Star of David and ‘F*** Hamas’ sprayed over Palestinian murals

Palestinian murals painted onto walls and buildings across London‘s ‘Little Palestine’ celebrating those working during the bitter conflict in Gaza have been covered in pro-Israel graffiti including the Star of David and the words ‘F*** Hamas‘, MailOnline can reveal.

Several elaborate pro-Palestine murals have been painted onto walls and buildings across London controversially celebrating those working in Gaza – but at least two of those lionised in these pictures have previously been accused of anti-semitism.

And many have now been over painted by pro-Israeli graffiti, we have found.

Meanwhile many have found the presence of such politicised wall art intimidating – with one resident saying they are like something out of 1970s Belfast at the height of the troubles – completely inappropriate for London.’

The murals are part of a controversial project called ‘Heroes of Palestine’ and are all emblazoned with the country’s distinctive flag – the black, white and green horizontal stripes with a red triangle along the hoist.

Portraits of journalists and medical professionals in Gaza are depicted as heroes for risking their lives in the war zone – but their presence has infuriated many Jewish Londoners who believe the current military action in Gaza was directly caused by Hamas led barbaric terrorism against Israeli civilians.

Most of the artwork is in East London, where one council, Tower Hamlets, has already been forced to order the removal of a proliferation of Palestinian flags from official buildings and lampposts amid concerns their presence was intimidating Jewish residents.

Those behind the Heroes scheme say they are paying to ‘inspirational people facing unfathomable challenges’ in ‘heart-breaking’ circumstances in Gaza. But Jewish groups say the murals are illegal and sow division between communities, especially when some of those they are depicting have been found to hold pro-Hamas views and have previously referred to Jews as ‘filth’.

Typical of this bitter dispute is what’s happened in recent days on a wall between Shoreditch and Whitechapel.

A colourful image initially showed 29-year-old Gaza journalist, Hind Osama Al-Khoudary, depicted wearing a flak jacket marked with ‘Press’ and clutching a camera two. This week it was repainted and now a large white Star of David covers her whole face while the words ‘F*** Hamas’ are above it.

And the ‘Heroes of Palestine’ tag has now been overwritten to read ‘Lies of Palestine’.

Khoudary has written for Middle East Eye and worked for the Turkish Anadolu Agency. She has more than 200,000 followers on X – formally Twitter – and her tweets about the ongoing war in Palestine have been picked up by The New York Times. But her output has come under scrutiny from anti-Semitism campaigner, David Collier.

Collier has a whole page devoted to Khoudary on his website, where he includes screenshots of her retweeting a video of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatening Israel and a tweet in Arabic in which she praises two Islamic Jihad fighters and says ‘God have mercy on you heroes’ before adding heart emojis.

He also provides a link to a YouTube video where she is asked whether she wants Israel ‘gone’ to which she replies ‘of course.’

Khoudary was reportedly removed from a Facebook journalism group moderated by former human rights official Peter Bouckaert four years ago after she posted about a joint Palestinian and Israeli Zoom call hosted by the Gaza Youth Committee and tagged in Hamas officials.

Six members of the committee – including its founder Rami Aman – were arrested and although Khoudary denied that was her intention and that she did not support Hamas, she also said she did not oppose Aman’s arrest and had tagged the officials ‘as a protest against normalization activities’ with Israel.

Similar controversy surrounds a second mural, just outside Hackney Wick train station, close to West Ham’s stadium.

It shows surgeon Dr Mohammed Harara, one of the last five remaining physicians at the beleaguered Nasser Hospital in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis before it was raided by Israeli forces on February 15.

Dr Harara, 27, was filmed by the BBC and NBC News last month helping to treat around 850 sick and wounded while surrounded by soldiers, tanks and fighting. He has pledged to remain in Palestine to help others while trying to help his family flee to safety.

