The National Jewish Assembly strongly denounces an upcoming event featuring Salah Hammouri, a former Palestinian political prisoner, hosted by the Omagh Branch of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign on April 21, 2023.
Hammouri is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group that is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States. He has also worked as a lawyer for Adameer, another organization that was designated as a terrorist entity in 2021.
Hammouri was previously convicted in a plot to kill Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in 2005 – the then former chief rabbi and spiritual leader of the Shas party.
Predictably, the event will promote a one-sided view of the conflict and serves only to promote antisemitic and anti-Israel terrorist sympathies while doing nothing to foster understanding or peaceful dialogue.
The NJA calls on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland to take action against Omagh Community House, a registered charity, who is hosting the event. It is concerning that charity funds are being appropriated to support the veneration of a figure like Hammouri, a convicted terrorirst, who maintains an extensive connections with terrorist organizations in Israel.
The NJA advocates for balanced and fact-based discussions on the conflict, in order to promote understanding and peace between the parties involved. Events such as this, featuring a person with terrorist convictions and current links to terrorist organizations, is anathema to this cause.
For further inquiries, please contact Heath Sloane – NJA Press and Marketing Manager (heath@nja.org.uk)
