Khan and Rowley Renew Calls for Changes to UK Terrorism Laws Amid Antisemitism Concerns

Dame Sara Khan, the UK government’s former counter-extremism commissioner, and Sir Mark Rowley, the current Metropolitan Police commissioner, have renewed their call for new legislation to close gaps that allow extremists to glorify terrorism. In 2021 the pair co-authored a report titled Operating with Impunity that warned existing UK terrorism laws could be exploited by those glorifying terrorism without directly encouraging action.

The Home Office never responded to the recommendations.

Existing UK terrorism laws prohibit statements that glorify the commission or preparation of terrorism or that a reasonable person could interpret as encouraging acts of terrorism. The 2021 report warned that praising the actions and ideology of terrorists such as the 9/11 hijackers or the Norwegian neo-Nazi Anders Breivik, who killed 77 in 2011, and sharing content that commends their attacks could be legal.

Khan stated that new legislation is needed more than ever to close gaps in the law.

Khan and Rowley warned that the failure to update legislation has allowed antisemitism to flourish in the UK. Rowley blamed the rising tide of antisemitism on the failure by successive governments to act. The Times reported that pro-Palestine rallies after the October 7 2023 attacks have included chants of “I love the 7th of October” and “I like any organisation that starts with H”.

In December 2025 a group of pro-Palestine protesters chanted “Yalla yalla muqawama” in Arabic, translated as “resistance” and referring to the “M” in Hamas. Images of gliding parachutes have appeared on pro-Palestine marches in the UK.

The triangle hand-sign gesture used on pro-Palestine marches represents the downward-pointing red triangle in Hamas videos used to mark Israeli military targets. Placards with antisemitic imagery and tropes have been displayed at pro-Palestine marches. Three women were charged for wearing images of the paragliders used by Hamas in the October 7 2023 attacks.

Khan stated that these symbols and slogans have been normalised through the veil of legitimate protest. ” Khan stated that other western democracies have shown there is a way of dealing with this issue as a democracy. Khan stated that extremists — Islamists and Neo-Nazis alike — are targeting Jews, Muslims, councillors and others because of their political or religious beliefs.

Qari Asim, the senior imam at the Makkah Mosque in Leeds, stated that the slogan ‘from the river to the sea’ can be interpreted as a call for the erasure of Israel or removing the Jewish people. Asim stated that free speech is protected if it does not cross into inciting hatred or violence.

Asim disputed claims that Islamic leaders across Britain had failed to robustly condemn rising levels of antisemitism.

Two Jewish men were stabbed in a terror attack in Golders Green last week relative to 8 May 2026. Qari Asim, Sayed Razawi and five other imams issued a joint statement condemning the Golders Green stabbings as horrific and vowing to stand firmly against antisemitism.

The Community Security Trust urged the government to bring forward new legislation on gaps identified in the 2021 Sara Khan and Mark Rowley report.

The Times reported that the joint statement from the imams sent solidarity to the wider Jewish community. Asim has previously written that he and the majority of British Muslims share horror and disgust at antisemitic attacks.