But last weekend, the Mail on Sunday revealed how Mr Collier had unearthed a 2015 Facebook post from Dr Harara in which he wrote: ‘Allah, save our Al-Aqsa from the filth of the usurping Jews.’

The mural of Dr Harara has not been hit by counterprotest graffiti.

But another, just off nearby Brick Lane, has. This shows Palestinian medical student Ezzeddin Lulu – and has recently been defaced with pro-Jewish insignia and the slogan ‘Bring Them Home! NOW’, a reference to the Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas after the October 7 attacks and abductions.

Another mural which has appeared and quickly been defaced is in Shoreditch and depicts Wael Al Dahdouh, the 53-year-old old bureau chief of the Al Jazeera news team in Gaza City.

Al-Dahdouh has suffered horrific personal trauma since the war began, losing his wife, seven-year-old daughter, two sons and two nephews but he has continued to report from the ground despite almost being killed himself in a missile strike which claimed the life of his cameraman.

But in recent days his face covered by a Star of David accompanied by the words ‘IRGC Terrorists’ – a reference to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, the rogue state which supports Hamas

The controversy around the sudden rash of murals follows a decision by Tower Hamlets mayor, Lutfur Rahman, earlier this month to remove Palestinian flags from official buildings and street furniture after being threatened with legal action by the UK Lawyers for Israel, which said many Jews were left distressed by the ‘divisive’ flags.

The UKLFI say the Heroes of Palestine murals are now posing a similar threat, with the group’s chief executive, Jonathan Turner, calling for them to be removed.

Mr Turner told MailOnline: ‘We have been contacted by concerned members of the public about some murals in East London. We don’t ask people whether they are Jewish or not, but sometimes they tell us, and several people who were upset or angry about the flags pointed out that they are not Jewish.

‘Murals promoting Palestinian journalists and doctors may be particularly offensive in view of findings by the researcher David Collier that a number of actual or purported Palestinian doctors and journalists are members of Hamas and/or antisemites.

‘The murals are illegal under planning laws if they are painted without the permission of the owner of the property or if they advertise a political view or cause without planning permission.

‘Councils have powers to remove these murals and should do so as a priority where the murals promote one side of the current war, in view of their impact on community cohesion – Council are legally required to have due regard to the need to foster good relations between different religious and ethnic communities.’

When MailOnline visited the sites of the mural, one local told us of his anger at what’s been happening – and likened the street art to the pro-IRA and pro-UDF murals which made Belfast so intimidating to outsiders for so many years.

He said: ‘This material has absolutely no place in London. It’s distressing and intimidating for ordinary Londoners, it encourages violence and it should be whitewashed immediately.’

Heroes of Palestine was launched at the start of the year by London-based street mural project, Creative Debuts, and also features journalists, Plestia Alaqad and Doaa Albaz and medic Dr Ahmed Moghrabi.

Two murals of journalists Motaz Azaiza and Bisa Owda in Waterloo and Brixton in South London were painted over and covered in graffiti tags.

Creative Debuts have uploaded, via their Instagram Stories, images of some of the murals set to the chant ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free’ – which is deeply controversial as many Jews believe it indicates a call for the eradication of the state of Israel and all Jews.

There is also a screenshot of someone criticising the damage to Hamza al-Dahdouh’s portrait with the scathing message: ‘F***. This made me really sad. Imagine defacing this beautiful artwork of this unbelievably brave man who lost EVERYTHING because of Israhell.’

The company later posted a small statement on their Instagram account saying: ‘We feel sorry for whoever did this.

‘Heroes of Palestine is a campaign that celebrates humanity and inspirational people facing unfathomable challenges. To want to vandalise the murals in this way is heartbreaking.’

Campaign for Palestine Solidarity were approached for comment but did not respond.

This week a massive new mural off Ilford Lane in Redbridge appeared with the Heroes of Palestine logo.

The councils where the artwork has appeared – Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Redbridge and Newham – are not thought to have condoned or co-operated with the project. They have been contacted for comment, as has the London Mayor.