Ministers to be questioned on alleged Palestinian militant who crossed Channel
According to the Mail on Sunday, Abu Wadee is a former member of a militant group who has called for the slaughter of all Jews and posed with AK-47s.
Ministers are facing questions over reports an alleged Palestinian gunman illegally crossed the Channel on a small boat.
According to the Mail on Sunday, Abu Wadee is a former key member of a militant group who has called for the slaughter of all Jews and posed with AK-47s.
The newspaper alleges that although he fled Gaza before the October 7 attacks in 2023, he appears to have been a prominent member of the so-called “Tyre-Burning Unit”, a militant group of Palestinian extremists who before the outbreak of war are believed to have regularly hurled fire-bombs and rocks at Israeli forces manning the border with Gaza.
Asked about the alleged gunman on GB News’ Camilla Tominey show, shadow home secretary Chris Phil claimed he would be raising the case with ministers.
He said: “I’ll certainly be asking the Home Office that question.
“What the Home Office needs to do is identify where this despicable individual is and, frankly, remove him from the country back to Palestine immediately.
“He clearly has no place in the United Kingdom and potentially poses a threat to our fellow citizens. This just illustrates why it is so important to get control of our borders and to stop these boat crossings.”
A spokesperson for the Home Office declined to comment on individual cases but said “the British public can be reassured that we take all steps necessary at all times to protect the nation’s security”.
According to the Mail on Sunday, Wadee posted a video on his Facebook page last September in which he is filmed calling for Allah to “punish (Jews) completely”.
He is alleged to have said: “Allah, it is upon you to (deal with) the Jews and those loyal to them.
“Allah, kill them one by one, and don’t leave a single one. Allah, destroy them completely, disperse them completely and make the earth fall from under their feet.”
The Mail claimed Wadee has large following on social media, where his TikTok videos attract up to 2.5 million views.
He is alleged to have charted his journey from Gaza on the social media channel, including posting footage of his dinghy being approached by the Border Force vessel.
As part of his journey across Europe, he posted a picture of himself in Brussels on Valentine’s Day, and then in central Paris earlier last week.
A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which first flagged Wadee’s social media posts on X on Friday, said: “We consider that this man poses a threat to public security and are asking the Home Office for urgent assurances that he is in secure custody pending further investigation.
“A jihadi whose stated ambition is ‘to die for the sake of Allah’ and prayed for the slaughter of all Jews must not be permitted to be at large in this country.
“The fact is that he has brazenly posted not only these views, but also his involvement in a Hamas-endorsed unit in Gaza on social media accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers.
“It is alarming in the extreme that he does not appear to have attracted the attention of the authorities in numerous European countries and has now arrived in the UK with relative ease, having openly posted videos on each stop of his journey to the UK.”
According to the latest Home Office data, 174 migrants were picked up on three small boats in the Channel on Saturday.
