RE teacher suspended after saying Hamas ‘committed no crime’
A religious studies teacher at a Catholic school has been suspended and reported to the police after saying that Hamas had “committed no crime”.
Ronan Preastuin, a Year 9 tutor, also described the Oct 7 attacks as a “justified act of resistance” and called for “Glory to Hamas”, adding: “The destruction of the racist state of #Isarel [sic] is coming soon.”
A string of recent social media posts by Mr Preastuin, who teaches at Ursuline High School, a Catholic girls’ school in Wimbledon, south-west London, included hatred of the state of Israel. In one post he wrote: “Israel is not a true Jewish state, but an inversion and perversion of Judaism.”
The teacher also prayed for God to grant victory to Hamas over “the grotesque, barbaric, idol worshipping invaders @IDF [Israel Defence Forces].”
In November 2021, the Government announced that Hamas had become a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK - meaning that its members or those who invite support for the group could be jailed for up to 14 years.
In correspondence seen by The Telegraph, Eoin Kelly, Ursuline High School’s head teacher, confirmed that Mr Preastuin has been reported to the police, that he has been suspended from work, and that the school had opened an internal investigation.
‘Illegal beliefs’
Campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) wrote to Mr Kelly on April 29, attaching screenshots of Mr Preastuin’s social media activity.
Its director, Caroline Turner, called for an urgent investigation and claimed Mr Preastuin was “an extremely dangerous individual”.
She said: “We are extremely concerned that one of your teachers, Ronan Preastuin, has been posting messages on social media praising and extolling the virtues of the Hamas terrorist group, in breach of UK anti-terrorism law...
“We note that he is a religious education teacher at your school, as well as a Year 9 tutor. We believe that as an overt supporter of terrorists, he is an extremely dangerous influence on the children at Ursuline High School…
“Mr Preastuin’s open support for a terrorism group is particularly egregious given his job as a Religious Education teacher and a Year 9 form tutor in your school.
“As a teacher, in a position of authority over his students, he is likely to influence his students, and may well encourage them to follow his own illegal beliefs, as well as stir up racial hatred against Jews and Israelis.”
The same day, Mr Kelly responded, thanking UKLFI for alerting him to “this extremely concerning allegation”.
He said: “We can confirm that the member of staff has been suspended from work and I personally notified the police immediately on receipt of this disclosure.”
Mr Kelly said the police confirmed to him that officers would be investigating and that the school had opened an internal investigation.
He added: “Given that this is a legal process we are unable to comment further until all the investigations are concluded.”
‘Justified act of resistance’
Mr Preastuin’s posts were first exposed by the GnasherJew website on April 23 2024, and a few hours later Mr Preastuin removed his account on X, formerly Twitter.
Among his other posts, he wrote: “So yes October 7 was a justified act of resistance under a brutal and crushing occupation”.
On Jan 25 2024 he posted: “I’m delighted to infirm [sic] you monsters #Hamas committed no crime. @IsraelinIreland. Their actions were entirely legitimate resistance to a criminal state masquerading as Jewish, colonising their country.”
On Oct 7 2023 Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 others back to Gaza as hostages.
In response, Israel launched an airstrike campaign in Gaza, followed by a ground invasion.
More than 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed since the start of the war, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
A spokesman for UKLFI said: “We are pleased that the school has taken swift action in this worrying case.”
The Metropolitan Police has been contacted for comment.
