The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has been strongly criticised for organising a huge pro-Palestine rally on Armistice Day. Protesters have descended on London in support of Palestine over the past three Saturdays, and this is set to continue on Saturday, November 4th, and a week later, on November 11th, with organisers hoping to attract a million people.
Armistice Day marks the end of World War I, and is a day of remembrance of those who lost their lives in combat. “For me and fellow veterans, 11th of November is not just another day, it’s not just even a day of remembrance, it’s a day of grief,” Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat told Times Radio. “It can be a very painful moment and I think that is why this is not an appropriate time, this is not an appropriate venue for protest,” he said of the planned rally.
Protesters are marching in response to Israel’s retaliatory attack in Gaza against the terror group Hamas, whose militants massacred 1,400 Israelis on October 7th. There are worries that the march could disrupt the two-minute silence being held at 11am on November 11th. London’s Metropolitan Police has vowed to ensure the safety of commemorative events, and reassured the public that there will be no pro-Palestine protests on Remembrance Sunday, November 12th when the main commemorative events will take place. It is unclear how the Met intends to enforce this.
“It is a major security event as well as a national moment of reflection and we will ensure the security of that event from all sorts of threats and risks, including any problems caused by protests, spontaneous or planned,” Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the London Assembly.
As the Daily Mail reports, police have come under fire for not taking tougher action over some of the chants shouted by protesters, including “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which Home Secretary Suella Braverman described as antisemitic. The politician also criticised the police for allowing protesters to chant “jihad” at a pro-Palestine rally, saying there can be “no place for incitement to hatred or violence” on Britain’s streets. Braverman has called the protests “hate marches.”
The Israel-Hamas war is making its effect felt all around Europe, including the UK, which has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents. Police have made around 70 arrests at the protests and almost 100 more for hate crimes, with anti-Jewish hate crime up 14-fold and anti-Muslim hate crime up threefold on last year, Sir Mark Rowley said.
A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism, quoted in the Daily Mail, said:
Every Saturday, central London is becoming a hostile, no-go zone for Jews. It is astounding at how quickly this has become the new “norm.”
Conservative British author and commentator, Douglas Murray tweeted: “If such a march goes ahead” on November 11th, “then the people of Britain must come out and stop these barbarians.”
Former leader of UKIP, and current GB News presenter Nigel Farage said: “This march has to be blocked.” As he explained: “A lot of people have come to Britain with whom we have no shared history and no shared culture, and this, I think, is a very good example of that.”
In his blog, Rod Dreher, American author and columnist at The European Conservative wrote:
What an act of contempt for Britain, by British Muslims. Of course they have the right to do this, but it is unbelievably contemptuous of the nation. This is a flex. This is about defining what Britain is, and will be. … Will the British permit the desecration of this solemn national holiday by terrorist supporters importing Middle East conflicts into the UK without answering it?
Labour Party Leader and leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer is certainly not in a rush to condemn the pro-Palestine rally, but seems more eager to appease the Muslim community in Britain, and—as GB News simply puts it—“make amends” with them “over his Israel policy.”
Starmer has provoked outrage after appearing in a video addressing Islamophobia Awareness Month. In it he talked of a “devastating rise in islamophobia, leaving people feeling fearful and unsafe in their own country.” He blamed the current Tory government for its use of “divisive language and policy.”
However, criticism was not one aimed at Starmer for his words, but also for the fact that he appeared to have removed his poppy—the symbol of Armistice Day—from his suit, even though he had been wearing it earlier, while giving a speech on the Israel-Gaza crisis. “It shows how he is quite prepared to give different messages to different groups of people. This is the person who wants to be our Prime Minister,” Conservative MP Marco Longhi told the Express.
As we previously reported, Sir Keir Starmer’s pro-Israel stance has alienated Muslim members of the Labour Party, and stoked divisions within the party.
