Apologist for Hamas who praised October 7 massacre as 'beautiful act of liberation' given platform on BBC Today programme

The BBC is under fire after it invited a Hamas apologist onto the Today Programme who praised the October 7 massacre as a 'beautiful act of liberation'. Swedish activist Andreas Malm, 49, refers to the Islamic terror group as 'heroic' and simply 'armed resistance'. He also said the 2023 massacre in Israel, the largest slaughter of Jewish people since the Holocaust where 1,200 were killed and 251 taken hostage, was 'highly deplorable but not incomprehensible'.

But his extreme statements were not mentioned when he was invited onto the flagship radio show complaining he has been banned from entering the UK. Malm had been due to speak alongside the co-founder of proscribed terror group Palestine Action. But immigration officials said his presence 'may not be considered to be conducive to the public good' and blocked his entry. The climate academic took to the airwaves to say it was a 'scandalous' decision and demanded the government reconsider.

He said: 'I am deeply dismayed at this sudden ban on travelling to the UK. Swedish activist Andreas Malm, 49, refers to Hamas as 'heroic' and simply 'armed resistance' The BBC headquarters at New Broadcasting House. The broadcaster is under fire after Malm was invited onto the Today programme 'I have been going to the UK for decades - this is where I did my archival research for my PhD dissertation and lectured at dozens of universities and participated in even more conferences.'

Taking aim at the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, he added: 'One was under the impression that the Burnham government had slightly more respect for the basic notions of freedom of expression and other democratic rights. 'I appeal for this decision to be overturned.' But host Sean Farrington did not ask him once about his inflammatory statements excusing Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups over the mass slaughter and rape of civilians.

In an hour-long lecture delivered in Stockholm two months after the massacre, Malm said: 'I think that a few decades from now when we look back at what happened on the 7th of October... we will see the mass killing of civilians as the ugly deplorable lamentable tragic dimensions of a fundamentally beautiful liberation struggle.' Despite the terror group live streaming the atrocity on GoPros, he also said we 'haven't seen conclusive proof that Hamas actually ordered its fighters to kill civilians'.

Incredibly, he sought to justify appalling scenes at the Nova music festival in Israel, where during the massacre Palestinian terrorists sexually violated men and women and killed 344 civilians and kidnapped 44. Malm also said the 2023 massacre in Israel was 'highly deplorable but not incomprehensible' He said: 'I think that if you live in a concentration camp and you're absolutely unable to move anywhere out of it. 'Then finally you have this paraglider and you managed for the first time fly out of the concentration camp and you land among people who are dancing... 'You would probably in that moment express the anger that you have inside you with some unplanned destructive violence against civilians.'

Malm's banning from the UK comes amid huge controversy over the proscription of Palestine Action, with author Sally Rooney forced to withdraw her books from sale in the UK over support for the group. It was banned after activists broke into an RAF base and sprayed military planes with red paint and critics said the move has conflated protest with terrorism. But BBC presenter Farrington devoted the entire interview to questioning if Malm supported the group, and did not once ask him of his views backing Palestinian terrorists.

Alex Hearn, of Labour Against Antisemitism: 'Malm has repeatedly voiced support for Hamas's actions on October 7. Barring him from entering the UK was the correct decision. It is therefore all the more troubling that the BBC gave him a platform on Radio 4's Today programme, where his views went unchallenged. It is also not the first time extremist voices have been given airtime by the broadcaster our licence fee funds, with little scrutiny.'

Malm told the Mail: 'I stand by everything I have said and written about October 7 and the Palestinian resistance. 'I have received no indication that these statements and positions - laid out in a book available in any good British bookshop - are the reason for this travel ban.' He added that if he had been banned for his statements, why are those who 'describe the genocide in Gaza as 'Israel's right to defend itself' not banned.