THE mother of extremist Alaa Abd El-Fattah appeared to back baseless claims that Hamas did not torture Israeli hostages after October 7.
Laila Soueif reposted the conspiracy theory a day before her British-Egyptian son, 44, returned to join her in the UK. He had spent years in jail in Egypt for “spreading fake news”.
But he was caught up in a row on his return over old online posts in which he called for Zionists and UK cops to be killed, and called himself a terrorist.
His mother reposted a Facebook message on Christmas Day, written by an Egyptian activist who claimed Hamas did not torture the 251 hostages.
Last night, Jewish campaigner Adam Ma’anit slammed Ms Soueif, saying: “My cousin Tsachi (Idan) was denied medical care, starved, tortured, and ultimately murdered.”
London-born Ms Soueif was asked to comment.
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The Facebook post said: “Since the beginning of the war on (sic) Gaza, officials and commentators around the world have repeatedly expressed grief for Israeli hostages in Gaza – individuals who, by all accounts, were not subjected to systematic torture.
“Yet at the same time, there has been near silence about the suffering of thousands of Palestinian prisoners…. many of whom have been documented through videos and testimonies as having been tortured, sexually abused, starved, and even killed by Israeli soldiers.”
Ms Soueif seems to have endorsed the message by adding it to her own page, which has 94,000 followers.
Alongside it, she wrote: “#FreeThemAll, #FreePalestine.”
Other hostages and their families have previously given harrowing accounts of torture by Hamas in Gaza.
Hostage Evyatar David was forced to dig his own grave while clearly emaciated in a Hamas propaganda video in August last year. He was eventually released.
IDF soldier Matan Angrest’s mother, Anat, said after his release in October: “He remembers being beaten so badly that he lost consciousness.
“They covered him with black sacks and dragged him away.
“For the rest of the time, they suffered severe psychological warfare, that [Israelis] gave up on them, that [Hamas] was going to conquer the country, that they are planning the next October 7.”
Ms Soueif was born in London while her own mother was studying for a PhD, making her a British citizen.
That meant the family was able to apply for Alaa to receive citizenship even though he lived abroad and had branded himself “far from British” in now-deleted historic social media posts.
He was given British citizenship in 2021 without going through a “good character” assessment, and the Foreign Office had claimed his case was a top priority.
We previously told how El Fattah’s sister, Mona Seif, hailed the “imagination” of Hamas gunmen during the October 7 attacks.
She said the terror atrocity, in which 1,200 civilians, including children and festival revellers, were killed, was like “something out of a sci-fi movie.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously had to clarify he was not aware of vile posts by El-Fattah, after saying he was “delighted” the activist had returned to the UK.
Mr El-Fattah has claimed his words were taken out of context.
She previously said of her son’s controversial remarks: “I actually think it’s the height of absurdity that we’re sitting here today discussing tweets that are older than 12 years.”