Tag: zionism

Stop this Crackdown on the Right to Protest for Palestine!

Tony StauntonLeave a comment

My weekly Comment Column in the daily Plymouth Herald (14.7.26), considering the recent statement of Prime Minister Burnham apologising for Starmer’s support for genocide in Gaza. Written the same day as the Church of England Synod debates and supports a report critical of Israel and accepting the existence of Palestine and the need to actively defend Palestinian Christians. The conclusion has to be – Protest Works! The constant protest, indefatigable and massive demonstrations in London and campaigning across the UK, indeed the world, has isolated and exposed the Israeli State and Zionism to a point where it is now dangerous for politicians not to oppose Israel. But Israel and the Zionist cause has a job to do for the global system of Capitalism: the maintenance of nationalism, racism (especially Islamophobia) and the logic of imperialist competition. The mass protests must be sustained and increased, especially the direct challenges to the military-industrial corporations linked to Israel. So, to London 18th July and Elbit on the 23rd – 11am, 38 Bolingbroke Way, Bristol, BS34 6FE.

The edited version below or expand the pic for the printed edit (at least something got printed!)

They say the Lord’s Prayer in Westminster. The two Houses swear to the Christian God, and to the King, whose official title is the “Supreme Governor” of the Protestant Church of England. But we do not consider opposition to Government policies and practices as opposition to Christianity.

Britain is a secular, multi-cultural country, with less than 5% of the Nation’s 68 million citizens actively attending Christian church once a month or more. One in four British Muslims worship weekly in a Mosque, and one-in-three Jews attend a synagogue weekly. Majorities everywhere do not devote their lives to  religion, and in Britain the majority are practical agnostics. 

It stands to reason that being critical of “the State”; challenging Government policies and practices, isn’t the same as challenging a religion. If we condemn the Government’s stance against asylum seekers we are not condemning Christianity, indeed we may well be invoking Christian principles. If we protest against British Imperialism and Colonialism – the exploitation and colonialism subjugating peoples and nations – we are not implicating the Christian Church, necessarily.

Yet now, there is an attempt to declare that any criticism of the Israeli State is an attack on the religion of Judaism and an offence against all Jews worldwide.  The Israeli State is presented as a special case, exempt from usual political rules. It is proposed that all Jews are Israelis, not British or American or Russian or Chilean Jews. Every Jew alive today is supposed to ascribe to the policies of the Israeli State. They do not!

So criticising the Israeli State is declared to be antisemitic – religious and political hatred of Jews. There is an attempt to criminalise any damning the destruction of the civilisation of Palestine and calling the extermination of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza genocide, alongside the illegal mass ethnic cleansing there and across the West Bank.

The creed of the Israeli State, the non-secular Apartheid politics of a country formed for a “single Race” called the Jews, to develop separately from the rest of humanity in their own interests, is documented as “Zionism”. Zionism is a political creed not a religion even if it refers to Judaism in the same way our State refers to Christianity. There are Christian Zionists, Hindu Zionists, Buddhist Zionists. 

Zionism is a political ethno-nationalist far-Right philosophy steeped in the demand for each ethnic-religious group within humanity to have its own separate “homeland”. The State of Israel represents the military-industrial and cultural centre for this racist creed. This “separate development” explains why some fascist groups in Britain are supporting Israel’s military expansionism alongside their bigoted hatred of Muslims.

Today, Nurses and Doctors and Porters working in the National Health Service in England and Wales have now been told they face the sack if they declare or show any symbols of opposition to Zionism or to the Israeli State, as if they are acting from prejudice and racial hatred. In fact, they are expressing humanist principles for the valuing and protection of all life, echoing their Hippocratic Oath. Yet now, Palestine flags, attendance at protests and even portrayals of watermelons are banned, despite trade union policies in support of Palestine.

Little wonder that the British Medical Association has voted to reject The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-semitism (2016). The IHRA has been re-interpreted by police forces, the Crown Prosecution Service, the NHS, and local authorities across Britain to proscribe criticism of the actions and policies of the Israeli State or Zionism. This, despite the British State formally recognising the right of a Palestinian State to exist!

Such hypocrisy and injustice must not stand!

The overwhelming majority of governments across the world have condemned Israel’s atrocities. Spain has closed it’s embassy in Tel Aviv, the Israeli government calling the Spanish government “highly antisemitic”. Andy Burnham has declared that Starmer’s full support for Israel’s actions was wrong. He could put words to action by removing all charges against the 3,000 protesters labelled as terrorists. He could, as first act as Prime Minister, end the licences that allow the armed-drones manufactured here by the Israeli firm Elbit to be exported to Israel and used to kill civilians.

