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Recently, this author warned that British Muslim lecturer and political commentator Sami Hamdi a.k.a. Sami al-Hashimi – a man who has celebrated the Hamas October 7 mass slaughter of civilians and vilified both Israel and the United States – should be denied entry into America.
In a piece for FrontPage Magazine titled “CAIR-FL Gala Features Speaker Who Championed October 7 Massacre,” dated September 24, 2025, I documented Hamdi’s record of glorifying Hamas, spreading anti-Israel propaganda, and praising the October 7 massacre. I argued that allowing him into the country would endanger our national security and embolden Islamist extremists.
Now, federal authorities have acted – exactly as I urged.
According to several reports, on October 26, Hamdi was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while on a speaking tour that included events for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). His visa was revoked, and he is being detained by ICE pending deportation, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Recognizing the work of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and law enforcement officials, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin announced that Hamdi’s “visa was revoked” and “is in ICE custody pending removal.” She also retweeted a statement by American activist Amy Mek, who, along with Laura Loomer, contributed to Hamdi’s detainment. McLaughlin further stated, “Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country.”
That is precisely the standard I called for in September – and one that should be applied to anyone who glorifies or excuses terror, regardless of nationality or occupation.
According to ICE, Hamdi – who ironically refers to himself on his LinkedIn account as a “Managing Director and Head of Political Risk” – “was illegally in the country” and would “be placed in immigration proceedings.”
A Terror Apologist in a Suit
Hamdi’s detention occurred as he prepared to travel to Tampa, Florida, to keynote CAIR-Florida’s annual gala – the same event I had written about in September, calling on U.S. authorities to stop him from attending. Just prior to him being taken into custody, Hamdi had spoken at CAIR’s Sacramento gala.
After his detention, CAIR-Florida went ahead with its gala and boasted of raising “over half a million dollars.”
For those unfamiliar with his background, Hamdi is not merely critical of Israel. He is a Hamas apologist who openly celebrates the group’s atrocities and mocks its victims.
On October 7, 2023, the very day of Hamas’s barbaric massacre that left over 1,200 people dead, including Americans, Hamdi filmed a news-style video of himself praising the slaughter as “unprecedented,” “a defiant display of force,” and “the most consequential attack on Israel in decades.” He said it sent a “resounding message” to Arab governments seeking peace with Israel. He declared that the attack “inspires” others.
That same day, he also posted a video showing 32-year-old Shiri Bibas and her two widely recognized redheaded sons, Ariel and Kfir, being taken hostage by Hamas gunmen. All three were later killed. Hamdi heartlessly described the bloodstained kidnappers as “people of humanity.”
At a London mosque a week later, Hamdi took his message further. “We are pitying a people who brought a huge victory since 1948,” he said. “They don’t want your pity. Celebrate the victory! Allah has shown the world that no normalization can erase the Palestinian cause. When everybody thought it was finished, it’s roaring!” He then asked the crowd, “How many of you felt the euphoria?”
Spreading Hamas Propaganda Worldwide
In the days that followed the massacre, Hamdi became one of Hamas’s most shameless Western-based defenders. He denied well-documented reports of Hamas atrocities – including beheadings, rapes, and kidnappings – calling them “fake news.”
Hamdi’s social media presence has been a steady stream of radical content. In 2024, he promoted an article he was interviewed for, in Yeni Safak, a pro-Hamas Turkish newspaper that calls Israel “the Zionist enemy” and praises Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida as a “hero.” He shared material from Quds News Network, a Hamas-affiliated outlet, and reposted videos from CAGE International, a U.K.-based Islamist group that campaigns to remove Hamas from Britain’s list of banned terrorist organizations.
Hamdi’s posts refer to Israel as a “parasite” and reject its “right to self-defense.” He has compared President Donald Trump to Hitler and has even outright called him “Hitler.”
This is not journalism. It is terrorist propaganda dressed in Western clothing – the rhetoric of Hamas channeled through Hamdi’s English accent.
Like Father, Like Son
Sami Hamdi is the son of Mohamed Elhachmi Hamdi, the founder and owner of Al-Mustakillah TV, a London-based Arabic-language network known for promoting Islamist and anti-Israel narratives. Before entering media, Mohamed was a leading member of Tunisia’s ‘Mouvement de la Tendance Islamique,’ a movement built on Muslim Brotherhood ideology, now going by the name ‘al-Nahda Party.’
As Mohamed has acknowledged, “A few weeks after my arrival in London in 1987, I was sentenced in my absence to twenty years in prison with hard labour because of my activities as the leader of the student wing of the ‘Mouvement de la Tendance Islamique.’” Though he resigned from al-Nahda in 1992, his television channel continues to reflect Islamist perspectives, regularly framing Hamas as “the resistance” and featuring sympathetic imagery of its leaders, including (now-deceased) October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar.
For nearly two decades, Sami has served as a host/presenter on his father’s network, which regularly airs programs discussing such subjects as: How “normalization with the Zionist entity is a betrayal of the Palestinian cause and a stab in the back of the Islamic nation,” “Is the Zionist entity legitimate?,” and “Confronting America and Israel.” The alignment between the channel’s content and Sami’s own rhetoric underscores the ideological continuity between father and son and explains why Sami added a link to his father’s channel, directly on his X profile.
CAIR’s Predictable Outrage
Following the detention, Hamdi’s wife Soumaya told Sky News that the first person her husband contacted, following the detention, was CAIR-California CEO Hussam Ayloush, with whom he posed for a photo the night before.
CAIR’s reaction to Hamdi’s detention was entirely predictable. The organization released a statement accusing ICE of “abducting” Hamdi, because of his criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, and is fighting his deportation in the courts. But let’s be clear: CAIR’s outrage is not about free speech. It’s about protecting one of their ideological allies.
CAIR has its own deep history of ties to Hamas. It was created in 1994 as part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s U.S.-based Palestine Committee, which was established by senior Hamas operative Mousa Abu Marzook. The U.S. Department of Justice named CAIR an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 2007-2008 Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing trials. In Florida, CAIR co-sponsored a 2014 pro-Hamas rally where participants chanted “We are Hamas” and “Let’s go Hamas.”
CAIR’s Florida chapter is also a member of the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), an umbrella group for South Florida’s many radical Muslim institutions. SFMF hosts annual pro-Hamas conferences, featuring speakers who have glorified Hamas murderers and selling merchandise bearing the image of Yahya Sinwar.
This Author Warned – and Was Proven Right
In my September article, I issued this warning:
“Given Hamdi’s unapologetic glorification of Hamas terror, his defense of atrocities, and his promotion of Hamas propaganda networks, the United States should no longer permit him entry into our country… His presence on American soil poses not only a threat but an insult to the victims of terrorism worldwide.”
Those words were published one month before ICE detained him.
This is no coincidence. It is a direct validation of what FrontPage Magazine and this author have been cautioning for years: When the United States ignores the warning signs of Islamist radicalization, the results are always dangerous.
Hamdi’s detention is not only a victory for national security but a reminder that vigilance works. The same standard used to keep Al-Qaeda sympathizers out of America must apply to Hamas defenders as well.
Furthermore, foreign nationals do not have a right to a U.S. visa. The First Amendment does not compel America to provide a platform for foreign extremists who glorify terrorism and incite hatred on our soil.
America’s responsibility is to protect its citizens, not to host those who cheer for their killers.
Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.
