Andy Slaughter, the United Kingdom’s new solicitor general, one of the first appointments of U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, is facing criticism after photographs and reports resurfaced showing him meeting Hamas officials during visits to Jerusalem and Gaza in 2010.
Slaughter, who will advise the government on legal matters including terrorism-related prosecutions and proscription decisions, traveled to Jerusalem in November 2010 with then-Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn on a fact-finding visit sponsored by Friends of Al-Aqsa and Middle East Monitor (MEMO).
A since-deleted MEMO report said the delegation met representatives of both Fatah and Hamas. Photographs from the trip show Slaughter and Corbyn with Mohammed Totah, Ahmed Attoun and Khaled Abu-Arafeh, all of whom have documented Hamas affiliations, The Telegraph reported.
Records also show Slaughter met Hamas Justice Minister Faraj al-Ghoul and Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmed Yousef during a separate March 2010 visit to Gaza. Yousef was the right-hand man to Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, between 2006 and 2014. Al-Ghoul was a senior Hamas leader targeted and killed by Israel last year.
Following that trip, Slaughter wrote in The Guardian that negotiations should be carried out “with those who have a mandate and a willingness to achieve progress ... that includes Hamas.”
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy condemned Slaughter’s appointment, calling it an “absolute disgrace” and that it “beggars belief” that Labour had handed someone who has shown “sympathy for Hamas” control of the government’s legal department.
The Attorney General’s Office rejected the criticism, stating that appointments are carefully considered and that Slaughter will perform his duties impartially and in accordance with the rule of law. A spokesman added that Slaughter has consistently condemned Hamas’s actions and supports a two-state solution in which Israel and a Palestinian state live peacefully side by side.
The United Kingdom proscribed Hamas as a terrorist organization in 2021.
