UK PM Starmer–praised Egyptian extremist faces counter-terror probe over resurfaced tweets

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing intensifying political scrutiny after U.K. counterterrorism police began assessing resurfaced social media posts by Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, whom the prime minister had publicly welcomed back to Britain following his release from prison in Egypt.

Abd El-Fattah was forced to apologize this week after the controversial posts published between 2008 and 2014 that included remarks endorsing violence against "U.S. soldiers, Zionists and police." The posts resurfaced shortly after his return to the U.K., triggering political backlash and a counterterrorism review, including a tweet he wrote: "From time to time I remind people that I rejoice when U.S. soldiers are killed, and support killing Zionists, even civilians."

Abd El-Fattah returned to Britain on Boxing Day after receiving a pardon from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Starmer, who had campaigned publicly for his release and described the case as a priority for his government, said he was "delighted" when Abd El-Fattah arrived in the country.

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That welcome has since become a central point of controversy, although Starmer later condemned the historic posts as "absolutely abhorrent" and said the government was "taking steps to review the information failures in this case."

An official Counter Terrorism Policing spokesperson said authorities have received multiple public referrals related to Abd El-Fattah’s historical posts and that they are now being assessed by specialist officers within the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), according to GB News.

GB News reported that the posts under review include material in which Abd El-Fattah allegedly described the killing of Zionists as "heroic" and appeared to call for violence against police. One post is reported to have stated, "We need to kill more of them." Another post is alleged to have read: "By the way I’m a racist, I don’t like white people so piss off.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper ordered an urgent review into what she described as "serious information failures" in the case and said neither she nor Starmer were briefed on the social media posts before Abd El-Fattah arrived in Britain. Cooper said she "very much regrets" the government’s public welcome and that it "added to the distress felt by Jewish communities in the U.K."

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Speaking to Fox News Digital, Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, attacked the government’s handling of the case, saying: "The British Government is guilty of incompetence at the very least for having embraced an activist with such an obvious and appalling social media record."

He continued, "The fact that el-Fattah’s public commentary was not checked by successive administrations allowing him access to first citizenship and consular support and then admission to the U.K. shows how shambolic our institutions have become. There is nothing British about this man beyond a quirk of administration, and he should be stripped of his status immediately and deported on account of who he really is: an enemy of this state."

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Much of the material now under scrutiny dates to between 2010 and 2012, a period during which Abd El-Fattah was an active figure in Egypt’s protest movement, which led the way to the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Mohamed Morsi seizing power and becoming Egyptian president.

In his apology, Abd El-Fattah said the posts reflected "expressions of a young man’s anger and frustration in a time of regional crises," including wars in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza, and rising police brutality in Egypt. He said he particularly regretted posts written during online disputes and acknowledged he "should have known better."

Opposition lawmakers argue the episode exposes a broader failure of vetting and judgment. Conservative MP Robert Jenrick has dismissed the apology as "scripted and fake" and called for Abd El-Fattah’s removal from Britain, according to GB News.

Reuters contributed to this report.

John Calipari rips NCAA after NBA player enters college mid-season: 'We don't have any rules'

James Nnaji, a 2023 NBA Draft pick, was allowed by the NCAA to commit to Baylor to play the second half of this season — an unprecedented move that shocked many in the basketball world.

Among those confused by Nnaji’s commitment was Arkansas head coach John Calipari, who didn’t mince his words when discussing the state of college basketball following the Razorbacks’ 103-74 win over James Madison on Monday.

Calipari, who won a national championship during his time coaching at Kentucky, went almost seven minutes during his post-game press conference talking about today’s game after a reporter asked his thoughts on the Nnaji move.

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"I’ve got friends that are playing with 27-year-olds, and they feel bad, and I said, ‘Don’t feel bad. We don’t have any rules. Why should you feel bad?'" Calipari said, per Awful Announcing. "But let me give you this. Real simple: the rules bees the rules. So, if you put your name in the draft, I don’t care if you’re from Russia and you stay in the draft, you can’t play college basketball. ‘Well, that’s only for American kids.’ What? If your name is in that draft, and you got drafted, you can’t play college because that’s our rule. ‘Yeah, but that’s only for American kids.’ OK. OK."

Nnaji may have started a trend that Calipari, and likely others, won’t like to see if it comes to fruition.

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Trentyn Flowers, who is currently on a two-way contract with the Chicago Bulls after going undrafted in 2024, is reportedly drawing interest from the Michigan Wolverines. Flowers was a member of the National Basketball League as a member of the Next Stars program, playing for the Adelaide 36ers in Australia instead of going to college.

If Flowers is allowed to play anywhere in college basketball this season, the NCAA would likely face some vitriol considering it could open a vast portal of fringe NBA players looking to restart.

"Does anybody care what this is doing for 17-and 18-year-old American kids?" Calipari questioned in his monologue. "Do you know what this opportunity has done for them and their families? There aren’t gonna be any high school kids. Who, other than dumb people like me, are gonna recruit high school kids? I get so much satisfaction out of coaching young kids and seeing them grow and make it and their family’s life changes that I’m gonna keep doing it. But why would anybody else, if you can get NBA players, G-League players, guys that are 28 years old, guys from Europe — do we really know their transcript? Do we have somebody over there? Do we really know their birth certificate? Or don’t we?"

In Flowers’ case, Calipari was blunt, saying the NCAA has to stop allowing players to join programs mid-season.

While he did say that he feels selfish with his suggestions to the NCAA, Calipari also knows that there are rules that are clearly much different than anywhere else in college sports. He believes some of his suggestions, especially that of not allowing players to join programs mid-season, would benefit the game immediately.

"We can do it without having Congress and the Senate getting 60 votes," Calipari added. "We can do that. Let them sue us on that stuff."

Calipari’s Razorbacks are currently ranked No. 18 in the AP Top 25, with Arizona sitting at No. 1 overall with a 13-0 record. Arkansas is 10-3 on the season.

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