The Norwegian Football Association has donated all its income from the World Cup to Doctors Without Borders operating in Gaza, as a show of support for Palestine, The Egyptian team and fans flying the Palestinian flag. Yet these campaign statements are banned from our mainstream media. A brutal UK crackdown on our right to protest is happening right now, those standing in solidarity with Palestine bearing the brunt. We are being criminalised for daring to oppose the corrupt international war criminal, Netanyahu and his Zionist State. Throughout history, the greatest change has come from those brave enough to take to the streets. If we lose the freedom to speak out today, we lose the power to fight for anything tomorrow.

Let’s stand together to oppose Zionism and the perpetrators of genocide! Let’s defend our right to protest for Palestine, its land, its peoples and their rights. Saturday, 18th July, London and everywhere!

I have been challenged in formal complaints to the Plymouth Herald, now under legal review. The legal challenges are provided in italics. For the purpose of clarity, I offer reference points below:

a) Staunton writes that the IHRA working definition of antisemitism “has been interpreted by the NHS, police forces, the Crown Prosecution Service and local authorities across Britain to proscribe criticism of the actions and policies of the Israeli State or of Zionists.” The IHRA document itself contradicts this. Its accompanying illustrative examples state, in terms: “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” … the Herald has printed as fact a claim about British public institutions that is contradicted by the plain text of the document he is describing.

The issue of interpretation of the IHRA is not contested here – the complainant recognises there are conflicting interpretations, as do I in the piece. Indeed that’s the whole point. I posit that the IHRA is being used to define any criticism of the Israeli State as antisemitic. In practice, as seen by Police arrests of Palestine protesters, condemnation of the genocide has been used as “hate speech” and antisemitism. Interpretation is key here, anti-genocide protesters arrested under anti-terrorist legislation, UK citizens actively engaged in the genocide supported and free from challenge: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/london-police-refuse-investigate-british-nationals-accused-war-crimes-gaza Criticism of Israel is conferred by any support for Palestine and, indeed, opinion that the IDF assault inside Gaza is genocide. The UN has identified genocide since September 2025 (https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds  

b) Staunton describes the Israeli state as built on “separate development”, for a supposed “single Race”. Both in quotation marks. Neither attributed.

The State of Israel is indeed, a racially hierarchical State: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, informally known as the Nation-State Bill or the Nationality Bill, is an Israeli Basic Law that specifies the country’s significance to the Jewish people. It was passed by the Knesset—with 62 in favour, 55 against, and two abstentions—on 19 July 2018 and is largely symbolic and declarative in nature. “Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people”: https://www.knesset.gov.il/constitution/ConstP22_eng.htm

c) Staunton writes that nurses, doctors and porters in the NHS in England and Wales “have now been told they face the sack if they declare or show any symbols of opposition to Zionism or to the Israeli State.”

In particular, the British Medical Association with direct links to the Trades Union Congress has asked this month (its the reason I wrote the piece) for a pause in the implementation of the IHRA because of “the risk it poses to staff by the implication that criticism of Israel’s genocide is an act of antisemitism”: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/nhs-palestine/  My comment warns of the “…attempt to criminalise any opposition…the illegal Israeli settlements and mass ethnic cleansing.” That is how I read the BMA challenge, and as a trade unionist, interpret the current employment challenges:

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/nhs-palestine

Persecuted over Palestine: The staff suing the NHS for the right to express their beliefs about Gaza | The National

I write in defence of the right to protest, widely supported across unions and progressive campaign organisation, for example: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260119-judicial-review-launched-against-nhs-for-adopting-weaponised-anti-semitism-definition/

d) He writes that Christian nationalists, naming the US Vice President and “Tommy Robinson”, are supporting Israel “to further their bigoted hatred of Muslims”…an unsourced assertion about private motive, stated as fact rather than opinion, and it is of a piece with the rest. 

