A local government authority in the United Kingdom has openly worked with a pro-Hamas group which masquerades as a charity, Breitbart London can exclusively reveal.
Preston City Council, which is run by the Labour Party, was forced to change its plans to fly the Palestinian flag over the town hall following protests and complaints. Breitbart London can now reveal that the group the council was working with has previously hosted meetings in which they express open and vocal support for the terrorist group Hamas.
Council leader Peter Rankin said: “I am pleased to be able to demonstrate our sympathy with the Palestinians through raising their flag over the town hall. We are also exploring other ways in which we can help and support Gaza.”
But the initial plans had to be altered following complaints. Instead the Palestinian flag flew for just four minutes before being replaced. The flag is then reported to have been auctioned off, raising around £1,500 and perhaps therefore making the council complicit in fundraising with a pro-Hamas organisation.
The request to remove the UK flag and replace it with that of the Palestinians came from an organisation called “Children of the Ghetto”. The group keeps a low profile online, but in 2009 it hosted the virulently anti-Israel MP George Galloway. Its Chairman, Mukhtar Master, gave a public speech in which he said, “We stand in support of the democratically elected government of Palestine, which is Hamas”.
In a speech to activists in 2009, Master claimed that Children of the Ghetto is a “special campaigning charity”, though no group ever seems to have been registered with Britain’s Charity Commission, raising concerns that Master and his colleagues are illegitimately fundraising using charitable cover, or raising money through a different charitable entity.
Towards the end of his speech, Master lavishes praise upon a friend of his who he claims wore a Palestinian football shirt with the name “HAMAS” printed on the back. He said, “We need to have that attitude because we are all now Palestinians in this day and age, we are all now Gazans in this day and age. And in this day and age brothers and sisters, we are all Hamas”.
Master is a long-standing union member, formerly a Labour Party activist, and has served as a trustee for the Fishergate Hill mosque which has been fundraising for years, though only recently received the green light from the same council which flew the Palestinian flag. The mosque’s plans were approved in April of this year.
The current space used for the mosque has also been the subject of primary school trips for British children, raising concerns that kids are being introduced to Hamas sympathisers.
The mosque, spearheaded by an umbrella group called the Preston Muslim Cultural Centre, does in fact have charitable status, though it is unclear if there is a connection to the Children of the Ghetto organisation.
Preston City Council was unavailable for comment about its work with the Children of the Ghetto, Mr. Master, and the Preston Muslim Cultural Centre.
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