A Palestinian citizen of Israel has been granted asylum in the UK after claiming he would face persecution in his home country on the grounds of his race, his Muslim faith and his opinion that Israel “is governed by an apartheid regime”.
“Hasan”, whose real identity is not being disclosed for his own protection, has attended pro-Palestinian protests in the UK, and his lawyers also argued that his activism would place him at increased risk of hostile attention on his return.
His lawyers said on Tuesday they believed the Home Office decision was unprecedented in the case of a Palestinian who held an Israeli passport.
The 24-year-old is understood to have spent most of his life in the UK. He had claimed asylum to avoid being sent to Israel, and a first-tier tribunal hearing had been due to take place today. However, the Home Office unexpectedly caved in on Monday and granted Hasan asylum, so avoiding a hearing in which his legal team were intending to argue that Palestinian citizens of Israel were unsafe, and in particular those that were willing to speak out.
It was Hasan’s belief, his lawyers said, that Israel was governed by “an apartheid regime that engages in systematic and pervasive discrimination, persecution and violence touching on all aspects of Palestinian life”.
Hasan’s lawyers had made a supplementary claim after the start of the Hamas-Israel war, which followed Hamas’s surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. They argued that the security situation for Palestinian citizens of Israel had worsened further as the war in Gaza had gone on.
About a fifth of Israel’s population – about 2 million people – is Palestinian although that figure also includes the Arab population of East Jerusalem who have a lesser status, that of permanent residents.
Franck Magennis, a barrister at Garden Court chambers, said while it was not uncommon for Palestinians from Gaza to obtain asylum in the UK, he could not find reference to a similar case applying to a Palestinian from Israel.
“What’s so shocking about this case is that Israel is normally considered a staunch ally of the UK government, and that the UK considers it the only democracy in the Middle East and in no way an apartheid regime. But what this reflects is a staggering contradiction in the heart of British foreign policy,” Magennis said.
Israel has long rejected arguments that it pursues an apartheid-like policy towards Palestinians. It argues that its war against Hamas was undertaken in self-defence and is aimed at elimination of the group as a political and military threat.
The Home Office did not give any reasons for accepting Hasan’s asylum claim when it withdrew its objections on Monday. When contacted on Tuesday, officials said they did not routinely comment on individual cases.
A Home Office spokesperson added: “All asylum claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the immigration rules. Where more information is provided or becomes available, the outcome of a decision can change.”
British foreign policy towards Israel, initially strongly supportive after the Hamas attack, has shifted in recent weeks to focusing on the need for a humanitarian pause in the fighting in Gaza, where the bulk of the strip’s 2.3 million prewar population are sheltering in dire conditions in and around Rafah in the south.
