On October 7, 2024, the U.S Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) listed Majed Al-Zeer as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Al-Zeer, a German resident with dual U.K. and Jordanian nationality, was sanctioned for his alleged links to Hamas. The Treasury Department accused Al-Zeer of materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support to Hamas. As a result of this designation, all of Al-Zeer’s property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with him.
It’s not the first time Al-Zeer has been so designated. In December 2023, German security services officials declared Al-Zeer a central “Hamas representative in Germany.” Officials arrested four other suspects involved with the Palestinian terrorist group allegedly plotting to attack Jewish sites across the country.
European governments, however, have largely allowed Al-Zeer and his network to operate with impunity. This network operates across Western Europe, despite its prominence within Islamist circles and hardly secret Hamas ties.
Figure 1 Majid Al-Zeer (center right) with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (center left)
Al-Zeer has been photographed with the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and its former head Khaled Mashal. In 2014, Hamas sources reported that Al-Zeer brokered a “secret agreement” on behalf of Hamas with the Turkish government, allowing the terror group to move some of its leadership to Istanbul.
Al-Zeer had a lot of influence over U.K. NGO’s that appeared to function as Hamas Fronts. From 1996 Al-Zeer served as director and later chairman of London-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC).
The PRC’s Hamas connections have been repeatedly exposed. In 2010, Israeli authorities declared the PRC to be a “Hamas affiliated organization” that “organizes many conferences in various European countries for Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood activists” and is “involved in initiating and organizing radical and violent activity against Israel in Europe.”
In 2011, German authorities stated, “Hamas does not operate openly in Europe. Instead, it uses the Palestinian Return Centre in London as a forum.”
In 2015, Israel asked the UN not to afford the PRC an NGO accreditation because they “actively promote terrorism.” The U.N. did so anyway, providing open access to U.N. facilities globally.
Reportedly, “Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s office announced that Haniyeh had called the NGO’s leader, Majed al-Zeer, and congratulated him on its recommended status. But a spokesman for the Palestinian Return Center, Sameh Habeeb, said al-Zeer had not received a call from Haniyeh. Later on Tuesday, a Haniyeh spokesman sent a message to reporters asking them ‘not to deal’ with the earlier announcement about the phone call.”
Linked to Al-Zeer, the PRC’s Akeel and fellow official Ghassan Four are both part of the merry-go-round of activists between PRC and Interpal, an anti-Israel, Hamas-aligned NGO based in London since 1996, which reports millions in donations each year. Al-Zeer’s activities are not just limited to Germany and the U.K. He remains active organizing and attending demonstrations throughout Europe. He is frequently filmed delivering fervid speeches before Islamist crowds.
In December, Al-Zeer advertised a protest for “Palestinian Community in the Netherlands (PGNL)” to release Amin Abu Rashid, a suspected terrorist reportedly arrested on suspicion for transferring €5.5 million to Hamas. One of Al-Zeer’s Instagram posts seems to describe Rashed as his “beloved brother.”
Al-Zeer is the CEO of the European Palestinian Council for Political Relations (EUPAC), a political lobbying group in Brussels. EUPAC officials claim to use the “European system of law and human rights to our advantage” and works with the International Crime Court to focus on “Israeli military personnel who also have European passports…we want the EU to create a system of punishment for them.”
Al-Zeer’s PRC, meanwhile, regularly organizes and has spoken at the European Palestinians Conference (EPC). Speakers reportedly included Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and other senior leaders of the terror group.
In 2023, perhaps with motives less virtuous than they appear, the Palestine Liberation Organization boycotted the EPC’s 20th Conference in Malmo, accusing the organizers of links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