Tommy Robinson keeps on saying it, eg: https://news.sky.com/story/tommy-robinson-set-to-debate-suspicion-of-islam-at-oxford-union-despite-outcry-13553595 A UK High Court case record (2019) describes Tommy Robinson as an “anti-Islam activist” and notes he referred to people in a case using inflammatory anti-Muslim language (e.g., calling defendants “Muslim child rapists”), which was part of why he received a custodial sentence. European Union A UK Parliament written-evidence document also describes associations between him (aka “Tommy Robinson”) and Islamophobia, saying it is “well-documented.” UK Parliament 4.13

J D Vance regularly appears alongside Christian Zionists: eg He has appeared in association with Christian nationalist figures and events tied to “Christian nationalism” (which overlaps with Christian Zionism). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-significance-of-vances-appearance-at-event-hosted-by-far-right-christian-nationalist 

J D Vance opposes Muslims in the USA: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jd-vance-anti-muslim-politices-common-sense_n_67243d72e4b0871068feb6c1

Perhaps I should have written more clearly, with sources taking-up much of the space. I try to link issues in my writing, which necessarily makes the word-count technically challenging. The complainant writes correctly the exact wording of the IHRA but that is not how it is being enacted. The IHRA guidance states antisemitism includes: “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.” I clearly do not. 

Referring to the shut down of shows of support for Palestine by staff across the public sector, I specifically wrote, “…now there is an attempt (my emphasis) to declare that any criticism of the Israeli State is an attack on the religion of Judaism and an offence against all Jews worldwide.  Every Jew alive today is said to subscribe to the policies of the Israeli State. They do not!” Indeed, “many British Jewish people do not associate Zionism simply with support for the existence of Israel. Research published in 2015 by City University found that 90% of British Jewish people support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and 93% say that is forms some part of their identity as Jews, but only 59% consider themselves to be Zionists” Para 28: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/136/13605.htm

There is an enormous level of argument and controversy inside the British State about the laws and draconian impositions against the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and, specifically, the designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. More than 3,000 protesters have been arrested under terrorism legislation – why no outcry? (E.g. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp38z9lylddo )The Trades Union Congress specifically questions the designation as part of a questionable State assault on the right to protest (eg https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/09/10/trade-unions-demand-starmer-repeal-palestine-action-ban/), the issue I conclude with in the article: “This brutal crackdown on our right to protest against genocide must stop. We are being criminalised for daring to oppose the corrupt international war criminal, Netanyahu and his Zionist State.” I stand by that.

The Real Threat to Jewish People comes from the far-Right!

Tony StauntonLeave a comment

The UK threat level has been raised to severe. Fear levels have been raised as a consequence. The leader of the Conservative Party say we are in “a national emergency” after the horrific stabbing of two jewish men in Golders Green, London, last week. Thankfully, they are both now out of hospital.

The BBC and mainstream media have repeated for days that antisemitism is endemic in British society. It is reported that Jews are now living in fear of their lives, although the BBC’s Broadcasting House interviewed a number of Jewish teenagers last Sunday only to find they hadn’t experienced antisemitism, were shocked by the attack but were not worried for their own safety. “I love living in London, probably the best city in the world”, said one.

The UK’s entire Jewish population is not under terrorist attack. Appallingly last Wednesday, the British citizen, 34-year old Essa Suleiman knifed two Jewish men in Golders Green. It is not widely publicised that he is also charged with having stabbed a Somali Muslim man, Ishmail Hussein, less than an hour earlier.  

This changes the narrative, doesn’t it? Stabbing friends and strangers alike. Suleman has a history of violence connected with mental illness, and was discharged from the Prevent programme aimed at identifying terrorists. That he stabbed a Muslim seriously undermines the assumed antisemitic motive. He’s ill. A single man in an individual act creating terror is not the same level of threat as an organised terrorist group. He should not evoke the same response. Is the declaration of a terror threat to Jews actually a propaganda exercise to counter the widespread criticism of Israel? 

The big media companies all report that Jewish people living in Britain are looking to leave and emigrate to Israel due to the rise in antisemitism here. The statistics to not bear this out. Britain is one of the safest countries in the world for Jews and indeed, because of our secular and multicultural policies, for all ethnic groups and religious faiths. 

By contrast many Israeli citizens are leaving Israel, and many more protesting inside Israel in protest at the illegal war on Iran, the corruption of Netanyahu and the self-declared fascists inside the Israeli leadership. The Israeli Government has introduced a law that renders all residents of Israel who are not Israeli citizens subject to the death penalty for serious offences. 

The hanging law is one piece of evidence that proves Israel has a racist legal system of Apartheid that affords Jewish Israelis much greater civil rights than non-jewish residents. Israel is a racist State, borne of a Zionist political doctrine of a separate country for Jews, or are we not allowed to say that? 

The historic and illegal occupation of Palestinian land, the catastrophe or “Nakba” for Palestinians, is another example of illegal “ethnic cleansing”, currently best exemplified by the continued violent expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank by Israeli Settlers facilitated by the Israeli Defence Forces, and, undeniably, the continuing genocide in Gaza and the truce-breaking destruction of Southern Lebanon.

