BBC News ignores counterterrorism sanctions against UK company director

Israeli sanctions against the director of a UK 'human rights' organisation get no BBC coverage.

Those getting their news from the BBC will not be aware of this story from last week:

“Israel’s Defense Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday signed a ministerial decree imposing financial sanctions on a London-based terror suspect believed to have ties to Hamas.

The decree states that all of Mohammed Jamil Mahmoud Hersh’s assets in Israel are to be frozen, while foreign institutions operating in Israel risk fines for doing business with him. Hersh, a Hamas activist deported from Israel in 1992, is currently living in the UK, where he works for the Arab Organization for Human Rights in the UK, a charity affiliated with Hamas.

The decree was issued in accordance with Israel’s Counterterrorism Law.”

The ‘Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK’ is registered as a private limited company and has the same person – Mohammed Jamil – listed as director and secretary.

An additional company called the ‘Arab Organisation for Human Rights in Europe Limited’ is registered at the same address and lists a person called Mohammad Jamil as its current director. A previous director of the company is listed as Amjad Elias Salfitia lawyer whose firm’s Facebook account promotes the ‘Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK’.

In 2010 the ITIC produced a report concerning a visit paid by Salafiti to a Hamas official.

“In May 2010 Amjad al-Salfiti, a lawyer with British citizenship who serves as head of the British branch of the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR), visited Judea and Samaria. He met with Dr. Mahmoud al-Ramahi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a senior Hamas activist in Judea and Samaria. Speaking for Hamas, Al-Ramahi requested legal assistance against the Palestinian Authority for what he termed “persecution” of Hamas activists. […]

Al-Salfiti and his organization are cautious in their public statements, do not publicly identify with Hamas or radical Islam, and represent themselves as promoting “human rights.” However, an analysis of publications dealing with their activities and public statements made by al-Salfiti and the British branch of the organization, indicates that their activities are often political in nature and serve a radical Islamic agenda, including that of Hamas.”

That meeting did apparently yield results.

Seeing as the ‘Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK’ has had access to the UK parliament on more than one occasion in the past, one might have thought that Britain’s publicly funded national broadcaster would have shown some interest in this story.

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