Foreign Office officials were told describing Hamas as “terrorists” was an “obstacle to peace” during a training session.
Civil servants were also told Israel was a “white, settler colonialist nation”, according to whistleblowers. The Foreign Office has said many of the views expressed in the meeting are “wrong” and do not reflect the Government’s position.
Academics from King’s College, London, led the training seminar at the Foreign Office’s headquarters in Whitehall, according to The Jewish Chronicle (JC).
One expert is reported to have told attendees that there could be “no future without Hamas”, the same publication reports.
Hamas is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Britain as well as in the European Union and in countries including the United States.
Membership and expressing support for the group is llegal in the UK and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The seminar was attended by around 100 government officials, mainly online via a security vetted Microsoft Teams network, according to the JC.
Several speakers are reported to have told officials that Hamas’s political wing is moderate and there is a need to engage with them.
Lord Polak, Honorary President of Conservative Friends of Israel, told the JC he would be asking Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron to investigate the meeting, which is reported to have been held on February 28.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The UK Government’s position is unequivocal that Hamas is a terrorist organisation.”
The spokesman added: “Many of the views expressed by the academics in the seminar were wrong and contrary to the Government’s position.
“We have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination, including antisemitism. We are reviewing guidance on internal seminars to ensure speakers invited are appropriate.”
Meanwhile, on Sunday (March 17) Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 31,645 Palestinians have been killed in the war.
The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. Israel disputes the figures.
Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7 killed 1,200 people and left another 250 hostage in Gaza.