Western States culpable in the continuation of this current mass horror perpetrated against an entire People are keen to emphasise the threat to Israel and the world’s Jewish peoples by external, and specifically Muslim groups and nations. It is now alleged that the fear is being exaggerated and promoted by Prime Minister and the entire Establishment for their own ends. A charge worth investigating. 

Antisemitism undoubtedly led to the Holocaust at the hands of Hitler’s fascist Nazi Party, at least 6 million jews industrially murdered in an attempt to eradicate their ethnicity, an activity supported by fascist regimes everywhere, then and now. The supreme lesson for humanity never to allow racism, ultra-nationalism and xenophobia to take hold of any society ever again.

The neo-fascists and Nazi-sympathisers today are flying Israeli flags alongside the Union Jack in probably the greatest hypocrisy of recent times. They do so in the certain knowledge that Zionism represents the same separation of humanity into “races” with an order of supremacy (based upon skin colour as well as  religious belief) that is the creed of the fascist.

Opposing Zionism is not the same as opposing jewish people or Judaism. We cannot blame jews anywhere in the world for what the Israeli government is doing. Every anti-racist, every person demanding equality and human rights must challenge all levels of anti-semitism and hatred of Jews, including all narratives suggesting a “global Jewish conspiracy”.Antisemitism exists, to be opposed and stopped. 

Anti-zionism is not antisemitic. Zionism is a political creed, not a religion or Faith. But there are attempts at Establishment level, to join antisemitism and anti-zionism together and call us racist for opposing racism!

This all comes before the Nakba Day on 16th May. London’s Metropolitan Police and the Starmer Government want to ban marches in support of Palestine. In fact, the march happens each year in  commemoration of the forced expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes in order for the establishment of a new country and state of Israel as a home specifically for Jews. Nakba is the Arabic word for “catastrophe”, and represents all that has happened there since, including the recent expulsion of over 450,000 more Palestinians during the destruction of their homes in Gaza. 

London’s Metropolitan Police together with Starmer wish to ban the Nakba march, despite it being a family occasion without any arrests or incidents over the past decades. 

But when far-right groups rampaged through Epsom last week, whipping-up anti-Muslim hatred across the country without any evidence, there’s no suggestion that fascist-organised violence represents terrorism. The controversy is deepened by the fact that the same Met Police seeking to ban marches for justice for Palestine have allowed and prioritised the march and demonstration by “Unite the Nation, called and hosted by the outspoken Islamphobe Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka Tommy Robinson, for the same day. 

This self-identified white-supremacist has invited well known far-right extremists to address his crowd in Parliament Square on the 16th, the same day and time of the Nakba commemoration, in a political statement of ultra-nationalist defiance. One of the far-Right speakers has already been denied permission to enter Britain because they represent a threat to public safety. This protest is led and funded by fascists.  What’s not to understand?

These questions are of fundamental importance. Why is the Government supporting fascist organisation over democracy. Why is the entire media so unquestioning of the political assertions of the Met Police that there is a generalised terrorist threat to Jewish people? On what grounds is the government considering the banning of protest for the first time in post-war history? Why is the stabbing of a Muslim man not stated alongside the stabbing of two jewish men? Why are the three Golders Green stabbings by the mentally distressed Suleiman considered sufficient evidence of a generalised terrorist threat to raise the level of militarised policing and introduce even more restrictions to civil liberties and freedom of speech?  

And finally, does the British State value and unquestionably support the Zionist political creed? We must protest! Join the Plymouth transport to London on Saturday 16th May – https://may16coach.eventbrite.co.uk

Coach from Plymouth via Buckfastleigh to London (and back) to attend the national demonstration against the genocide in Gaza. 6am: Leaving Plymouth from Home Park / Milehouse 6.25: Pickup at Buckfastleigh – Furzeleigh Mill Inn Get into London for about 12.30pm Leave London at about 5pm Get back to Buckfastleigh for 10.40 and Plymouth for about 11pm

Screenshot

It Is OK to Support the People of Palestine!

