Merrill Lynch has withdrawn its backing from the first of a series of events in London after it learned that a Hamas supporter would be a participant, The Jerusalem Post reports. The event, hosted by the London Middle East Institute and sponsored by Merrill Lynch, had on its program Dr. Azzam Tamimi, director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought, who has been a vocal supporter of suicide bombings and has stated that "Israel has no right to exist in my home." An ML spokeswoman told The Post, "We pulled out support immediately from this event when this came to light and are in no way associated with the debate."