Carla Lockhart said:
“It is twenty years since the military wing of Hamas was proscribed within the UK, but for those twenty years the so-called political wing of the organisation was not outlawed. This was a clear failure on behalf of the Government, and one that I had raised with the Home Secretary recently.
The announcement by Priti Patel that she is moving now to proscribe Hamas in all its forms is therefore long overdue, but welcome none the less. There can be no place in the United Kingdom for the extremism and hate mongering of Hamas. This is a terrorist organisation, and the spread of their message of hate must be stopped. We have witnessed a stark rise in antisemitism in our country in recent years, and this is fed and nurtured by those who pledge allegiance to Hamas.
We need to make every effort to keep our Jewish community safe from attack, whether that be physical attack or verbal attack. This move to proscribe Hamas sends out a message that the UK stands with our Jewish population, and it is vital that the law when changed is enforced and policed.
I commend the Home Secretary for this move.”