Small boat migrant Abdullah Albadri ‘tried to attack London Israeli embassy as revenge for Gaza’
A small boat migrant armed with two knives tried to enter the Israeli embassy in London in a bid to “avenge” children killed in Gaza, a hearing heard.
Kuwait-born Abdullah Albadri, 34, was charged with planning a terrorist attack on Palace Green in Kensington on April 28, 2025, the Old Bailey said on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Catherine Pattison said Albadri, who wrapped a red-white scarf around her head and face, jumped over the 2.5-meter fence and tried to enter the embassy grounds.
Ms Pattison said Albadri “almost succeeded in his attempt to breach the fence”. He said he would have been if the armed diplomatic protection officers there had not reached him and captured him.
The court heard he later told police he “wanted to send a message to stop the killing of children, to stop the war”, which prosecutors said was a reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Jurors were told officers seized several pieces of paper, including a writing that “read as a martyrdom note”.
In his prepared statement to the police, Albadri denied that he was preparing to commit a terrorist act. He said the knives were for “personal use” because he was homeless.
“The prosecution says Mr Albadri’s intention was to use or threaten serious violence against the Israeli government in revenge for his alleged murder of children,” Ms Pattison said.
“The existence and content of the suspicious martyrdom note, the two knives he was in possession of, and the materials he downloaded from his mobile phone indicate his intention to use violence against people inside the Israeli embassy and sacrifice his own life in the process, dying, in his words, ‘for the sake of the glory of God.’
“Therefore, the prosecution says that this was an act of terrorism that he intended.
“The threat or use of serious violence was designed to influence the Israeli government in furtherance of a religious, political or ideological purpose.”
The court heard Albadri first entered the UK in August 2021 and arrived in Dover on a small boat from France.
He applied for permission to stay in the country but did not attend the meeting with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The defendant then left the country but returned on a small boat from France in April 2025.
Albadri denies preparing for terrorist acts and possessing two sharp objects. The trial continues.
