'Hamas-supporting' Channel migrant admits attempting to illegally enter Britain after dropping his bid to avoid prosecution

Daily Mail​

19-05-2025

An alleged Hamas-supporting Channel migrant has admitted attempting to enter the UK illegally on a dinghy.
Abu Wadee, also known as Mosab Abdulkarim al-Gassas, dropped his bid for prosecutors to abandon the case against him after he was accused of being one of the 235 migrants picked up on four small boats in the English Channel on March 6.
He was arrested by Home Office Immigration Enforcement officers at an asylum hotel in Manchester three days later after the Mail on Sunday shed light on the 33-year-old's antisemitic social media posts, images of him holding guns, and his apparent links to Palestinian extremists.
His lawyers previously claimed it was not proportionate for the Palestinian national to be charged with illegally entering the UK without clearance, given he was one of around 75 migrants on a cramped inflatable boat intercepted by Border Force.
They had said Wadee, who previously called for 'death to all Jews', was not one of the organisers, but was simply a passenger, having paid 1,500 euro (around £1,300) for his space on the dinghy.
But Wadee was rearraigned today and pleaded guilty to attemtping to arrive in the country illegally without leave or valid entry clearance.
He previously pleaded not guilty to a charge of entering the UK illegally, but the indictment was altered to reflect the fact that Wadee was intercepted in the English Channel, and so was only attempting to enter.
The migrant has filmed himself chanting about killing Jews, and previously shared this picture on social media
Wadee, wearing a pink shirt and black t-shirt, spoke only to confirm his identity and enter a guilty plea at Canterbury Crown Court.
He will be sentenced later today.
The court previously heard Wadee arrived in the UK having left Palestine in June 2022.
He travelled first to Turkey, before heading to Greece by boat less than three months later.
He stayed in Greece for one year before travelling on to Belgium, Germany and France, making failed asylum applications as he went.
Harriet Palfreman, the prosecutor during a hearing last month, said that the defendant had shown 'disregard to laws by entering this country without valid entry clearance'.
She had said: 'The chronology of countries he has been through in the last three years suggests he has an understanding of the immigration system.'
She said Wadee has 'no ties' to the UK, whether familial or financial.
The court heard Wadee live streamed his arrival in the UK to his social media followers, and had a significant online presence which she said included 'various extreme views' about the Jewish community.
She said during a bail hearing previously that his release presented a 'clear threat to the Jewish community' as well as to his own safety from 'vigilante groups'.
Defence counsel Audrey Mogan last month called on the Crown to reconsider its decision to prosecute her client, given he was 'not alleged to have been someone who had his hand on the tiller' inside the dinghy.
She said he has no previous convictions, and had not previously come to the UK and then removed.
She said: 'These are the aggravating factors in CPS guidance when deciding whether to prosecute - none of those factors apply here.
'Unless someone has had their hand on the tiller, it is unlikely someone simply sat on the boat is charged. Mr al-Gassas said there were about 75 sat in the boat.'
It previously emerged that Wadee had been beaten up in prison while awaiting trial for entering the UK illegally.
He was sporting an eye injury during his last court appearance four weeks ago.
He was said to have suffered injuries to his face and body when he was set upon by two fellow inmates at the Dovegate category-B prison in Staffordshire.
Wadee is believed to be from the city of Khan Yunis in Gaza, and previously filmed himself chanting about killing Jews.
Images on social media showed him taking part in running battles with the Israeli Defence Forces.
In one sickening video, posted on his Facebook page last September, he is filmed calling for Allah to 'punish (Jews) completely.'
'Allah, it is upon you to (deal with) the Jews and those loyal to them,' he said, according to a translation for the MoS by Camera, a research organisation.
'Allah, kill them one by one, and don't leave a single one. Allah, destroy them completely, disperse them completely and make the earth fall from under their feet.'
Although he fled Gaza before the October 7 massacres in 2023, Wadee appears to have been a prominent member of the so-called 'Tire-burning Unit' - a militant group of Palestinian extremists who before outbreak of war regularly hurled fire-bombs and rocks at Israeli forces manning the border with Gaza.
The group also revelled in launching airborne arson attacks in which they fired incendiary objects across the border.
In an interview in April 2018 unearthed by the MoS, Wadee told Hamas-affiliated newspaper Felesteen about terrorising Israel by sending flaming kites across the border.
'(An improvised incendiary) kite only costs us three shekels, but it costs the occupation (Israel) more because of the fires it causes,' he said.
'We try to come up with new surprises. That way it is known that we started with [throwing] stones, moved to burning tires and setting the Israeli flag on fire, and then used kites.'
In one shocking picture, posted on his Facebook account in March 2021, Wadee stared into the camera while smoking a cigarette and brandishing a powerful assault rifle with a telescopic sight.
Another picture showed Wadee crouching with two Kalashnikov AK47s, while a third showed him nonchalantly wielding a gun while sitting in a car.
The brazen militant also posed alongside seven masked men behind a table on which had been placed a high explosive artillery shell covered in pictures of gunmen apparently killed in clashes with Israel.
Accompanying the picture, posted in January 2021, he wrote: 'We are the ones who ignite it for the sake of Al-Aqsa, and we do not fear death. Our souls are cheap for you, our beloved Al-Aqsa.'
The comment appear to be a reference to the feared Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade: a militant group that took part in the October 7 massacres and which is listed as a terror group by the US and EU.
One of his friends, however, was clearly concerned that Wadee was the only militant showing his face, writing: 'Cover your face, Abu Wadih, you are dangerous.'
In another post from 2021 he commented on what appeared to be a picture of a rocket attack on Israel, saying: 'Our occupied lands will become red with flames and wrath, God willing.'
Wadee has a huge following on social media, where his TikTok videos attracted up to 2.5 million views.
His account has since been suspended and he does not appear to have updated his Facebook page since his arrest.
He charted his journey through Europe to the UK, posting a picture of himself in the Belgian capital Brussels on Valentine's Day, and then in central Paris.
He also posted videos of him apparently sleeping rough in makeshift camps in France.
He re-posted another picture on Facebook upon his arrival in the UK which appeared to show him relaxing with a coffee and a cigarette in a busy town centre.
It was originally posted by a friend and carried the caption in Arabic which said: 'A thousand 'thank God's for Abu Wadih being safe. You have brightened up Britain.'
It is not known when or where the picture was taken.