The ‘far-left and Islamist’ organisation Friends of al-Aqsa lavished praise on Red Ed Miliband on the sidelines of Labour conference today. The group was banned at the last minute from officially hosting an event on Gaza at the annual socialist jamboree – but simply pressed ahead with a panel near the conference venue anyway.
When the Labour conference guide was published earlier this month, Friends of al-Aqsa was listed as holding a fringe event hosted by the group’s founder and chair, Ismail Patel. But it was pulled following a backlash. Friends of al-Aqsa describes itself as an NGO ‘demanding political change for Palestine’. A Home Office-commissioned report in 2024 described it as a ‘far-left and Islamist’ organisation.
In defiance of the Labour overlords, the event went ahead today. Andrew Murray, a speaker from Stop the War, trumpeted:
I’m almost tempted to begin by saying I’m bringing solidarity from the foreign secretary. I’ve been an activist on these and other issues for 50 years now. I’ve never known a foreign secretary actually say, while a mass movement is still mobilised, while the struggle is still going on, “you are right.” And when he says, “you are right”, he means Friends of Al-Aqsa is right, the Muslim Association of Britain is right. The Palestine Forum in Britain is correct. CND is right. Palestine Solidarity is right and Stop The War is right because we have organised 35 national demonstrations over the last three years and as we can now see we are getting results. Certainly too late, certainly too little but we are making progress.
What an endorsement for Red Ed. The Home Office report noted that Patel had previously visited Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas leader, in Gaza. It said that in 2021 he had praised the killer of Eli Kay, a tour guide in Jerusalem, as a ‘martyr’. It also highlighted that Patel was filmed in 2009 saying ‘we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel’. At the same rally, he declared that ‘Hamas is no terrorist organisation’.
Red Ed must be thrilled with his new fan club.
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