Opinion piece in newspaper -RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: The only purpose of these endless marches is to intimidate British Jews.

[floodlightonwhatisright]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-12878659/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-marches-intimidate-British-Jews-tolerate-hatred-streets.html

He raises some interesting ideas.

What could happen on the marches to make Jews less anxious about them?

No more 'from the river to the sea'
No more of that bloody 'globalise the intifada'
No attacking people carrying banners critical of Hamas (and more banners critical of Hamas)
No intimidating people going into shops
No shaming people coming out of McDonalds
No Nazi or holocaust comparisons
No people dressed in Hamas uniforms
No claiming Hamas are a 'resistance' organisation
No ripping down of hostage posters
No claiming 'there were some Jews there so it must be fine'

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Then the marches would be worth supporting. Otherwise as they are nit a chance.

Bang on the money, that article is.no more 'man' bags, carrying knives.

Good list.
I am not against rights of free speech and we have speaker's corner too where people can go to express views. Sometimes marches go too far. Just Stop Oil have gone beyond the bounds of reasonableness in my view as have some people outside abortion clinics. Many of us in the UK support Israel but I would not march about anything and most of the UK's 67m people do not go on marches. When there are so many marches it does cause cost and problems so it is a difficult balance to get right in a democratic society.

We certainly need to treat all groups the same who are marching.

There are also in my view some issues over flags in some places given the rules and laws on flats in the UK. All most of us want is that people follow the law and if people don't like our laws they can stand for Parliament to have them changed.

All sounds fair, just curious to know what practical steps could be taken to stop these things?

I think on the main london march of 300k, only 7 people were eventually charged out of 140ish arrested, most of which were the counter protestors. Let's say 3 people out of 7 charged out of 300k actual protestors - 0.00001%.

So chants and some of the less overt actions aside, for the most part it is about policing the actions of tiny tiny percentages. I'm interested to know of the practical steps that could be taken to stop these few.

I guess chants and a few of the other points, are a different matter.

What are the issues over flags in your view? Are you protesting against the Palestinian flag being displayed?

So on your first point, which I know is taken as antisemitism. A jewish co worker posted on their face book the other day the same slogan, but with a picture of the Israeli flag covering the whole area from Jordan river to sea of Gaza. What does that make them ? I certainly found it offensive and called them out on it. Is it ok if Jewish people say it ? Genuine question, not being goady.

Who cares what Richard Littlejohn thinks? He caters to the hard of thinking.

The Jewish far right do have a history of using this phrase themselves (it is argued that they started it). As phrases go, if the intention is to demand freedom rather than the entire area becoming the state of Palestine and destroying Israel, or vice versa, then it is not actually an unreasonable desire. So, it really depends who is saying it and why. It is not remotely unreasonable to want to be free from Israeli military control.

@Walkaround yes I think the MET didn't ban it for that reason and because of protecting free speech. Although they said in certain cases it would not be allowed.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-uk-police-river-sea-chant-not-arrestable#:~:text=London's%20Metropolitan%20Police%20on%20Friday,by%20Palestinian%20activists%20during%20demonstrations.

@Walkaround

"Unless there is a two state solution, there is no defensible solution, and flattening Gaza doesn’t change that, it just creates more terrorists, more instability and more hate."

+++

I agree that all outside observers agree that a two state solution is the ONLY way forward.
However both Israel and Hamas (and Hezbollah and Iran) reject this.

I would also add the removal of West Bank settlements (200k people which is not going to be easy) and the Gulf States making sure that the West Bank is an economic success.

But even if Israel agreed to a two state solution then Hamas are still committed to the destruction of Israel and further attacks on Israel . So that leaves the only options left as the removal of Hamas or the removal of the State of Israel. Which is why Israel is so committed to the removal of Hamas because it still wishes to exist- giving us the current conflict.

But as you correctly point out even if Israel managed to "defeat " Hamas then the destruction of Gaza and deaths of Gazans will simply create more hate and desire for revenge creating a Hamas 2.0 (which already exists in the form of PIJ).

Which is why I sadly see one of outcomes being "last man standing ".

Alternative ideas could be giving Gaza to say Egypt except it really doesn't want it or it being militarily occupied by another country say Turkey - all of which are fraught with difficulties and which I can't see working.

@Walkaround

Just to clarify on "Free Palestine" exactly which areas exactly or which part of Palestine do you think should be "free"?

@1dayatatime

”Hamas are still committed to the destruction of Israel”

And Israel are still committed to the obliteration – whether slow or fast – of Palestine.

It’s an “he” actually and he gave me a massive far right lecture on the history of Israel and how Gaza actually belongs to them and the people of Gaza should be “taken in” by other Muslim states. I then called him out on ethnic cleansing. How a very senior and highly intelligent man could spout such offensive material is beyond me. I actually used to like and respect him……I won’t say what I think of him now ! This all played out on FB. Are you actually calling me a liar ?

No more 'from the river to the sea
, so can people like Daniela Weiss, Netanyahu and the Likud party stop saying it too?
it should go both ways don’t you think?

I just knew that when I posted my list some people would try to pick it apart because that’s more important than making Jews feel less anxious about the marches.

I certainty wasn’t picking it apart, I was asking a genuine question and I stated that as I had faced something the other day which I felt wasn’t right. If I wanted to cause you concern I wouldn’t have worded it as I did. I genuinely don’t want to make you feel anxious.