The UK’s biggest Palestinian cultural center has hosted two speakers who have openly celebrated the October 7 terror attacks, the Metro can reveal.
Palestine House in the center London platform Latifa Abouchakra and Batool Subeiti at a “Lessons of Resilience” panel event last week.
Controversial activists have praised both deadly attacks on October 7 Israel BY Hamas in 2023, calling it a ‘moment of triumph’ and ‘unprecedented revenge’.
Subeiti, a pro-Iranian political commentator, was also given a central role in Palestine House’s educational program for children on ‘resistance’ and history.
During the event last Thursday, panelists appeared to defend a Palestinian Action activist convicted of criminal damage, while Subeiti spoke of ‘marriage’ as a form of ‘victory’.
The Community Safety Trust (CST) called Abouchakra and Subeiti’s role in the evening ‘deeply disturbing’ while a representative of the victims of October 7 said it was ‘heartbreaking’ they had been given a platform.
Palestine House is a six-storey building in Holborn, central London, which opened in 2025 as a ‘cultural embassy’ and ‘gathering centre’ for Palestinian identity.
The center regularly speaks out on political issues, with founder Osama Qashoo raising a ‘Stop Genocide’ banner in the building earlier this year.
Last Thursday, Palestine House and Shiite student society Absoc for Justice held an event exploring how the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussain, in 680 CE ‘continues to inspire resistance to injustice today, including in the context of Palestine’.
However, the decision to invite Abouchakra and Subeiti to the event has drawn anger from anti-Semitism activists because of their history of support for October 7.
On that day in 2023, Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages, sparking years of conflict in the Middle East.
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Abouchakra, a presenter on the banned Iran-backed channel PressTV, told viewers on the day of the attacks that the violence was ‘the homecoming of at least 1,000 Palestinians from resistance factions in the fragile Zionist entity’.
In one Instagram posting the same day, she said: “Nothing will ever be able to bring back this moment, this moment of triumph, this moment of resistance, this moment of surprise, this moment of humiliation on behalf of the Zionist entity.”
ITV The News was forced to apologize later that month after they described Abouchakr as a British Palestinian concerned about prejudice without explaining her background.
Abouchakra works as a reporter for PressTV’s Palestine Declassified, which the Board of Deputies of British Jewry has said “regularly targets British Jews for attack and censorship”.
Alongside Abouchakra, who moderated last week’s event at Palestine House, was Subeiti, a regular contributor to Press TV and Tehran Times.
Subeiti has appeared to speak in glowing terms about what she described as ‘unprecedented revenge’ of the ‘Al Aqsa Flood’, which is what Hamas calls the October 7 attacks.
In a now-deleted social media post published two days after the incursion into Israel, she declared: ‘Today the resistance stands tall having humiliated the Wrong State (Ms Subeiti’s term for Israel) … and is now on the cusp of liberating historic Palestine.’
The post also praised the ‘initiative’, ‘timing’ and ‘creativity and execution’ of the attack.
Subeiti also appeared to share an allegedly anti-Semitic image on social media in July last year, showing a child being stabbed in the chest by a Star of David-shaped trident.
Subeiti has also publicly mourned the death of Iran’s slain leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
of The Jewish Chronicle also reported that Subeiti and her sister traveled to Lebanon to meet with Hezbollah leader Muhammed Raad in July 2024.
During the event last Thursday, Subeiti could be heard discussing how ‘victory’ could be defined as ‘martyrdom’, according to online posts seen by subway.
A photo of Ayatollah Khamenei posted by Absoc for Justice at the time of the event suggests the rally was also used to mourn Iran’s dead leader days before his funeral in Tehran.
It also appears the event was used to support the cause of Fatema Zainab, a Palestine Action activist convicted of criminal damage in connection with a raid on an Israeli arms factory in Bristol.
Palestine House also hosted Subeiti in May, when she was involved in a “12-module video curriculum designed for youth” event, which covered “history, resistance, national culture and global context”.
A spokesman for CST, a charity which protects the Jewish community from anti-Semitism, said: “It is deeply concerning when individuals who have praised the 7 October terror attacks or have a history of alleged anti-Semitic activity are given platforms at public events in the UK.
“At a time of record levels of anti-Semitism, organizations need to think very carefully about the speakers they choose to host.
“No one should celebrate or glorify the atrocities of October 7 and provide a platform for those who do so, causes real concern within the Jewish community and wider society.”
Nivi Feldman, who heads the UK branch of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, told Metro: “It is heartbreaking that individuals who have publicly celebrated terrorist attacks that killed the largest number of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust are being given a platform and held up as role models.
“The atrocities of 7 October, and their lasting impact, continue to deeply affect Israeli and Jewish communities around the world, including here in the UK.”
A spokesman for the Jewish Leadership Council said organizations that ‘host extremist views’ that glorify terrorism or promote radical ideology ‘must be held accountable’.
What has Palestine House said?
Palestine House has said that they should not be expected to verify the opinions of participants in their event.
The center said in a statement: “Palestine House exists because Palestinians are living through a genocide and a man-made famine in Gaza, and our work; over 600 events in the past 16 months, reaching more than 300,000 people, is about giving voice to this reality through education, culture and community.
“This is the undisputed heart of what we do and is the context in which any question about our work must be understood.
The event you refer to explored the historical and religious significance of Imam Hussain and the events of Karbala; it was not organized to endorse the personal views, affiliations, or past public statements of any individual who participated.
“We do not verify or endorse every opinion ever expressed by the hundreds of individuals who pass through our events each year, and holding a community center to that standard while a genocide is being broadcast live to the world says more about the priorities behind this investigation than it does about Palestine House.
We reject all forms of racism and hatred.
When reached for comment, Abouchakra and Subeiti said in a joint statement that they were victims of a campaign of harassment.
The Muslim Student Council, which oversees Absoc for Justice, was contacted for comment.
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