A poll conducted by a counter-extremism think-tank shows that most British Muslims are sympathetic towards Palestinian extremist outift Hamas, The Telegraph reports.
Only one in four British Muslims believe that Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel on Oct 7, according to a poll commissioned by the Henry Jackson Society (HJS).
Nearly half of British Muslims (46 per cent) said they sympathise with Hamas.
The survey, the biggest one since the Israel-Hamas conflict began, asked a range of questions to British Muslims as well as to the general public.
Asked whether Hamas committed atrocities in Israel, only 24 per cent of British Muslims said they had, compared with 62 per cent of the general public.
About 39 per cent of British Muslims said Hamas did not commit atrocities, and 37 per cent said they were not sure.
Younger and well-educated Muslims were the more likely to think Hamas did not commit atrocities – 47 per cent among 18 to 24-year-olds and 40 per cent among the university-educated.
Fiyaz Mughal, who founded interfaith groups Tell Mama, Faith Matters and Muslims Against Anti-Semitism, told the daily, “The sense that Hamas did not conduct massacres and rapes in Israel is atrocious because it shows a closed-off mentality to anything emanating from Israel.”
He said Hamas is an Islamist extremist and terrorist group that has been terrorising Gazans, Israelis and liberals for decades.
HJS executive director Alan Mendoza said the findings show “the failure of counter-extremism policy over the years”.
The poll also found that 52 per cent of British Muslims want to make it illegal to show a picture of the Prophet Mohammed.
A third of British Muslims (32 per cent) want to see Shariah law implemented in the UK.
