The UK Government may impose sanctions on a British Palestinian activist believed to be a senior Hamas leader, according to The Telegraph on Saturday.
The Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) is allegedly assessing whether to designate Zaher Birawi under the Counter-Terrorism (Sanctions) Regulations 2019 due to his ties to Hamas. This would trigger an asset freeze, among other sanctions.
Israel’s Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center stated in 2010 that Birawi was a Hamas activist operating in Europe, and he was designated as a terrorist by Israel in 2013.
Birawi runs the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) and gained attention in 2025 for being a key organizer behind the Gaza-bound aid flotilla Madleen, which carried Greta Thunberg.
In September of this year, Israel uncovered documents in Gaza that illustrated direct Hamas involvement in organizing and financing the flotilla. One of the documents contained a detailed list of Palestinian Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) activists directly involved in the flotilla operations. In that dossier, Birawi was referred to as the head of the PCPA’s Hamas sector in Britain.
In a statement to Al Quds Al Arabi after the release of the documents, Birawi said, “The accusations of terrorism leveled against me are false, fabricated, and politically motivated.”
What do we know about Birawi?
Birawi moved to the UK in the early 1990s and became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the Meir Amit Center. From 2001 to 2003, he was president of the Muslim Association of Britain (MBA), an organization affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain founded by Muhammad Sawalha (a Hamas operative who fled to Britain).
He also served as president and media officer for The Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) and as a senior official of The British Muslim Initiative (BMI), now known as the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. The PFB has been described by the German government as Hamas’s “most important propaganda event in Europe”.
Birawi also served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Palestinian Return Center (PRC), which was banned in Israel in 2010 as Hamas’s European organizational arm. He was also a program director and the main presenter of the London-based Arabic-language Al-Hiwar channel, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and which cooperates with Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV. He is also the chairman of the EuroPal Forum, a UK-based organization designated by Israel in 2021 as a terror-affiliated entity.
According to British media, Birawi has publicly opposed Britain’s decision to proscribe Hamas, arguing it would exclude an “essential section of the Palestinian community from the peace process.”
The Jerusalem Post found four mentions of Birawi on Hamas’s Telegram channel. Two related to the flotilla in 2025. The other two involved Birawi talking to Hamas’s Al Aqsa TV directly.
On November 19, 2021, he told Al Aqsa TV that “Palestine has the right to resist Zionist occupation” and “Hamas is the largest Palestinian political party that won the elections. Britain will soon be forced to apologize for its decision against Hamas.”
On November 20, 2011, Birawi told Al Aqsa that the “British government is responding to Zionist pressure and aligning itself with the occupation’s policies. The British decision against Hamas is to reduce solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
A scan of his social media history found hundreds of anti-Israel posts, cartoons, pro-Hamas statements and pictures of Hamas leaders such as Khaled Mashal.
In October 2023, Labour MP Christian Wakeford called Birawi a Hamas operative living in London and warned he was a “serious national security risk.”
The Telegraph’s report in recent days in other British papers (such as GB News) emphasized that PFB is one of the six organizations forming the Palestine Coalition, which coordinates most of the pro-Palestine protests in the UK. The Palestine Coalition has organized around 20 rallies this year, including those in support of Palestine Action, now a proscribed group in the UK.
The Treasury told The Jerusalem Post that it is unable to comment on specific cases.