Tony StauntonLeave a comment

My weekly comment column in the daily Plymouth Herald (8.7.25), written to evade censorship and to a deadline 12 hours before the Netanyahu/Trump talks. There, they finalised a plan to transport 600,000 of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza to the destroyed city of Rafah in the far South, as the first trenche of clearing North and Central Gaza completely.
They are looking to create a beach-side Mediterranean holiday resort for the super-Rich, Trump part of the billionaire property-speculating investments. Partying on the bodies of tens-of-thousands of Palestinians. This is Capitalism/Imperialism on steroids. Quite beyond words, really.
This is a catalogue of multiple war crimes, crimes against all humanity, undertaken in broad daylight, recorded and broadcast globally. We can and will hold these bastards to account.
Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Netanyahu, not so surprising when you think of the previous warmongers who have won. But their sheer audacity and narcissism, their sociopathy, is a statement of absolute Power that exposes their real weakness. Our protests, our boycott, our worldwide outcry can build such a movement as to mobilise billions and overturn their entire system.
Keep protesting. Build the Campaign. Free Free Palestine (and all of us)! We are all Palestinians!

The article (for what its worth):

It is OK to Protest for Palestine (Fly the Flag!)

Amidst all the confusion it is important to note that it is not illegal to offer support for the civilian population of Palestine, themselves subject to an illegal invasion and occupation. It’s OK to fly the flag!
Palestine is recognised as a sovereign State by 147 countries of the United Nations, including Spain, Ireland, Norway, and the huge nations of Venezuela, Brazil, China, Russia and India. Palestine is recognised and politically supported by most countries of the Global South, and UK trade unions. Palestine sits at the UN General Assembly.
Palestine is seemingly only not supported by the countries of the North West, especially the UK and USA. These two countries, more than the rest of the world put together, are arming Israel from their citizens tax-money, exporting munitions, military equipment and military advisers, training to facilitate the ongoing genocide (illegal under international law) in Gaza and settler colonialism in the West Bank.
Palestine’s two non-contiguous territories have been separated by illegal military invasion, land clearances and military occupation over the past 77 years. Israel has constantly waged military and political warfare against its Palestinian neighbours before and since its inauguration.
The current catastrophe of disproportionate death and destruction of Gaza by Israel – possibly 1500 Israelis killed and at least 60,000 Palestinians including 20,000 children (the bodies are there to be counted) since October 2023 means this is not a war of two sides, it is the drive towards the continuous extermination of just one people and an entire nation.
Supporters of such Israeli action justify the ethnic clearance (illegal under international law) on the grounds of Israel’s right to exist, whilst critics of this genocide are labelled as “Islamist sympathisers” and even “terrorists” by some, for demanding an immediate ceasefire, help and reparations for the people of Palestine and security for the Palestinians’ homeland.
Ironically, the fascist descendants of Hitler and Mussolini who systematically rounded-up and killed over 6-million Jews in the horrific Holocaust during the Second World War are now supporting Israel alongside far-right white supremacists and racists here and across the West. Why?
Because Israel is a racist colonial Apartheid State with a constitution which render Israeli citizens much higher rights and powers than any non-Israeli citizen.
The country’s laws are very similar to those of Apartheid South Africa which was supported by fascists everywhere as representing the separation of so-called human “races” and the domination of the superior “Whites”. In the Israeli context, the term “White” represents a political allegiance to Zionism rather than skin-colour.
White-supremacists in the UK, including the notorious Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson, would like Britain to develop an Apartheid system, Whites over Blacks, from a belief in racial superiority and genetic ethnic purity. They whip-up anti-Muslim hatred and blame refugees and migrants for the crisis of housing and health services that, in truth, have been sucked dry by privatisation and corporate greed.
At this time, the overwhelming majority of the British people do not share such beliefs or sympathies, our friends and relations ethnically diverse and multicultural.
The active support for Palestine by ordinary people includes Jews not affiliated to the political creed of Zionism – a world view distinct from Judaism. It is not anti-semitic to oppose Zionism.
Across the West we have seen huge political protests for Palestinian rights. These must continue and grow. It is therefore of extreme concern that Starmer’s Government is clamping down on support for Palestine, targeting those of the progressive Left seeking Peace with Social Justice. It appears the government would prefer us proscribed rather than the far-Right. Democracy ensures the right to protest for Palestine. We are not illegal!

Continued Support for Palestinians is Essential

Tony StauntonLeave a comment

My weekly comment column in the daily Plymouth Herald (18.3.25), identifying the end of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. I had to cut it right down to 600 words for the print, and still there’s more to say than in the full 900 words I offer here. Burning refugees alive in their fragile tents overnight is beyond barbarism, in many ways beyond words. All we can do is protest and expose our government. Stop Arming Israel!

