A Brighton Palestine campaigner repeatedly encouraged people to support Hamas on the day it killed Israeli citizens and took dozens hostage, a court heard today.
Tony Greenstein, 72, tweeted three times urging people to support the “Gaza ghetto uprising” and linking to a blogspot which said Hamas should be congratulated for its “well planned and audacious attack on the Zionist enemy”.
Today, Kingston Crown Court was told he was aware Hamas is a terrorist organisation – which means encouraging people to support it is against the law.
He is charged with a single count of inviting support for a proscribed organisation, which he denies.
Prosecuting, Kate Temple-Mabe said: “Mr Greenstein is, and has for many years been, a prolific activist and campaigner on the issue of Palestine. He is a Jewish man, but he opposes the state of Israel and supports the liberation of Palestine.
“I should make it very clear to you now that none of that is criminal. There are a great many people who oppose the state of Israel, believe that the Israelis unlawfully occupy Palestine, and that Palestine should be liberated, and who publicly express those opinions.
“There are a great many people, also, who think that what has been happening in Gaza since 7 October 2023 is horrific and unacceptable, and who wish to publicly express their opposition to it. None of that is a crime.
“The law does, however, make it a crime specifically to invite support for the organisation Hamas, because Hamas is a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act.
“In that sense, the law treats support for Hamas differently from support for the Palestinian people or cause more broadly. It’s important throughout this trial that this distinction is kept in mind.”
She read out Mr Greenstein’s three tweets, all posted on 7 October 2023, and part of the blogpost. She said: “This is a lengthy post, but the particularly relevant part – and the part that the prosecution say makes it clear who Mr Greenstein was inviting others to support – is this:
“‘But it is not only the Arab regimes who are normalising the Israeli state who should be criticised. So too should Hassan Nasrallah of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
“‘In response to a call by Hamas for them to join the resistance, Nasrallah’s response was that: The leadership of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon is closely following the significant developments on the Palestinian scene, monitoring the field conditions with utmost interest.
“‘This sounds very much like Hezbollah are not going to do anything except sit it out and allow Israel, at a time of its choosing, to attack Lebanon again.
“‘The time to fight is now. Whatever criticisms one can make of Hamas, we should congratulate them on this well planned and audacious attack on the Zionist enemy.’
“The prosecution say that in the context of events that were widely reported and are generally understood to have been orchestrated by Hamas, Mr Greenstein’s reference to support for the ‘Gaza ghetto uprising’ – in that specific context, on that specific date – can only have meant support for Hamas.
“This puts it beyond doubt that the support that was being invited in the X posts was not just for the people of Gaza in a general sense, but also for Hamas.”
She added: “Mr Greenstein’s defence, so far as the prosecution understand it, is that the words he used were not actually invitations of support.
“You will get to hear what he said in interview, and he will have the opportunity to give evidence to you in this trial. It will be a matter for you whether any of that is true – whether he does in fact have a defence, or whether he simply disagrees with the law.”
Greenstein was arrested in December 2023 and eventually charged in November 2024.
The jury was also shown a clip from an online panel meeting which he spoke at on Holocaust Memorial Day in January 2024, which was posted on YouTube.
In the clip, he says: “I have been arrested for saying that I support Hamas and the Palestinian resistance. I will continue to say that, because I do.”
The trial continues.
