by Giovanni Giacalone
On Saturday, October 25, 2025, Italy-based Palestinian leader Mohammad Hannoun was barred from entering the city of Milan for one year.
The city’s police chief had the measure delivered to Hannoun as he stepped off the plane from Rome to Linate airport, where he was supposed to join a pro-Palestinian demonstration scheduled for the afternoon. The expulsion from Milan came exactly one week after the October 18th demonstration, where he uttered the words for which he was also investigated for incitement to commit a crime, as he praised the public executions perpetrated by Hamas:
“Those who kill must be killed. Why cry for these criminals? After the truce, the Palestinian resistance, which paid with blood, has brought justice, as in all revolutions in the world against the collaborators.”
Hannoun also accused the Italian government of “complicity in the genocide” by “supplying Israel with weapons to exterminate the Gazans”, as reported by the Italian press agency ANSA.
The expulsion order is not the first disciplinary action taken by Milan’s authorities against Hannoun. On November 29, 2024, he was banned from Milan for six months and charged with incitement to commit a crime, following statements in which he endorsed the “lesson” given to Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in Amsterdam by an Islamist mob.
Hannoun, a Genoa-based Palestinian with Italian citizenship, has been consistently promoting and leading pro-Palestinian demonstrations throughout the country and he has become a very controversial character.
Hannoun’s reaction
Mohammad Hannoun’s reaction came shortly after, as he claimed to be a “victim of the Zionist lobby”. Moreover, he claimed that “he is not part of Hamas” and that “Hamas is a Palestinian resistance movement which obtained over 74 seats in the first and last democratic elections…and they are therefore the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people”. Moreover, Hannoun reiterated for the umpteenth time that he is a “Hamas sympathizer”.
The following Saturday, November 1, Hannoun circumvented the ban from Milan by attending a march in the municipality of Sesto San Giovanni, bordering Milan. On this occasion, he again spoke apologetically about Hamas’s public executions, describing them as the “death penalty” and making inappropriate comparisons to the punishment in force in some US states.
Hannoun then again challenged the Italian authorities, stating that he would not be stopped by the bans and attacked Italian politicians and parliamentarians attending the pro-Israel demonstration held in Rome on Thursday, October 30.
In October 2024, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Hannoun, classifying him as “an Italy-based Hamas member who established the Charity Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, or Associazione Benefica di Solidarietà con il Popolo Palestinese (ABSPP), a sham charity in Italy which ostensibly raises funds for humanitarian purposes, but in reality helps bankroll Hamas’s military wing. As an executive at ABSPP, Hannoun has sent money to Hamas-controlled organizations since at least 2018. He has solicited funding for Hamas with senior Hamas officials and sent at least $4 million to Hamas over a 10-year period”.
In June 2025, the Department of Treasury sanctioned another association linked to Hannoun, the “Golden Dome (Cupola d’Oro), indicating that “Mohammad Hannoun publicly promoted the charity and used it to continue evading sanctions and raising revenue for the Hamas military wing through donors, many of whom were unwitting of the links to Hamas”.
Hannoun likes to believe that Hamas is a legitimate representative of the Palestinians since the terrorist organization won the first and last elections”. However, he seems to forget that Hamas has never allowed new elections while at the same time persecuting all opponents, just like its members are doing these days, as proven by the public executions that Hannoun himself referred to on October 18th.
Many Gazans reject Hamas rule due to public executions, mass starvation, humanitarian aid theft, and if it weren’t so, Hamas would have no issues in calling for new elections, would it?
Moreover, in the EU, Hamas is not a “resistance movement”, but it is rather classified as a terrorist organization, just like al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Hamas is, in fact, a genocidal organization as genocide is a central component of Hamas’ charter, which calls for the annihilation of Israel and the death of all Jews.
Sympathizing with Hamas means sympathizing with genocide. In this regard, it is worth recalling that on October 11, 2023, just three days after the October 7 massacre, while being interviewed by the Italian national TV station Rai3, Hannoun claimed: “Hamas’ attack is self-defense”, without any hesitation or concern that such a statement would go public.
A few days later, on October 13, Hannoun took advantage of his role as imam at the Islamic Center of Genoa to attack those countries supporting Israel, including Italy:
“We have seen the attitude of our Italian, European, American governments and some Arab countries who have sided in favor of Israel, who begin to cry for the victims, who even told the lie to encourage, to compare Hamas as equal to ISIS… All this, to attack the “Palestinian resistance”. The video disappeared from the web shortly after.
