In a landmark decision, a Palestinian citizen of Israel has been granted asylum in the UK on the basis of a “well-founded fear of persecution,” despite attempts by a former Home Secretary to block the claim. The 26-year-old, known as Hassan, is believed to be the first Palestinian with an Israeli passport to be granted refugee status in the UK.
The case has been a protracted legal battle, with the Home Office initially refusing Hassan’s asylum application. However, on the eve of his first-tier tribunal hearing in March 2024, the Home Office had agreed to grant him refugee status, subject to security checks. This decision was then abruptly withdrawn after an intervention by then-Home Secretary James Cleverly.
After a successful judicial review, Hassan was finally granted asylum status just before Christmas last year. Documents released during the review process revealed “substantial evidence of systematic discriminatory practices against Palestinians in Israel: apartheid, forced removal, restrictions of rights and exclusion from society.”
Hassan, who has lived in the UK since he was a baby, expressed his frustration at the Home Office’s “cruel actions” that have kept him in “precarity for decades.” He said, “I’ve been denied the right to work, study or rent. I’ve also been living under the threat of removal from my community and home to Israel, a genocidal, apartheid regime that persecutes Palestinians.”
Taher Gulamhusein, Hassan’s solicitor at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), praised the final decision, stating, “On 11 March 2024, three Home Office decision-makers decided that there was only ‘one conclusion’ – that Hassan was a refugee and reasonably likely to face persecution by Israel.”
However, the case has raised questions about whether Israel applied diplomatic pressure on the Home Secretary. Seema Syeda, a JCWI spokesperson, said, “The wider public may have questions as to whether Israel also applied diplomatic pressure on the home secretary.”
The Home Office and James Cleverly have been approached for comment, but no response has been received at the time of writing.