The mastermind behind a Green Party initiative aiming to link Zionism with racism expressed that Hamas should not be labeled as a terrorist entity. She argued that the organization’s ban in the UK was primarily intended to weaken ‘armed resistance’ against Israel.
Lubna Speitan, a British-Palestinian artist based in London, urged activists to challenge the UK’s designation of Hamas. This call to action followed the tragic events of October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,200 individuals, including children.
In a recently surfaced video, Speitan contended that those who resist colonialism and oppression are often unfairly branded as terrorists. She encouraged people to ‘oppose the proscription of Hamas’ as a show of solidarity against such demonization.
During the Greens’ spring conference last weekend, Ms. Speitan spearheaded an unsuccessful attempt to pass a motion titled ‘Zionism is racism.’ This proposal sought to rally support for Palestinian ‘resistance and liberation from Israeli occupation.’
Under the new leadership of Zack Polanski, the party has endorsed reversing the proscription of the UK group Palestine Action, following its involvement in violent episodes. However, extending similar support to Hamas would represent a significantly different stance and does not align with the current party policy.
But supporting the same for Hamas would be a move on an entirely new level and is not party policy.
Mr Polanski and the Greens did not respond to questions about whether he shared Ms Speitan’s support for Hamas, with Labour urging him to ‘come clean’ about where he stood.
However Ms Speitan accused the Mail of trying ‘to bait, distort, and demonise those who speak honestly about oppression and resistance’.
‘Let me be clear, my views have not changed. I stand by what I said and the principles underlying it,’ she said in a statement.
London-based Anglo-Palestinian artist Lubna Speitan called for activists to oppose the 2021 proscription of the armed Gaza group behind the October 7 massacre
Mr Polanski and the Greens did not respond to questions about whether he would support dropping Hamas’s terrorist label.
A social media campaign urged people to join the Green Party just to vote for the motion, with videos on TikTok, X and YouTube providing step by step instructions on how to sign up
‘The proscription of Palestinian resistance movements has always been politically motivated, it is a tool used to delegitimise the right of an occupied people to resist, a right that IS recognised under international law and the UN Charter.’
She added: ‘This is not about support for any individual group, it is about defending the universal principle that all oppressed peoples have the right to resist colonial domination, apartheid, and racial subjugation.
‘To deny that right, or worse to criminalise it, is to consciously side with the oppressor.’
Ms Speitan’s remarks were criticised by the Campaign against anti-Semitism, with a spokesman saying: ‘People who commit atrocious and anti-Semitic acts of barbaric violence, including pillaging, raping and mass murder of defenceless civilians in order to instill terror in the wider population, undermine their values and ultimately annihilate them and their country, are terrorists.
‘That is what the word exists to describe. If it can’t be used for those sorts of people, the word has no purpose.’
Last year Hamas used the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to challenge its ban in the UK, brought in by the Conservative in 2021.
The Palestinian organisation launched a legal bid to overturn its proscription, which makes it a criminal offence for anyone in the UK to belong to the group.
Ms Speitan took part in an online discussion in October called The Gaza ‘Ceasefire’ is a Lie: Activists Expose the Deception.
It came at a time when a fragile ceasefire was in place between Israel and Hamas, aimed at ending a conflict that has seen devastation wrought in Gaza, with tens of thousands left dead by Israeli military activity.
Ms Speitan said: ‘Anyone who opposes colonial resistance and sorry, colonial oppression and resists is demonized, as we know, as terrorists.
‘They do this to deny us our right to resist, which, as you know, we do have that right under international law and UN charters.
‘But they try to disallow us from exercising that right by the delegitimization of our resistance. So, yes, I stand.
‘I think what needs to be done is we need to continue to oppose the prescription of Hamas and any other resistance, because that is the only reason that they do it.’
Ms Speitan’s conference motion, if passed last week, would have seen the Green Party formally declare itself an anti-Zionist party and see support for a Jewish homeland ‘treated as any other form of racism’.
Backed by the party’s deputy leader Mothin Ali, it effectively called for Israel to be replaced by a ‘single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital’.
A campaign poster for the motion depicted a map of the state of Israel painted in the colours of the Palestinian flag.
It called for sanctions on Israel and support for ‘resistance and liberation from Israeli occupation’, which critics said meant effectively backing Hamas attacks.
But it failed to pass after Green members opposed to it managed to time-out the process at an event also marred by factional infighting and technical problems.
Mr Polanski refused to denounce the motion beforehand, saying he ‘equivocated’ on it because of different interpretations of Zionism.
A Labour source said: ‘Zack Polanski must face down these calls from his members to grant amnesty to terrorists.
‘We live in serious times and we need serious politics. Polanski must come clean on where he stands.’
