UK Labour leader urged to explain donation from pro-Hamas group

UK’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn faced criticism for an undeclared donation of £10,000 (NIS 50,000) for his successful 2015 leadership campaign raised by a pro-Hamas group.

According to documents obtained by the Observer, a Palestinian group held a fundraising dinner for Corbyn at which it raised £10,000. However this donation from Friends of Al-Aqsa was never declared to the Electoral Commission.

Corbyn’s campaign claimed that the donation was not reported because the check bounced, according to the report Sunday. When asked what happened to the money that had been raised, a spokesman said: “I’m told a second check may have been sent but this was not received by the campaign.” He added, “There is nothing dodgy going on.”

In December the bank account belonging to the group at Britain’s Co-op Bank was closed, along with accounts of more than 20 other pro-Palestinian organizations. Although no official reason was given as to these closures, a spokesperson for the bank said, “For customers who operate in, or send money to, any very high risk or high risk location throughout the world, advanced due diligence checks are required by all banks to ensure that funds do not inadvertently fund illegal or other proscribed activities.”

Friends of Al-Aqsa is a UK-based organization which describes its mission as “defending the human rights of Palestinians.” However their founder, Ismail Patel, a commentator for the Guardian and other media, has praised the Islamist terrorist group Hamas in the past. Patel was aboard the MV Mavi Marmara during the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid. He was briefly arrested by Israeli authorities, then returned to London.

In 2009 Patel spoke at a rally against Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, at which he said, “Hamas is no terrorist organization. The reason they hate Hamas is because they refuse to be subjugated, occupied by the Israeli state, and we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel.”

One known donor to Corbyn’s campaign was Ibrahim Hamami, who gave him £2,000 (NIS 10,000) last August, according to the Daily Telegraph. Hamami describes himself as a British Palestinian and has been an outspoken supporter of both Hamas and Fatah.

In 2008 Hamami spoke in Belfast to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe, the term used by Palestinians to describe the 1948 Israeli War of Independence.

Corbyn, a harsh critic of Israel who has called Hamas and Hezbollah his friends, has also come under fire this week for commending a peerage for the author of a controversial party report into anti-Semitism, with Jewish groups calling his move “beyond disappointing,” and warning it raises questions about the impartiality of the investigation. The report, launched amid a party purge of members who voiced anti-Semitic remarks, concluded that Labour was not overrun by anti-Semitism or other forms of racism, but did acknowledge an “occasionally toxic atmosphere.”

Earlier this month Corbyn appointed Paul Flynn, a Labour Party lawmaker from Wales who once accused a Jewish ambassador to Israel of dual loyalty, to serve as a senior opposition leader.