Hamas are Islamists – the police investigated me for saying just that

Protestors focused on the Israel-Hamas conflict
Protestors focused on the Israel-Hamas conflict - Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

It isn’t just journalists like Allison Pearson who have been investigated by the police for comments on social media.

I also fell foul of the thought police for tweeting about the Middle East, just as Pearson suspects she did as she was told it dates back to a year ago, when she was tweeting about the Hamas atrocities on October 7.

Back in February I ridiculed UNRWA’s claim that it had not known about the Hamas operations centre underneath their offices in Gaza, saying: “Everyone, better safe than sorry: before you go to bed, nip down and check you haven’t inadvertently got a death cult of Islamist murderers and rapists running their operations downstairs. It’s easily done.”

Political opponents and extremists deliberately misinterpreted my joke, claimed my use of the word Islamists was Islamophobic or racist and caused a torrent of abuse and threats.

I suppose that was to be expected, but I was shocked and appalled when the police became involved.

Late one evening a few days later I received a call from West Midlands police asking about my whereabouts and safety. I assumed this was because of the threats.

How naïve that was. It was actually because they had received complaints about my tweet, had carried out an investigation but decided not to take action. They would, I was told by a senior police officer, have recorded it as a “non-crime hate incident” had the rules not been changed to raise the threshold.

They said it was because I had used the word “Islamist” and asked whether I had seen what people had said on LinkedIn.
I explained that Islamist is used 17 times on the Government’s list of proscribed organisations. It was coined to distinguish between decent law-abiding Muslims and extremists and is used by governments, academics, expert think-tanks, and the world’s leading media organisations.

I was furious and think the public would be livid to find out the police are wasting time on rubbish like this when a tiny proportion of rapes or burglaries result in some someone being charged. Most police officers think this is crazy too. They think their job to investigate actual crimes with real victims.

This madness must stop.

Government ministers, the civil service, and police must stand up to extremists instead of taking political-motivated complaints seriously.

And we must all defend the values of free speech and democracy that make this the greatest country in the world.

It is no coincidence that Pearson has in all likelihood been targeted for speaking up for Israel, just as I was.

The Middle East’s only democracy faces an existential threat from terrorist armies fuelled by a nihilist ideology that has ambitions far beyond the region.

Islamist extremism has nothing less than the Western values that underpin our civilisation in its sights.

Iran has declared war on the West and our very way of life. Israel is the front line, but it is being fought here too.

Our laws and police force have been weaponised in the campaign to silence critics of Islamism. What begins with a few tweets won’t end there.

There are groups at work doing the bidding of Iran and other rogue foreign states as they seek to impose a creed that is deeply misogynistic and homophobic.

They cynically exploit the tolerance which is a proud part of Britain’s fabric but only to undermine it.

And, as a result, the freedom of speech on which our democracy depends is under threat too.

It was George Orwell who warned: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

He coined the phrase “thought police” too and the Labour government should be looking to the great socialist and patriot for guidance.


Lord Austin served as Labour MP for Dudley North from 2005 - 2019