- Exiled Egyptian TV presenter Moataz Matar has been placed on a watch list
- His ban from the UK is the first pushed by Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick
- He described Hamas’ incursion as the ‘happiest day of [his] life’
An exiled Egyptian TV presenter who allegedly supported Hamas has become the first foreign national to have their visa revoked by the UK’s Home Office.
Moataz Matar has been placed on a watch list and had his visa revoked, after he described Hamas’ October 7 incursion into Israel as the ‘happiest day of [his] life.’
The presenter, who has nearly 4.3 million subscribers on YouTube, also celebrated the murders of the wife and daughters of Rabbi Leo Dee in the West Bank earlier this year, and was seen attending a pro-Palestine march in London.
Matar, a former sports journalist who was forced to flee Egypt in 2013, is a regular visitor to the UK, though is currently out of the country and will not be allowed back in by the UK’s Border Force.
His ban from Britain is the first to occur under an initiative spearheaded by Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, who previously announced plans to crack down on foreign nationals for alleged anti-Semitic behaviour shortly after Hamas attacked Israel.
The Telegraph reported that Matar is one of at least half a dozen foreign nationals who could have their visas revoked by the Home Office after it was alerted to their anti-Semitic behaviour.
‘There can be zero tolerance for visitors to the UK who abuse the privilege of a visa and endorse evil terrorist acts,’ Jenrick told the newspaper.
‘To any individuals considering following suit in the coming days and weeks, be in no doubt that we will continue to revoke visas wherever required. We will not tolerate extremism on our streets.’
Matar was forced to flee Egypt in 2013 after the Muslim Brotherhood, which ran the country at the time and which Matar backed, was overthrown by the military.
He spent some time in Turkey before travelling to the UK in December 2021.
In October, he interviewed a convicted terrorist who held found Hamas’ Al Qassam brigade in the 1990s.
During the 15-minute interview, which was broadcast live, Abdelhakim Hanini said that those in favour of the ‘neo-Nazi Zionist enemy’ should be made to feel there is ‘no safety for them.
He added that Muslims needed to ‘take to the streets’ in support of the October 7 atrocities, which he described as ‘a heroic act that our Muslim and Arab world has never seen before, and the enemy has never seen before since the Holocaust of Hitler’.
In February 2022, he accused the world of a holding a ‘double standard’ for supporting Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion, while it accused Hamas of terrorism.
The Jewish Chronicle reported that on the day he arrived in Britain, a photograph of himself and another exiled Egyptian broadcaster showed them standing outside a London pub, claiming in the caption that they were in Britain to wage ‘the jihad of words.’
Since Matar has been in the UK, he has made several controversial comments about Hamas, Israel and Palestine.
The UK’s Home Office has the power to revoke the visas of any foreign national who exhibits behaviour that is ‘not conducive to the public good.’
Foreign nationals can also be kicked out if they are deemed to be a threat to national security.
Since Hamas’ incursion into Israel on October 7, Robert Jenrick and the UK’s policing minister, Chris Philp, have written to all 43 police forces in England and Wales to ask them to report any foreign individuals caught up in any potentially unlawful or extremist activities so that their right to stay in the UK can be reviewed.
Jenrick has also asked the Community Security Trust, a charity that provides Jewish communities security, to pass on the named of any foreign nationals they identify for anti-Semitism.
The war between Israel and Hamas, the bloodiest between the two in decades, began on October 7 after Hamas launched a massive incursion into Israel, taking the world by surprise.
Israel said rockets were still being fired from Gaza into southern Israel, where it has said about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage by Hamas last month.
Palestinian officials said on Friday that 11,078 Gaza residents had been killed in air and artillery strikes since October 7, around 40% of them being children.
MailOnline has contacted Matar for comment.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
