Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) appears to be suggesting that Home Secretary Priti Patel is an ‘agent’ for the Israeli government. The statement by Khaled al-Batsh follows her decision last week to proscribe the political as well as the armed wing of Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Khaled al-Batsh told the Palestinian Donia Al-Watan news portal:

“We consider the [British] decision a major aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and an attempt to block the way for all the free people in Britain who demonstrated by hundreds of thousands during the Battle of Sword of Jerusalem, and this decision could deprive them of showing support for the Palestinian cause… It is clear that there is a Zionist minister in the British government who works under the orders of Bennett, Lapid and Gantz, and who must be held accountable”

Khaled al-Batsh uses the phrase “يجب أن تحاسب” (yajibu an tuhasaba), which means “she should be held to account”. According to the experts at Policy Exchange’s Security and Extremism unit, “the word ‘tuhasab’ has Islamic resonance (it is the same root we find in ISIS ‘hisba’ squads). It constitutes a threat, but it is not clear whether it is a clear call for violence as well.”

The word also has an element of ‘double speak’. Khaled al-Batsh’s statement could be interpreted as saying that a British female minister is serving as an ‘agent’ for the Israeli government – and of course for jihadists, ‘agents’ deserve to be killed. According to Policy Exchange’s Sir John Jenkins:

“al-Batsh’s statement is a clever piece of doublespeak. On the surface, it is simply an intemperate condemnation. But by linking the demand for accountability to the accusation that a female minister is under the direct control of the Israeli leadership, he evokes the treatment meted out to Palestinians whom Hamas or PIJ regard as collaborators. And he calls on sympathisers in Britain to take action to prevent the proscription taking effect.”

The message is a sinister development…