Last Saturday saw fifty thousand people march to London’s seat of government, Whitehall, on the 25th national demonstration demanding a permanent ceasefire and reparations for the people of Palestine. Millions have marched here, across Britain and indeed the world since Israel invaded the Gaza Strip, home to over two million Palestinians, reducing it to rubble after October 7th 2023.
On that day, Hamas fighters had broken-out of the open-air prison of Gaza and reportedly killed or captured over 1,000 Israelis in nearby territory, land recognised by the United Nations as Palestine and illegally occupied by Israel. 17 months later, at least 50,000 (that’s 50 times the horror of 7.10.23) Gazans are dead, at least 200,000 horrifically injured as living casualties, and one-million-eight-hundred-thousand human beings displaced, homeless, unable to leave and facing disease and starvation.
The disproportionate killing and suffering inflicted by one side on another, happening whether in Gaza or anywhere in the world, should warrant outrage and protest. Trade unions here and everywhere have long recognised the injustice of the treatment of Palestinians since 1948 as immoral and illegitimate.
As part of the trade union quest for social justice we have always exposed and challenged crimes against humanity, our purpose being the political struggle for human rights and equality.
Trade Unions have consistently said Never Again to challenge anti-semitism, remembering and organising against any repeat of the industrial murder of at least six-million Jewish people by Hitler’s fascists in the Second World War.
At the same time, following the formation of Israel by European Jews migrating to the Middle East after the War, we have witnessed this colonisation as the ethnic clearance of Palestinian lands by military force, called in Arabic the Nakba or “catastrophe” ,and we have lobbied for a just solution.
It’s possible to do both. We can commemorate both Holocaust Memorial Day and the Nakba as crimes against humanity. The targeting and mass killing of a specific ethnic group, forcibly removing a people from their homelands or murdering them en masse is unconscionable – racist, predatory and barbaric. For the sake of all, this is not the way humanity should proceed.
Palestine Solidarity groups have been long established across Britain, supported by trade unions. We have never been under greater attack than today. There was a time when almost every Labour Party member supported Palestine but now their Party of Government is shutting down all criticism of the Israeli military. The right to protest for Palestine is being curtailed , Police instructed by politicians to close down the spaces.
At street stalls there is more challenge, supporters of the actions of the Israeli government claiming Palestinians (and indeed Arabs) to be less than human and supporting their “extermination”, up to and including slogans of “nuke ‘em all’. Fascist groups in the UK, caught in the political cleft stick of hatred for both Jews and Muslims, favour Israel at this juncture as if it is a war between Black and White. We observe that the fascist hatred of Jews has not gone away, their theories of a global Jewish conspiracy still everywhere across the Internet.
It is not by accident that Israel has been created at a focal point of geopolitical and financial power, a crossroads of global networks, the precisely constructed centre of the Middle East, funded by Europe and the United States to maintain the power of western imperialism in the Arab World and into the East. Little wonder that Trump, Starmer and the EU states support Israel’s actions and seek to shut-down active criticism. It is about western power and control.
Whilst we, the humanists and socialists of the international workers’ movement, care about and campaign for human rights across the West and in Russia, China, Yemen, India, Sudan, Syria, the Congo and many other examples of human suppression, Palestine overarches all other injustices. The Palestine protests sum-up the international working class struggle against exploitation and oppression.
Some attend the demonstrations for the sense of international solidarity with the oppressed, some argue from a moral wish for peace and reconciliation there and everywhere, some attend as a statement against imperialist domination of peoples and regions. Palestinian protesters amount to a tiny proportion of our mass mostly because there are so few in the UK and they are rarely granted asylum under British law, despite the facts.
Jews across the world are also protesting against the military actions of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli Defence Forces. Hundreds are occupying Trump Tower in New York demanding the release of Palestinian protester Mahmoud Khalil, a US resident and student now incarcerated and threatened with deportation for peacefully speaking-out for Palestinian rights.
And in Palestine itself the situation is deteriorating faster than ever: the ceasefire talks cancelled; the Israelis once again blocking food aid, cutting of all electricity and therefore essential water and medical services; ethnically cleansing the Palestinian West Bank as now part of “Greater Israel evicting more than 40,000 from their homes; reports of torture and rape of civilians by IDS soldiers; and shooting and bombing civilians crouched amongst the rubble every day.
The size and scale of opposition to the actions of the Israeli State have never been larger nor more profound. The great majority of the world’s countries and people’s support the Palestinians. Historically, those with power always explain their massacres in terms of righteousness. The continuation of that support, especially here in the West, breeds hope, both for the Palestinians and for peace with social justice.