Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, has demanded that an Egyptian dissident be deported, saying, “I do not want people who h@.te Britain coming to our country.’
The Tory leader wants Alaa Abd El-Fattah, whose arrival in the UK was welcomed by Keir Starmer, to lose his dual British citizenship and be expelled, according to Mail Online.
It follows the appearance of heinous social media posts in which El-Fattah boasted about his hatred of white people and called for the m_√der of Jews, writing, “I seriously, seriously, seriously hate white people, especially those of English or Dutch or German descent.’
Since then, El-Fattah has apologized for the remarks, acknowledging how “shocking and hurtful they are.”
Only 48 hours have passed since the Prime Minister welcomed El-Fattah’s arrival in the UK after years of imprisonment in his home country of Egypt.
According to government sources, El-Fattah’s social media posts during the years he advocated for his release were unknown to the PM.
Now, Mrs. Badenoch has urged Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to take all necessary measures to deport El-Fattah.
‘The comments he made on social media about violence against Jews, white people, and the police among others are disgusting and abhorrent – they were also anti-British,’ she said. ‘British citizenship is more than a passport. Our country is our home, not a hotel.’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is also understood to be writing to Ms Mahmood, urging her to deport El-Fattah.
Senior Labour MPs said Sir Keir had lost the trust of British Jews and joined Mrs Badenoch in calling on him to strip El-Fattah of his British citizenship.
‘It’s truly shocking that we’ve welcomed a r@cist anti-Semite into our country with open arms,’ one minister told The Times.
‘Serious questions need to be asked about the lack of judgment here, and the Home Office should seriously be contemplating stripping him of his British citizenship.’
Another Labour MP said: ‘Letting in a [man] with a history of rampant anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism crossing the line into terror supporting and calling for the d£•ath of all Zionists is ridiculous and bad enough.
‘But after Bondi Beach and the Manchester synagogue att@.ck, when the PM said he’d do everything to make the Jewish community feel safe, this looks and sounds like a kick in the face.’
In a statement issued today, El-Fattah said: ‘I am shaken that, just as I am being reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, several historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship.
‘Looking at the tweets now – the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning – I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise.
‘They were mostly expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations in a time of regional crises (the wars on Iraq, on Lebanon, and Gaza), and the rise of police brutality against Egyptian youth.
‘I particularly regret some that were written as part of online insult battles with the total disregard for how they read to other people. I should have known better.’
El-Fattah’s case has been promoted for years by liberal celebrities, with actors Olivia Colman, Stephen Fry, and Emma Thompson among those pressing ministers to secure his release.
He was granted British citizenship in 2021 on the basis that his mother, Laila Soueif, was born in the UK while her mother was studying here as a student.
Mrs Badenoch today acknowledges it was a mistake to give him citizenship, but says the decision was ‘rubber-stamped’ by officials without escalating the case to the then home secretary, Priti Patel.
She said it was ‘inconceivable’ that no-one in Government was aware of El-Fattah’s previous statements, adding: ‘Another serious problem is that there will be junior officials and decision-makers within parts of the Civil Service who hold these views, or see nothing wrong with them.’
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said civil servants involved in the case should be sacked if they knew of his record and kept it from ministers.
Labour MP Tom Rutland questioned whether proper due diligence had been done on the extremist.
‘It is unclear to me why it has been a priority for successive governments to bring this guy over here,’ he said. ‘What kind of vetting is routinely done in these cases? His tweets are impressive in how they manage to be vile in such a variety of ways.’
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said: ‘The social media history that has emerged from Alaa Abd El-Fattah is of profound concern… The cross-party campaign for such a person, and the warm welcome issued by the Government, demonstrate a broken system with an astonishing lack of due diligence by the authorities.’
El-Fattah was released from prison in September and was allowed to fly to the UK on Boxing Day.
In a post on social media that day, the Prime Minister said: ‘I’m delighted that Alaa Abd El-Fattah is back in the UK and has been reunited with his loved ones, who must be feeling profound relief.’