The British authorities arrested a man who previously worked in the personal guard staff of the late Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, on suspicion of his involvement in a terrorist plot to target Jewish community centers, Israeli diplomats, and pro-Israel demonstrations in Germany and Austria. The suspect is referred to in court documents as “Mr.
A Sunday Times investigation revealed that the suspect worked as Haniyeh’s guard in the Gaza Strip, before leaving for Egypt, where he was previously arrested on suspicion of operating a weapons smuggling tunnel. The newspaper indicated that the British authorities were aware of part of his security past when studying his file.
The person in question arrived in Britain in 2012, and applied for asylum three years later, and the Ministry of the Interior – under then-Minister Theresa May – granted him permanent residency in 2015. The man lived in England under the guise of working as an information technology consultant, changing his legal name several times.
The suspect was arrested last November in central London through the British National Crime Agency, after the Israeli and German intelligence services revealed the joint plan. The man is currently undergoing legal procedures in parallel with efforts to extradite him to Germany.
According to an indictment published by the German newspaper Bild, “Mr.
On the judicial level, a judge at the London Magistrate Court initially issued an order banning the publication of the suspect’s name for two hundred years, before the court amended its decision last Thursday at the request of the Sunday Times, to allow his identity to be published after the end of the criminal proceedings against him in Britain. On the other hand, German security officials warned that the suspect’s possession of a British passport facilitated his movements within Europe, which raises serious concerns about the expansion of Hamas’ activities outside the Middle East.
