It has been strongly argued that allowing demonstrations concerning Israel and Palestine to go ahead was important because this is about free speech and because the protests were essentially peaceful.
Whether or not that was the case in October 2024, and even then I thought it peculiar that the focus of the demonstrator’s anger seemed to completely ignore the atrocities committed by Hamas, an organisation whose charter commits them to antisemitic genocide, I don’t believe that it is the case now.
To be clear, I’m not arguing that the police and government should, get involved in banning demonstrations. The less they interfere in such ways the better. What I am saying is that if those involved in attending and organising these events believe in peaceful protest, then it is time for them to stop. It is time for the organisers to call off the demos and iif they do not, then those who care about peace and care about the well-being of others, particularly minority groups in our society to stop attending.
Let me explain why. First because there is a significant difference between saying that a demonstration is peaceful and saying that the majority of people attending acted peacefully. This is an example of the total being greater than the sum parts. Firstly, it is because a march is by its nature not about using reason to win an argument, rather it is purely about demonstrating numbers and therefore projecting power. In the early days, this might have been seen as a demonstration of the depth and power of emotions. Increasingly as time moves on and we see the streets of our cities closed down, it looks simply like an expression of power to disrtupt and control.
In other words, marching is not in and of itself peaceful so that the onus is on others to prove that it is not peaceful. Rather, marching and assembling as a demonstration of power in order to disrupt and control is in and of itself non-peaceful. The burden of proof falls on the organisers to show that their activity is peaceful.
Further, even if the majority of people act peacefully, we have a problem when this gives cover to those who go beyond this. Specifically with regards to these marches we have seen frequent examples of support for terrorists such as the display of Hamas motifs, banners portraying hand gliders and angry responses to anyone present at the events with banners condemning Hamas.
Then there is the antisemitism. This includes the “From the river to the sea” slogan which has been used by Hamas as part of their campaign for Genocide against Israel. Then there is this example shared on social media.
The chant
““Judaism yes. Zionism no. The State of Israel has to go.”
Is deeply disturbing. It is worth observing first that Judaism is a religion and that there is a diversity of views within Judaism. So, he expression “Judaism yes” simply means that the marchers have no issue with religious philosophy or with people holding their religious views, presumably in private.
The second and third part of the statement means that those chanting it are against the right of Jews as an ethnic group to self determination and to their ancestral homeland. This has long been recognised as a particularly repugnant form of antisemitism. Imagine saying of any other people group
“We give you permission to exist but only so long as it is as a scattered diaspora, living as minorities in lands where you have historically faced persecution.”
In this particular case, the chant aligns with the objectives of Hams, both generally and in particular with the specific aims of the October 7th attack. Now, if in effect, you claim that your protest is for a ceasefire, but you allow yourselves to be aligned with one side, then you do not favour a ceasefire, you favour the defeat and surrender of one side. You are not neutral.
In this specific example, the chant goes so far beyond calls for a ceasefire or Israeli withdrawal or even a free Palestine that it looks less like those chanting are for Palestinians and more like they are against Israelis.
The consequences of these actions is that the impact of the marches has been to leave Jews, Israelis and friends of Israel feeling threatened and intimidated so that the streets of London do not feel safe to them each weekend.
This is why I am calling on those who have been marching to stop.
Faithroots 