Judicial Activism Has Opened the Floodgates to Terrorist Sympathisers
By Steve Winston, Managing Director of the National Jewish Assembly
The UK government has spent years trying to convince the British public that it takes border security and national safety seriously. Yet time and again, activist judges undermine Parliament, defy immigration rules, and impose their own ideological agendas on the country. The latest case – in which a judge overruled the Home Office to grant Gazan “refugees” access to Britain under a programme designed for Ukrainians – is yet another example of the dangerous erosion of the rule of law.
To state the obvious: Gaza is not Ukraine. The Ukraine Family Scheme was established in response to a European war in which the UK has a direct strategic interest. The programme has now ended. But none of that mattered to Judge Hugo Norton-Taylor, who decided that immigration policy – a matter for the government and Parliament – should instead be dictated by his personal view of “compassion.”
The consequences of this reckless ruling cannot be overstated. By setting a precedent that Gazans should be admitted under humanitarian schemes, the UK has effectively invited Hamas sympathisers – or worse, Hamas operatives – into the country. This is not an abstract concern. We know for a fact that the majority of Gazans supported the October 7 massacre. We know that Gazan civilians have been active participants in Hamas’s reign of terror, whether by looting, lynching hostages, or sheltering terrorists. What rational government would roll out the welcome mat to people raised in this culture of violence and Jew-hatred?
Even if the family in question are not direct Hamas members, there is no vetting mechanism to prove they are not sympathisers. There is no way to ensure they do not harbour extremist views or pose a threat to British Jews and the wider public. The Home Office fought this case precisely because it understood the risks. Norton-Taylor did not care.
This is the same judge who ruled in favour of an Albanian illegal immigrant on the flimsy basis that he had married a British woman. He also blocked the deportation of a convicted Afghan rapist and allowed a Kosovan drug dealer to remain in the UK. In other words, his track record is one of prioritising the so-called “human rights” of criminals and illegal immigrants over the security of British citizens.
This ruling is an insult to every law-abiding person in Britain. But it is especially a slap in the face to British Jews, who have watched in horror as antisemitism has exploded in the wake of October 7. It is Jewish schools that require 24/7 security. It is Jewish students who are being hounded out of universities. It is British Jews who have been assaulted, threatened, and doxxed in their own country. And now, thanks to a single judge, we are being told to welcome people from a society where Jews are dehumanised from birth.
The insanity of this cannot be overstated. The UK has already struggled to deal with radicalised Islamist extremists born and raised in Britain. We have seen this story play out before – in France, in Belgium, in Germany – and we know how it ends.
Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, has rightly warned that this case could be used as a basis for anyone in any war zone to claim asylum in Britain. If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will be impossible to prevent a tidal wave of Gazan asylum seekers, all invoking the same Article 8 “family life” excuse. This will not be one family. It will be thousands.
This is not just about one bad ruling. It is about a judiciary that has completely lost its sense of duty to the British people. Immigration policy should be set by Parliament – not by unelected judges pursuing woke credentials.
If the government does not fight this decision with everything it has, it will be giving up Britain’s right to control its own borders. It will be signing off on the influx of radical Islamist sympathisers. And it will be proving, once and for all, that British Jews are second-class citizens in their own country.
