The UK’s largest Palestinian cultural centre hosted two speakers who have openly celebrated the October 7th terror attacks, Metro can reveal.
Palestine House in central London platformed Latifa Abouchakra and Batool Subeiti at a ‘Lessons of Resistance’ panel event last week.
The controversial activists have both praised the deadly October 7th attacks on 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 programme for children on ‘resistance’ and history.
During the event last Thursday, panellists appeared to defend a Palestine Action activist convicted of criminal damage, while Subeiti spoke about ‘martrydom’ as a form of ‘victory’.
The Community Security Trust (CST) called Abouchakra and Subeiti’s role in the evening ‘deeply troubling’ while a representative of October 7th victims said it was ‘heartbreaking’ they were given a platform.
Palestine House is a six-storey building in Holborn, central London, which opened in 2025 as a ‘cultural embassy’ and ‘gathering hub’ for Palestinian identity.
The centre regularly speaks out on political issues, with founder Osama Qashoo erecting a ‘Stop the Genocide’ flag at the building earlier this year.
Last Thursday, Palestine House and Shia student society Absoc for Justice held an event exploring how the death of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussain, in 680CE ‘continue[s] to inspire resistance to injustice today, including in the context of Palestine’.
However the decision to invite Abouchakra and Subeiti to the event has sparked outrage from antisemitism campaigners because of their history of support for October 7th.
On that day in 2023, Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostage, sparking years of conflict in the Middle east.
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Abouchakra, a presenter at 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 the resistance factions into the fragile Zionist entity’.
In an Instagram post on the same day, she said: ‘Nothing will ever be able to take 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 News was forced to apologise later that month after they platformed Abouchakr as British Palestinian concerned about prejudice without explaining her background.
Abouchakra works as a reporter for PressTV’s ‘Palestine Declassified show’, which the Board of Deputies of British Jews has said ‘regularly targets British Jews for attack and censure’.
Alongside Abouchakra, who was chairing last week’s event at Palestine house, was Subeiti, a regular contributor to Press TV and the Tehran Times.
Subeiti has appeared to speak in glowing terms about what she described as the ‘unprecedented revenge’ of the ‘Al Aqsa Flood’, which is what Hamas calls the October 7th attacks.
In a now-deleted social media post published two days after the incursion into Israel she stated: ‘Today the resistance stands tall as it has 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 attack’s ‘initiative’, ‘timing’, and ‘creativity and execution’.
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 assassinated leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
The Jewish Chronicle has also reported that Subeiti and her sisted travelled to Lebanon to meet with Hezbollah leader Muhammed Raad in July 2024.
During the event last Thursday, Subeiti can be heard discussing how ‘victory’ can be defined as ‘martyrdom’, according to online posts seen by Metro.
A picture of Ayatollah Khamenei posted by Absoc for Justice at the time of the event suggests the gathering 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 relation to a raid against an Israeli arms factory in Bristol.
Palestine House also hosted Subeiti in May, when she was involved in a ’12-module video-based curriculum designed for youth’ event which covered ‘history, resistance, national culture, and global context’.
A spokesperson for CST, a charity that protects the Jewish community from antisemitism, said: ‘It is deeply troubling when individuals who have praised the October 7 terrorist attacks or have a record of alleged antisemitic activity are given platforms at public events in the UK.
‘At a time of record levels of antisemitism organisations should think very carefully about the speakers they choose to host.
‘Nobody should be celebrating or glorifying the atrocities of October 7, and providing a platform for those who do causes genuine concern within the Jewish community and wider society.’
Nivi Feldman, who leads of the UK branch of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, told Metro: ‘It is heartbreaking that individuals who have publicly celebrated the terrorist attacks that murdered the greatest number of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust are being given a platform and presented as role models.
‘The atrocities of 7 October, and their lasting impact, continue to profoundly affect Israelis and Jewish communities around the world, including here in the UK.’
A spokesperson for the Jewish Leadership Council said organisations that ‘host extremist views’ that glorify terrorism or promote radical ideologies ‘must be held to account’.
What has Palestine House said?
Palestine House has said they should not be expected to vet the opinions of participants in their event.
The centre 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 that reality through education, culture and community.
‘That is the undisputed heart of what we do, and it is the context in which any question about our work should be understood.
‘The event you refer to explored the historical and religious significance of Imam Hussain and the events of Karbala; it was not organised to endorse the personal views, affiliations, or past public statements of any individual who attended.
‘We do not vet or adopt every opinion ever expressed by the hundreds of individuals who pass through our events each year, and holding a community centre to that standard, while a genocide is being livestreamed to the world, says more about the priorities behind this enquiry than it does about Palestine House.
‘We reject all forms of racism and hatred.’
When approached for comment, Abouchakra and Subeiti said in a joint statement that they were the victims of a harassment campaign.
The Muslim Student Council, which oversees Absoc for Justice, was contacted for comment.
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