Hamas militants summoned a press conference to urge Britain to stay in the EU — or so it seems, according to an Israeli-made spoof.
The Regavim organisation has made a video using footage from a Hamas media briefing, dubbing it with an anti-Brexit address.
“The UK must remain in the EU,” says the spoof voice of the Hamas spokesman. “The Zionist-controlled media will tell you it’s a waste of money… but they’re wrong, it’s worth every penny.”
The aim of the video is to parody the EU’s friendliness of the Palestinians, and convince Brits that if they support Israel, they should vote for Brexit.
The video is part of Regavim’s pro-Brexit online campaign — funded by donors including several British-Israelis — and a drive for British expats in Israel to register to vote.
Regavim, a right-wing and pro-settler organisation, decided to take the unusual foray into British politics after years objecting to EU policies on Israel and the Palestinians. Ari Briggs, international director of Regavim, said: “If we can take out the British taxpayers’ money from its budgets it will reduce the damage it can do to Israel.”
His main grievances against the EU are that its money is allegedly being used by the Palestinian Authority to pay stipends for terrorists who are in Israeli prisons, and that the EU builds Palestinian homes and facilities in the West Bank in violation of Israeli planning laws, while condemning Israeli building there.
Mr Briggs is also angry about EU guidelines encouraging the labelling of settlement goods, and had his spoof militant saying: “Europe hasn’t had the convenience of labelled Jew products for over 70 years since that angry little German man tried it.”