An NHS GP who leads the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain has celebrated Hamas committed atrocities on October 7.
During an interview on Talk TV, Abdul Wahid was played a video clip from the aftermath of the Hamas attack that showed him declaring: “Brave mujahadeen, they gave the enemy a punch on the nose and it’s a very welcome punch on the nose.”
Asked by Piers Morgan if he would condemn the massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians, he said: “I will defend the right of the Palestinians to resist occupation.
"When you look at what happened on the 7th of October as if that is the day everything started… the word terrorism has become so politicised… in India people who supported the Australian cricket team have been arrested under terrorist offences, in the West Bank people have been told if you reveal what happened in the prisons you will be arrested on terrorism charges.”
At recent demonstrations held outside the Egyptian embassy in London, Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters have called for jihad and demanded that “Muslim armies” march to liberate Palestine.
The Islamist group, which is banned in Germany and many Islamic countries, aims to create a caliphate.
On Talk TV, Wahid went on to insist he would only condemn Hamas “if, and only if” it were true that they had killed civillians.
"Our Islamic standard in war, our prophet, peace be upon him, said you can’t kill children, you can’t kill women, you can’t kill the elderly, you can’t mutilate so if, if, anybody did that,” he said, before being interrupted.
"What many of us saw on that day was videos coming out of people saying we will not harm women, we will not harm children.”
Wahid then added: “Resistance is a right in Islam, it is a right in international law.”
Told by Morgan that he had seen footage of atrocities taken and published by Hamas themselves, the Islamist group leader insisted: “You believe what you saw.”
Asked who he believed to be responsible for deaths on October 7, Wahid claimed: “The powers that believe Israel should be a colony for themselves in the Middle East, they are the ones responsible.”
The doctor later refused to describe Hamas as a terror group, declaring “I believe it is a resistance organisation,” before finally admitting civilians did die and claiming: “They were killed by people who were resisting an occupation.”
Asked if he wanted Sharia law to be imposed in Britain, Wahid said it was “the best” system of governance and insisted: “the Islamic standard of law should be the standard of law in the country.”
Following October 7, Wahid was exposed by the Mail on Sunday as working as a family doctor under his real name, Dr Wahid Asif Shaida.
A source has since told the newspaper that the government is considering proscribing Hizb ut-Tahrir on extremism grounds.
Commenting on the interview, Jewish television host Rachel Riley: “There must be so much deep-rooted hate to be able to blind people to what Hamas did, said they did, said they’ll do again, and broadcast while they did it.
"There are Jews in this country scared to go about their everyday lives because it’s impossible to tell who walking amongst them holds these views.”
