British woman referred to counter-terrorism program over Israel advocacy

A 44-year-old British mother of two who advocates for Israel on social media told The Telegraph this week that police visited her home in County Durham, England last July and questioned her following a referral to the Prevent program.

Holly Passmore, who is currently pursuing a master's degree in Holocaust studies at the University of Haifa, said an anonymous referral had been made about her to Prevent, the United Kingdom’s counter-terrorism program. A police intelligence report she obtained through a subject access request said the referral described her as having “over-identified with the conflict between Israel and Palestine” and being “supportive of Israel to the point that she has traveled to Israel.”

Passmore said the officers warned her that she might be “at risk of manipulation” and “vulnerable to negative influence” while questioning her about a June 2025 trip to Israel. The educational press trip, organized by the Israeli Embassy in London for British journalists and social media influencers, included a visit to Kfar Aza, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was heavily attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Although Passmore acknowledges she has health conditions, including severe endometriosis and adenomyosis, as well as ADHD and autism, she told the officers that she was not “vulnerable” and was engaging in an activity that was legal and personally important to her.

“They knew I’m not vulnerable, but they wanted to monitor me because I was advocating for Israel,” she said. “When they came to the door, they didn’t discuss my health. They only asked about Israel.”

“They asked me why I was interested in ‘Jewish issues’, because County Durham is not a Jewish area,” she added. “They even asked me if I’d ever been to Auschwitz, and I said, ‘Yes’.”

Passmore said she explained to the officers that her interest in Jewish issues was personally important, even if it was not a common interest in her local community.

“I said to them: ‘Look, I get that this is not something that people around here necessarily are interested in, but you know this is something that’s important to me, and it is not illegal’.”

However, a police intelligence report on Passmore’s case stated that “there is no CT [counter-terror] concern with an individual being supportive of Israel as it's a democracy and it would not be a CT concern for a person to travel there…no further inquiries are currently necessary to be completed by any other department in respect of this report.”

Responding to an inquiry about the case, the Counter Terrorism Policing North East spokesman told The Telegraph, “All referrals are treated in the strictest confidence and will always prioritize the safety and welfare of those concerned. Where we are notified of concerns for a particular individual, specially trained officers will listen carefully to the concerns and offer any additional support that may be necessary.”

Passmore has built a following of 28,000 on 𝕏, where she has advocated for humanitarian causes, particularly the rights of women in Afghanistan. Since Oct. 7, 2023, she has also used the platform to condemn antisemitism and advocate for the rights of Jewish people and Israel.