Israel supporting counter marches in London - about time

[mids2019]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13304895/Met-Police-arrest-Palestine-Israel-march-London-protest-Gaza.html

I think in a democracy this is absolutely necessary. Obviously policing will be important but it is good to see that in terms of street protest this is not a come sided issue.

I wonder how many are going to be arrested losing their rag seeing Israeli flags an masse after getting themselves riled up calling for a ceasefire.....

@1dayatatime I completely agree with you. I also expect the story may become clearer with more details emerging.

@stormy4319trevor

"@1dayatatime I completely agree with you. I also expect the story may become clearer with more details emerging."

Actually I completely disagree with you 😀. As I think the story will become less clear over time as each "side" chooses to interpret the events to suit their own existing views.

@1dayatatime Oh dear. It's an important one to understand as well, I think. I would like the officer to explain his thinking and perception of events, but perhaps that's too much to ask.

Yes I agree that the police officer was probably acting out of concern for the man’s safety rather than from anti semitism on his part .The “visibly Jewish” comment is obviously unacceptable but I think he was alluding to the aggressive mood of some in the crowd and trying to control it. It must be very difficult to police large protests. I can understand that the police might sometimes make decisions in the moment that are not desirable but are the least worse course of action for that particular moment in time.
Would it have been better to allow an altercation to occur which could have spiralled out of control?
I am glad the man in question is not blaming an individual policeman as I don’t think that would be fair.
With regards to the counter protests- I don’t see them as Pro Israeli government and I CERTAINLY don’t think the people on the counter protest want the bombing of Gaza to continue? maybe I’m wrong about this but I thought the counter protests were there to draw attention to the plight of the hostages because they were not referred to in the pro Palestine protests. I haven’t witnessed any of these counter protests so maybe someone else can confirm if my understanding is correct.
If I am right in assuming the counter protest is not in support of Netanyahu then I don’t see any reason why both protests couldnt join together to ask for ceasefire / an end to Netanyahu government and Hamas government and the release of any surviving hostages.
Perhaps I am hopelessly naive but I really don’t understand how ANYBODY could want the suffering in Gaza to continue.

@mids2019
Enough is enough. End the marches.

Isn't this hypocritical considering you started a thread advocating counter marches?

What is the point you're trying to make with this comment? What have you wondered would happen?

The absolute focus of all the pro-Israel (if that's whatbyou want to call them - diversity of views in relation to the Netanyahu government ) has been the release of the hostages and calls for a sustainable ceasefire (which requires the defeat of Hamas because they have said they will continue to attack Israel & kill Jews). If you think otherwise you have been misinformed.

Exactly. So Jews are not safe on the streets on London when these marches are on.

Yes, it would be really helpful to hear his thoughts! Not what the Met tell him to say, but his honest interpretation. But like you say, I don't think we will hear from him.

Luckily there's video, so some things are indisputable, like the protestors shouting scum and nazi at the visibly Jewish man.

I wonder if any posters have acknowledged that the individual being prevented from walking through the Palestinian march is Gideon Falter. He didn’t just stumble upon the protest but deliberately turned up to with bodyguards and a camera to antagonise and provoke protesters.

New footage from Sky News is reporting “Mr Falter had deliberately walked head-on into the crowd and accused him of being "disingenuous" and seeking to "antagonise" the marchers”.

Can you detail how he antagonised them and provoked them?

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/sky-news-footage-reveals-new-details-of-exchange-between-police-and-antisemitism-campaigner-called-openly-jewish-13120104

The longer footage makes it quite clear that Gideon was given alternative routes and choices by the Met. It must be quite frustrating for them having to deal with individuals deliberately trying to cause trouble.

Even he did deliberately go to the protest in order to draw attention to the fact that every week for the last 6 months there have been parts of London where Jewish people can't go 'looking visibly Jewish', then that is not unreasonable.

Here is the full segment. Sound isn't great, but you can certainly pick up quite a lot of what was said.

@noblegiraffe the whole video is posted. It’s 13 minutes long rather than the snippets posted on social media.

@Parkingt111

Maybe we could at least have separate marches on alternate weekends to prevent clashes? The problem now is that the pro Palestinian marches have the potential to become violent.

The effect of the display of Israeli flags is to show some of the pro Palestinian marchers in their true colours i.e. wishing harm on Israel. If we did have peaceable protesters then the Israeli flags shouldn't provoke any reacrion; in fact may of the Israel supporters may want a ceasefire ultimately with the return of hostages.

I think a lot of the marchers want a target as the marches themselves haven't changed the situation in Gaza one bit. The US have just approved a 26 billion dollar package of military support for Israel. The marchers getting frustrated at marching through London week in week out will turn to proxies in the UK as targets for their angst i.e. Jews.

For this reason I think the marches may have had their time or at least should be scaled back.

The longer footage makes it quite clear that Gideon was given alternative routes and choices by the Met. It must be quite frustrating for them having to deal with individuals deliberately trying to cause trouble.

So the problem really was that he wanted to cross the road through the protest while looking Jewish and this apparently counts as 'trying to cause trouble'?

No flags, no chants, just looking Jewish?

It must be quite frustrating for them having to deal with individuals deliberately trying to cause trouble

Odd interpretation of a 'Jewish man wanting to cross the road'?

I mean, people trying to accuse him of causing trouble are really making his point for him. That the issue wasn't what he wanted to do, but that he was doing it while looking Jewish.

You're comparing him to Tommy Robinson? Fucking hell.

@noblegiraffe he wasn’t just trying to cross the road though was he. Let’s not pretend he is Joe bloggs who innocently found himself at a protest and needed to get to the other side. He chose to attend the protest and to cause trouble. If you watch the full footage, the police gave him a route with no crowd where he could get to his “destination”. He chose not to.

Yes.

Mags48 absolutely.