THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 20, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
The Telegraph
The Telegraph
17 May 2024
Alex Barton


Palestinian student ‘full of joy’ after Oct 7 attack claims visa revoked on ‘security grounds’

A Palestinian student who said she was “full of joy” after the Oct 7 attack has claimed the Home Office has revoked her visa on “security grounds”.

Dana Abuqamar, 19, a law student at the University of Manchester, attended a pro-Palestine protest one day after the Hamas assault on Israel.

More than 1,100 people died in the offensive on Oct 7, and more than 250 were taken to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Footage showed Ms Abuqamar saying she was “really full of joy” and “proud that Palestinian resistance has come to this point” during the demonstration on Oct 8.

Ms Abuqamar, who is president of Manchester Friends of Palestine group, has since claimed the UK Government has rescinded her student visa amid “baseless” allegations that she is a “risk to the public”.

Ms Abuqamar said she would appeal the decision because she believes her comments on the massacre had been misrepresented.

She told Middle East Eye: “My words were taken out of context and they were framed as me supporting harm to innocent civilians, which is completely false and completely untrue.

“The UK Home Office decided to revoke my student visa following public statements supporting the Palestinian right to exercise under international law to resist oppression and break through the siege that was illegally placed on Gaza for over 16 years.”

She added: “It’s an outrageous claim that the Home Office is making by deeming me a national security threat.

“I am a 19-year-old who has done nothing but go to school and advocate for social justice and try to be an asset to my community.

“So saying I pose a threat to national security is a completely baseless claim.”

‘Human rights appeal’

The final year law student said she had made a “human rights appeal”, citing freedom of expression as a fundamental human right in the UK.

She has said it appears Palestinians like herself are not being afforded that right.

Ms Abuqamar added: “We must reject the double standard in the application of human rights by public authorities and rise against this oppression.”

On Oct 8 Ms Abuqamar was speaking to Sky News in Manchester when she praised the assault on Israel.

She said: “We are full of pride. We are really, really full of joy [at] what has happened.... We are proud that Palestinian resistance has come to this point.”

However after widespread condemnations, including from Chris Philp, the policing minister, she claimed her comments had been misrepresented, and later told BBC: “The death of any innocent civilian should not be condoned ever and we don’t condone it at all.”

Ms Abuqamar told the broadcaster 15 of her relatives had died in an Israeli strike on a residential building in Palestine.

The Home Office was contacted for comment by The Telegraph.