Gaza refugee decision could lead to ‘pro-Hamas, antisemitic attitudes being brought into UK’

Senior politicians have reacted angrily to a judge’s decision to allow a Gazan family to live in the UK, despite applying through a scheme intended specifically for Ukrainians.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the family of six – two parents and four children – applied to the Ukraine Family Scheme, set up by the government shortly after the Russian invasion, that allowed Ukrainian nationals to join family members or extend their stay in the UK.

Despite not being Ukrainian, the family – who claimed that their home was destroyed in an air strike – said there was “compelling and compassionate” case for their application be granted.

They were initially refused by a lower-tier immigration tribunal, but this has now been overturned on appeal, with the judge citing the European Convention on Human Rights.

In making his decision, Judge Hugo Norton-Taylor said that the family were in an “extreme and life threatening” situation.

But leading political figures have hit out at the ruling, which they claim is an example of judicial overreach.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch posted on X on Tuesday night: “We cannot have judges simply making up new schemes based on novel and expansive interpretations of human rights law.”

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Badenoch raised this case directly with Sir Keir Starmer.

"This decision is completely wrong. It cannot be allowed to stand” and asked whether the government was “planning to appeal on any points of law”.

Starmer replied that he did not agree with the decision.

He added: “She’s right, it is the wrong decsion”, quickly hitting back that the decision “was taken under the last government, according to the legal framework of the last government.”

He re-emphasised his disagreement by saying that he thought that: “It should be Parliament that makes the rules on immigration, it should be the government that makes the policy” and added that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was “looking at the legal loophole that we need to close in this particular case.”

Richard Tice, Deputy Leader of Reform UK also attacked the ruling on Tuesday, describing it as “insane” and cautioned about the impact it could have on social cohesion in the UK, if more refugees from Gaza were allowed to settle in the UK.

“We must not accept Gazans into the UK. Other Arab nations will not accept them, and nor should we”, he said in a post on social media, adding: “We do not want more pro-Hamas, antisemitic attitudes being brought into the UK”.

A 2024 survey from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that 97 per cent of those living in Gaza and the West Bank harbour “antisemitic attitudes”.

During the case, Home Office lawyers cautioned that the decision could potentially result in “the admission of all those in conflict zones with family in the UK”.

A Home Office spokesperson told the Telegraph that they had contested the claim “rigorously” and would continue to do so against any cases they deemed to be outside of their guidelines: “The latter court ruled against us on the narrow facts of this specific case. Nevertheless, we are clear that there is no resettlement route from Gaza, and we will continue to contest any future claims that do not meet our rules.”