Two people were arrested at the Birmingham launch of a movement calling itself the Anti-Zionist Movement on Sunday, according to West Midlands Police (WMP). One of those arrested was a journalist for Iran’s Press TV who praised the October 7 attacks.
AZM describes itself as a Palestinian-led grassroots movement that is “unapologetically anti-Zionist, pro-armed resistance, and upholds the Thawabet and campaigns against Jewish Supremacy.”
Its social media bio reads: “liberation via zio eradication.” The Thawabet is a term coined by the Palestinian National Council which lays out the Palestinian right to resistance, self-determination (statehood), and return, asserting that Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.
Though AZM was launched formally in Bristol 11 weeks ago, the recent Birmingham launch has garnered significantly more media attention, at least in part due to its controversial hosts: Rahmeh Aladwan, Latifa Abouchakra, Sami Alsoos, David Miller, and Maher Falastini.
Aladwan is currently on a 15-month suspension from her position as a National Health Service (NHS) doctor due to her online activity, including praise for Hamas.
In a video promoting the launch of AZM and arguing why Palestinians should be anti-Zionist, Aladwan said “Jewish settlers need to be repatriated back to where they came from,” and “every inch of the land is Palestine.”
She added that she believes 95% of Jews are Zionists and therefore does not distinguish between Jews and Zionism.
According to WMP, one of those arrested was a 35-year-old woman wanted by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of a Public Order Act offence, as part of an investigation by the London force into speeches and social media posts made between May and October 2025 in London and Birmingham. Officers stopped the car she was traveling in and detained her on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.
Aladwan subsequently revealed that the woman was Abouchakra, blaming her arrest on the “Zionist lobby.”
Abouchakra, 35, has been a prominent figure on Press TV’s “Palestine Declassified” program, where she has criticized Israeli policies and Zionist influence on Western institutions.
Press TV is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s first international news network. The channel said its presenter’s arrest marks a “continuation of the politically motivated crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices.”
David Miller, a former University of Bristol professor dismissed in 2021 over antisemitism allegations, said Abouchakra’s arrest was “more evidence of the police working directly for the Zionist regime.”
He noted that the arrest has not stopped the event’s hosts from “explaining that the Palestinian people have the right to resist occupation and colonialism by ‘all available means, including armed struggle.’”
The other person arrested was a 42-year-old man suspected of a public order offence after a member of the public who had come to observe the event told WMP he had been threatened. The man has not been named.
WMP announced the launch of a criminal investigation into the social media post used to advertise the event.
Sunday’s event was supposed to be held at The Old Print Works venue in Birmingham; however, after significant numbers of complaints, the venue cancelled the booking.
The UK’s Charity Commission then confirmed to Jewish News that it had opened an inquiry into Make It Sustainable Ltd., the charity that owns the venue, “in line with [the commission’s] policy on evidence of potential criminal activity.”
Further evidence indicates that the same venue hosted an event last month featuring a hate preacher named Asrar Rashid, who lauded Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
Experts have long warned about the risks posed by Iranian state media in the United Kingdom, noting the radicalizing impact it can have and how it can provide journalistic coverage for persons or funds to enter and exit the country.
Dr. Lynette Nusbacher, a former British Army intelligence officer and one of the architects behind two of the UK’s National Security Strategies as part of Britain’s National Security Secretariat, told The Jerusalem Post that the UK was likely finally taking action against Tehran’s “agents,” as it has become increasingly impossible to ignore the human rights violations committed by the Islamic regime.
Nusbacher, who had earlier warned the Post about Houthi and Iranian media shell companies, said, “It used to be a struggle for experts and advocates to get the UK government to recognize the extent to which Iran used the UK as a base for their influence operations.
“I’d like to think that hard work by academics and investigators is finally paying off [but] I don’t think that’s it… I think that the obscenity of Iranian government action against their own people means that it’s no longer possible to ignore the dogged open-source investigators.”
She concluded, “For the last year, we’ve seen increasing evidence that Iranian government media are operating in Britain as agents of influence, and this is the response,” she concluded.
Post Maccabi Tel Aviv policing inquiry
Interestingly, at the end of its statement about Sunday’s arrests, WMP said, “Before and during today’s operation, we listened to and updated key stakeholders, including members of the local Jewish community.”
This appeared to be a clear reference to last year’s Maccabi TLV scandal, specifically the Police’s failure to adequately consult with the local community before approving a ban on Israeli away fans from attending an Aston Villa game.
During a Home Affairs Select Committee in December, Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara responded “yes” when asked if there were Jewish community representatives who said they did not want Maccabi Tel Aviv fans to attend the fixture.
However, this was not the case, and Ruth Jacobs, chair of the Birmingham and West Midlands Jewish Community, said she had been “horrified” at the claim.
In a letter to Dame Karen Bradley, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Chief Constable Craig Guildford confirmed there was “no documented feedback from Jewish representatives prior to the decision being communicated, which expressed support for the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.”
Guildford apologized to the committee on behalf of himself and O’Hara and said there was never any intention to mislead. He also relayed that O’Hara had formally apologized to Jacobs and that the apology had been accepted.