On January 4, 2024, Hannoun used his personal Facebook account to glorify Yahya Ayyash, Hamas’s notorious bombmaker and Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas leader in Lebanon who died in a drone strike on January 2, 2024.
In August 2024, after the death of Ismail Haniyeh, Hannoun told Ala News that Hamas and the other Palestinian groups had to respond to his assassination, “to teach Israel a lesson” and to “avenge their leaders”, because Haniyeh “was not Hamas’ leader, but a Palestinian leader”.
On March 30th, 2024, during a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside Milan’s Central Station. Hannoun, microphone in hand, concluded his speech inciting to turn all Israeli embassies into centers for Palestinian resistance. (Read here The Washington Outsider’s “The Italy/Islamists files. File 4: Mohammad Hannoun and the Hamas money-collecting network”).
Are ISIS and Palestinian terrorism treated alike in Italy?
The ways in which the Italian authorities address Islamist terrorism can appear confusing and sometimes inconsistent due to situations that may suggest double standards. Is it really so? Without delving into judicial technicalities or drawing conclusions, it’s helpful to outline a brief overview of some recent cases in order to stimulate the debate.
Some recent non-Palestinian cases
On October 15, 2025, a 31-year-old Tunisian man resident in the city of Latina was detained on precautionary measures after being accused of aggravated incitement to commit a crime, including the glorification of terrorism and the use of computer or telematic tools.
The individual was particularly active in publishing and distributing jihadist audio and video material on social media, with an apologetic tone, demonstrating support for the Islamic State organization and celebrating martyrdom.
In September 2025, a 37-year-old Bangladeshi citizen residing in Mantua who referred to himself as “a lover of al-Qaeda” was arrested on terror charges. The individual had become a point of reference for young people, as well as a disseminator of Islamist ideology.
In May 2025, a 21-year-old and an 18-year-old, both Bangladeshi citizens, were arrested in Palermo for disseminating pro-ISIS content and glorifying martyrdom.
In September 2024, a 32-year-old Tunisian citizen residing in Vercelli was deported after repeatedly praising jihad and expressing ideological support for ISIS and Hamas on social media.
In April 2024, a 29-year-old Italian-Egyptian was arrested on accusation of Islamist propaganda, Hamas, and incitement to commit crimes aimed at racial and religious hatred against Israel and the Jewish people.
Some recent Palestinian cases
To date, at least according to the currently available OSINT information, it could be argued that the Italian authorities have not taken any similar measures against Hamas supporters. Perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that there have been no arrests for terrorism against Palestinians in general, with the exception of Yaeesh Anan and two of his associates in January 2024, but these were made at the request of the Israeli authorities, as the cell had been active on Italian soil for several years. Anan is a member of the al-Aqsa Brigades (al-Fatah), and he is currently being held in Terni’s prison pending trial, but the judicial authorities have already rejected Israel’s extradition request. (Read here The Washington Outsider’s “The Italy/Islamists file: File 3. Yaeesh Anan and the Italy-based al-Aqsa cell planning attacks in Israel”).
Another case worth recalling is the one involving 22-year-old Taleb Dani Hakan Mohd, son of a Jordanian father of Palestinian origins and a Palestinian mother from the West Bank, who was arrested and accused of throwing Molotov cocktails against the US consulate in Florence. The attack did not cause any victims as it was perpetrated at night, when the offices were closed.
Following the arrest, a video, claiming responsibility for the attack and announcing more actions against Italian targets, was found inside the young man’s cell phone. It had been sent to different Italian news channels and sites. The arrested individual also managed a Telegram group named “The whole world is Hamas”.
As reported by Corriere Fiorentino and explained in the legal papers, in June 2025, Hakan Mohd was acquitted of terrorism charges but sentenced to a two-year suspended prison sentence and a €6,000 fine for manufacturing and carrying two incendiary bottles in a public place. This decision was made by Angela Fantechi, the preliminary investigations judge of the Florence court, who downgraded the charges brought by the Florence prosecutor’s office, headed by Filippo Spiezia.
Considering all of the above, some may argue that in Italy a double standard is applied when Palestinians are involved. Some may even ask: would Hannoun still be allowed to lead the street demonstrations if all he had done had been in support of ISIS?
What would have happened if someone had thrown Molotov cocktails at the US consulate and announced attacks against Italian targets in the name of ISIS? Would he have been acquitted of terrorism charges?
Inciting hatred and invoking support for ISIS and al-Qaeda leads to arrest or expulsion from Italy. Can the same be said for Palestinians who do the same thing in support of Hamas? Indeed, these are all questions, provocative in nature, but legitimate, in order to stimulate the debate.