-terror cops were informed but no action was taken to remove Sawalha from the property. A spokesperson for the force said at the time that "the evidential test was not met" and no further action was taken. He, however, is known to have kept a low profile since the UK government classified Hamas as a terrorist organisation in 2021. 

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