The Metropolitan Police has distanced itself from a festival accused of providing a platform for speakers who have defended the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
The force is said to have ordered organizers of next weekend's Global Peace and Unity (GPU) Festival to remove his name as a “supporting partner” from the event.
It followed complaints from Policy Exchange, the centre-right think tank, that by associating itself with the festival the Met risked compromising its impartiality as a police force.
Stephen Timms, a senior Labor MP, has also withdrawn from speaking at the festival after being told it would host Zwelivelele Mandela, who has praised Hamas leaders and described October 7 as an act of defiance.
It is believed that Mr Mandela, Nelson Mandela's grandson, is no longer involved with the event, although his name remains on GPU's website.
After being informed of the billing by The Telegraph on the GPU website, a spokesperson for the Met Police said: “The MPS is not a supporting partner and does not contribute financially to the event.”
Logos of the Met Police and its Association of Muslim Police had been removed on Saturday morning as 'supporting partners' of the event.
Last month, the HM Inspectorate of Police warned that forces were at risk of facing accusations of bias unless new national guidance was issued setting out when and how they could support community events from different groups.
In a report on the GPU event, Policy Exchange said it would be “highly unwise” to explicitly support the festival just two weeks after the anniversary of the October 7 attack. “The Met must be seen as impartial in its often fraught role in monitoring the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London,” the report said.
Ahead of next weekend's event, GPU organizers have warned participants against showing support for banned groups like Hamas.
“Please note that under English law promoting or supporting banned organizations is illegal and may result in prosecution for both the speaker and the organisers,” they said in their guidelines for speakers.
“While we encourage open discourse, and the aim of the GPU Festival is to promote justice as a path to peace and unity between diverse communities in Britain and internationally, please be mindful of these legal boundaries.
“If you are unsure about specific content, please exercise caution or consult our local legal counsel.”
GPU organizers told The Telegraph it was “a family event, with the aim of promoting peace and unity between the many different communities that make up our vibrant country, Britain.”
They added: “The aim of the GPU Festival is to spread understanding not just of Islam, but among people of all faiths and none, and to celebrate British Muslims, showcasing the impressive contribution we make to British society and the world. It is an event that has been held in a peaceful and organized manner since 2005.
“We will not tolerate any form of extremism or anti-Semitism and stand firmly with those who fight all forms of prejudice, racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. You might like to see our Speaker Guidelines, 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-Palestinian marches in Britain. On October 7, 2023, he reposted X content calling Hamas “freedom fighters” and the Israeli hostages “occupation soldiers.”
Another speaker is Ali Hammuda, who said the October 7, 2023 pop festival massacre consisted of journalists “making up stories that simply never happened.”
In a video shared with his 161,000 YouTube subscribers on October 12 last year, the cleric accused the media of “making up stories that simply never happened, the latest of which is of course the claim that a massive massacre took place at a rave where 260 people were killed while dancing and singing.”
The video has since been removed by YouTube for “a violation of YouTube's hate speech policy.”
A third speaker is Fatima Barkatulla, an author and Islamic scholar, who said on October 8, 2023: “This Palestinian uprising is 100% legitimate. It's another rebellion[st] The Colonialism of the European Colonists.”
Another speaker is Prof. Ilan Pappe, an academic from the University of Exeter, who said just after October 7, 2023 that he “[d] the courage of the Palestinian fighters who took over more than a dozen military bases and defeated the strongest army in the Middle East… Hamas had to act, and quickly.”
Professor Pappe also called for a “de-Zionized, liberated and democratic” Palestine “from the river to the sea.” He also said Hamas was not a terrorist movement, although he condemned the attacks.
