Ministers must finally ban the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Mar 22, 2024 by Jill

by Georgia L Gilholy, Conservative Home:

The campaign to proscribe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), a group behind spates of murderous terror proxies across the world, gained momentum in 2023. While pledges to examine a ban merited several front pages, the idea was shelved after Suella Braverman’s dramatic resignation as Home Secretary, despite claims its operatives had sought to target Jews and Israelis in Britain.

In January the Government did, at least, finally ban the (self-described) “non-violent” Hizb Ut Tahrir, almost 30 years after the Guardian exposed one of its pamphlets for urging Muslims to “trigger bombs”, “hijack planes”, and to “fight the Jews and kill them”. Even then, this only after viral clips, depicting its members calling for violent jihad as police officers milled around as if patrolling a village fete, sparked public outrage.

Yet there is another major terrorist group with UK support that most Brits today have never heard of: the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). And it is perfectly legal to be a member.

The PFLP made more headlines throughout the Sixties and Seventies when they became the first Palestinian organisation to hijack planes. Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor once quietly offered herself in exchange for the release of 106 Jewish crew and passengers kidnapped by the group (later freed by the Israelis in their famous raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda).

They have since claimed responsibility for a slew of terror incidents including a 2014 massacre at a Jerusalem synagogue and a 2019 suicide bombing in the same city. More recently, the PFLP were directly involved in the 7 October massacre. Like their allies in Hamas, they proudly broadcast videos, images, and text celebrating their attacks, and were reportedly involved in kidnapping.

While the group attempts to maintain the veneer of being purely “political”, they have routinely employed terror methods targeting civilians, including suicide bombings, shootings, and assassinations. Is it so surprising that they are designated as a terror group by the US, Canada, and European Union?

The only reason for the PFLP’s muted modern profile is that their secular and Marxist flavour of extremism has been out-flanked by nakedly Islamist groups like Hamas, Fatah, and Hezbollah, who garner support and arms from a wider global and regional constituency.

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