A past anti-Israel protest in London. Photo: Claudia Gabriela Marques Vieira via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The Gaza-ruling Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is partially sponsoring an anti-Israel demonstration scheduled to be held in London on Nov. 4, during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the city, an Israeli government minister said.

The stated purpose of the demonstration is to protest the UK’s refusal to apologize for the 100-year-old Balfour Declaration, which laid the foundations for Israel’s independence.

During his visit from Nov. 1-5, Netanyahu will attend a series of centennial events commemorating the historic declaration. The events are slated to be held despite pressure from pro-Palestinian groups in Great Britain and beyond, who are demanding that the British government renounce the Balfour Declaration and apologize for it.

Information presented by Israeli Strategic Affairs and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan this week showed that Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood activists, along with various other organizations, are behind the planned demonstration.

Erdan wrote to British Security Minister Ben Wallace and London Mayor Sadiq Khan to express his concern.

“The event being organized by radical elements affiliated with Hamas could serve as a platform for incitement and calls for terror against Israel and its supporters,” Erdan wrote. “The organizers of the event deny Israel’s right to exist, and holding the demonstration at a time in which both countries [Israel and Great Britain] mark the Balfour Declaration is not coincidental. I am asking you to examine whether the event in question keeps in line with Britain’s adopted definition of antisemitism and to take any steps necessary to prevent a radicalized atmosphere threatening the safety of Britain’s Jews and Israel’s supporters.”

Among the groups organizing the event is the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), co-founded by London resident and senior Hamas terrorist Muhammad Sawalha. The terrorist resigned from the MAB to found the British Muslim Initiative, where he serves as president. Another organizer of the event is Zaher al-Birawi, a Hamas activist who has been involved in sending flotillas known as the “lifeline convoys” to Gaza.