A senior official in the British Ministry of Defense met earlier this year with the Governor of Ramallah for a briefing, despite the governor having been documented in recent years holding frequent meetings with Palestinian terrorists responsible for killing and injuring Israelis, according to information obtained by The Jerusalem Post.
The British Ministry of Defense’s Senior Adviser for the Middle East and North Africa, General Edward Ahlgren, met Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam, a senior Palestinian Authority official, for what was described as an “update and briefing on the security situation in the region.”
In response to a request for comment by the Post, a spokesperson for the British Embassy said: “We are not aware of the specific allegations concerning who Governor Ghannam meets with. The UK Government regularly engages with the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian governors. Vice Admiral Edward Ahlgren met Governor Ghannam in January as part of that ongoing engagement.”
In recent months, Ghannam has been documented holding meetings expressing support for dozens of released terrorists, many of whom were freed in recent prisoner exchange deals and have been involved in attacks causing Israeli casualties.
Among them, she met in the past month with a senior Fatah figure considered one of the main planners of the severe 2005 shooting attack at the Halamish junction, in which two children were seriously wounded. In addition to planning terror attacks, Mohammad Dalaisha was convicted of serious weapons offenses.
Ramallah mayor meets with terrorists released from Israeli prisons
Ghannam also met with another group of terrorists released in recent deals, including ones responsible for numerous attacks who had served prison sentences of around 20 years or more in Israeli prisons.
Among those she met were Mazen Qadi, who drove the attacker in the 2002 Seafood Market attack in Tel Aviv, in which three people were killed and 35 injured; senior Tanzim terrorist Abd al-Baset Shawabka, who was involved in multiple shooting attacks without casualties and manufactured a mortar bomb; and Fatah terrorist Mohammad Nahla, who was involved in carrying out a shooting attack in which two Jews were injured.