Lutfur Rahman, Mayor of Tower Hamlets, has reacted angrily to the removal of illegal pro-Palestinian murals in Tower Hamlets.

Mr Rahman only found out that the murals had been removed by Tower Hamlets council after reading a Guardian article about it. He then tweeted:

“Murals of Palestinian children, doctors & journalists murdered in Gaza should never be conflated with hate speech.  I was not made aware of the removal of these murals and am urgently seeking clarification on how this happened.”

Mr Rahman implied that the murals were removed because they were “hate speech”. This is wrong since the murals were removed following a letter from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) to Tower Hamlets council which pointed out that they breached the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007. These Regulations prohibit the display of advertisements without consent of the planning authority, subject to various exceptions.

The murals advertise the Palestinian cause and do not fall within any of the exceptions.

Moreover, in exercising its functions, the Council is legally required to have due regard to the need to foster good relations between different religious and ethnic communities. The murals have proved divisive in the locations where they have been painted and many have already been defaced.

The Mayor is also wrong to say that the murals depict “children, doctors and journalists murdered in Gaza”. His comment, which seems to imply that  Israel murders children, doctors and journalists appears to be antisemitic, untrue, and likely to inflame hatred against Jews.

The two journalists, Hind Osama Al-Khoudar and Doaah Albaz, depicted in the murals painted in Tower Hamlets, are both alive.  Al-Khoudar works for Al Jazeera.  Dr Mohammed Harara is also alive and is a doctor who has been followed by NBC News since November 2023, and has also been interviewed on the BBC.

There were no children in the murals in Tower Hamlets that were removed.

Tower Hamlets council had previously refused pleas by residents over several months to remove Palestinian flags that had been hung illegally on many of the lamp posts.  When UKLFI threatened a claim for judicial review or prosecution, the flags were removed. In this case Tower Hamlets council has responded quite properly after UKLFI explained why the murals were illegal and should be removed.