An activist charged with inviting support for Hamas was told by a judge her courtroom is “not a political forum” after he repeatedly answered questions by talking about the history of Israel and Palestine.
Tony Greenstein, 72, of Brighton, is on trial for one count of inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation at Kingston Crown Court.
The charge relates to three posts he made on X from October 7 2023, the day of a Hamas-led attack on Israel which triggered more than two years of war in Gaza.
On Thursday, Greenstein, who is a Jewish anti-Zionist activist, told the court in his evidence that he felt those attacks were “justified”, but he did not support Hamas.
He said: “When a colonial power holds another people down, they have the right to resist.”
Greenstein described Gaza as a “human prison” where Palestinians had been “locked up” for 57 years.
“It was a cage in which people lived. Imagine you could not escape 25 miles north of here and five miles wide, and imagine having to live there and not being allowed out,” he said.
On multiple occasions during his evidence, Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC halted proceedings to ask Greenstein to stop talking about the history of Israel and Palestine.
Greenstein said to the judge: “That’s the problem with the ruling class in this country, they turn a blind eye to genocide.”
Judge Plaschkes said: “Mr Greenstein you are on trial for a single count of inviting the support for a proscribed organisation, the jury have been sworn to be judges of that offence, you need to stay focused, this is not a political forum, this is a court of law.”
She later added: “This jury is not concerned with events in the Middle East, you need to stay focused on the count on this indictment.”
In the social media posts, Greenstein wrote the line: “Please share. Full support for the Gaza ghetto uprising,” the court heard.
Jurors were told the posts had links to a blog, which included the line: “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.”
Greenstein argued “congratulating” Hamas was a figure of speech, and that the prosecution’s assertion was “absurd”.
He said: “Now if I was the recruitment sergeant you think I am, I wouldn’t have started with my criticisms would I?”
He had also written extensively about disagreeing with Hamas in his blog which has more than 3,500 posts, the court heard.
Titles of pieces Greenstein had published included “Hamas does its best to make Palestinian lives a misery”, and encouraged those who had “illusions” in Hamas to “think again”.
Lawrence McNulty, Greenstein’s barrister, asked: “Do you support Hamas?”
Greenstein replied: “I support it as part of the resistance, but as an organisation I do not support it.”
Mr McNulty asked: “Would you invite anyone to support Hamas as an organisation?”
“No, obviously not,” said Greenstein. “It would be absurd.”
Opening the case on Tuesday, prosecutor Kate Temple-Mabe said while there are a “great many people” who oppose the state of Israel, it is specifically a crime to invite support for Hamas.
Ms Temple-Mabe said while Greenstein did not mention Hamas by name in his X posts, his “reference to support for the ‘Gaza ghetto uprising’ – in that specific context, on that specific date – has to have meant support for Hamas”.
She said: “Mr Greenstein specifically expressed ‘full support’ for the actions of Hamas. He invited others to like and share his post.
“In the blog post, he said that Hamas should be congratulated. He also gave a rallying cry, saying that ‘the time to fight is now’.
“All of this, the prosecution say, was a clear invitation of moral or intellectual support for the proscribed organisation of Hamas.”
During cross-examination, Greenstein repeatedly denied inviting support for Hamas and said the prosecution had an “obsession” with the organisation.
The trial continues.
