World
Anti-Zionist ‘scammed’ by Gaza-based Palestinian activist
Campaigner has claimed that thousands of pounds he thought he had raised for Palestinian charities was stolen by a Gazan friend
January 5, 2023 11:37
Campaigner has claimed that thousands of pounds he thought he had raised for Palestinian charities was stolen by a Gazan friend
January 5, 2023 11:37A prominent anti-Israel campaigner has claimed that thousands of pounds he thought he had raised for Palestinian charities was stolen by a Gaza-based activist he regarded as his friend.
Former NHS trade union shop steward Pete Gregson, who was expelled from the GMB union after he claimed Israel “exaggerates” the Holocaust, raised money for Gaza-based Mohammed Almadhoun who he now claims syphoned off much of the cash.
Edinburgh-based Mr Gregson was thrown out of his union in 2019 after claiming Israel was “a racist endeavour” and used the Nazis’ murder of six million Jews “for political ends”.
Until recently he worked closely with Mr Almadhoun, who he described as running an educational centre for orphans and poor students.
Mohammed Almadhoun
Describing his then-friend’s work on a crowd-funding page he set up, Mr Gregson wrote: “Everybody involved with the centre is a volunteer — no-one gets paid. And all costs must be raised by Mohammed from donations; there is no funding from anywhere apart from people like you.”
The pair worked together to twin Edinburgh with Gaza City, and the Palestinian activist introduced a video created by Mr Gregson for a “Gig for Gaza” held in the Scottish capital.
After Mr Almadhoun said he had been diagnosed with a brain tumour Mr Gregson helped raise thousands of pounds for emergency surgery. He also says he then gave his own money to pay for Mr Almadhoun’s daughter to have a hernia operation.
But, the Scottish anti-Zionist activist now claims, it was a “humongous fraud”.
In an email to supporters, Mr Gregson wrote: “The medical bills for a non-existent dying son, a wife who wasn’t ill, a brain tumour that wasn’t there and a daughter who wasn’t endlessly ill has convinced me that Mohammed will tell lies with impunity if it means he can scam money.”
He added: “Again and again, I lent him money to pay the bills. Indeed, there have been so many awful situations that Mohammed has been in since April, that I often wondered how one man could suffer so much ill-fortune.”
Mr Almadhoun had also asked for money to repair damage to his educational centre but the picture he posted on a fundraising website of the allegedly damaged school in May 2019 had previously been used in international news reports about bomb damage at a school in Syria in 2012.
Almadhoun claimed his school was bombed but used this picture from Saudi newpaper Al Riyadh taken in Syria in 2012
