40,000 people march through London calling for the release of the hostages.

[keenforhelp]

Bravo UK!

"In one of the biggest shows of UK solidarity with Israel since October 7, over 40,000 people marched through London on Sunday afternoon, calling for the hostages to be released.
In a sea of yellow ribbons and balloons, people from across the spectrum of Anglo-Jewry and many supporters of other faiths marched from Holborn down to Whitehall, chanting “Bring them home”, waving Israeli flags, carrying posters with the words “Time is running out” and singing along to Israeli songs blasting from loudspeakers."

"Addressing the crowd of thousands outside Downing Street, Lord Stuart Polak said he had “never in my life seen such a crowd here in Whitehall. You should all be proud of yourselves."
He added that we are “haunted by the deafening silence” of international organisations and bodies who have not done enough to rebuke the actions of Hamas."

https://www.thejc.com/community/40-000-people-march-through-london-calling-for-the-release-of-the-hostages-uf4n9es1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clkkxmmv4m9o

Really? Let's face it if people would have listened to the calls for a ceasefire the hostages would have been home months ago. You can argue about motivation, about whether they are Anti Israel or Pro Palestinian, we can all do the same for the few pro Israel marches there has been but if people would listen the end result would be the same. A ceasefire, less loss of life, the hostages home and space for people to heal. If you think that is passive aggressive I don't care. We need less excuses and more action.

Did you forget who ended the last ceasefire? Hamas decided they didn't have any more hostages they were willing to release, so war resumed. So your insistence that the marches make any kind of a difference are quite frankly laughable.

Well clearly they haven't yet because Palestinians are still being killed and the hostages aren't home. Perhaps if more people made an effort instead of making excuses like 'marches don't work', maybe they would. Any pressure on governments to take action is a good thing. But yeah, sit there laughing and criticising and let others do the work for you 🙄

I thought you yourself didn't attend the marches? You spoke earlier about your friends doing so. Is this a pot, kettle, black kind of situation?

Anyway, I'll keep doing what I'm doing to support a cause I care about, even if it isn't enough for your liking. If it's not on social media it's not happening, right? It has to be seen and heard by others to count?

Doubt that.

More likely, Hamas would have struck at Israel again.

I was mirroring your post. Where you mentioned your friends.

Yup you do you, concentrate on that rather than tearing apart other people's efforts. Good luck 👍

Ha, that's what my smart-ass child does, mirrors things others say to make a point and try to be funny. I'm hoping he'll have outgrown that behaviour by the time he starts secondary school.

Excerpt from a Haaretz (Israeli newspaper) article
headline June 3 ( look up in archive ph)

Hostage's Father Urges Conservative U.S. Jews to Drop 'Fantasies' About 'Total Victory' Over Hamas

Jonathan Delel -Chen from Kibbutx Neri Oz, father of one of the hostages, was speaking. (My bolding)

Speaking at the Jerusalem Post's annual conference in New York, the professor of Eastern European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said: "To talk about total victory and military problem, these are all fantasies, a kind of narrative that is designed to push off the accountability of the government and the military for what happened October 7. There is no military way to get the hostages home alive. Israel cannot heal, and there's not even anything approaching healing – and I say this as an Israeli, not just a hostage parent – without as many hostages coming home alive as possible and without recovering all of the bodies of those who have been killed. The only way to get to a hostage deal and to save Israel from itself is to start <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/98QWn/www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-06-02/ty-article-opinion/.premium/bidens-gamble-why-hes-willing-to-risk-it-all-to-end-the-gaza-war/0000018f-d8b5-d513-a9af-fef50f2c0000" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a negotiating process with a horrific enemy."

Incidentally, the Professor also mentions how abhorrently the hostage families have been treated by the Israeli government.

The hostage's father is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, along with other hostages' relatives, with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. He said all the meetings he had held with U.S. officials thus far had been "really transparent and good.

*"They've been listening to what we have to say and to the degree that any reasonable person could expect, they have been committed to bringing home not only the U.S. hostages but all 124 hostages," he said.^

That was in "direct contrast," he said, to his dealings with the Israeli government.

”I'm an Israeli patriot," he said. "I've been guarding Israel's borders since I arrived in Israel in 1981, as have my sons. But sadly – and you need to hear this – the behavior of the Israeli government to the hostage families in general has been horrific and a national embarrassment, and it's incredibly frustrating."

Apologies for the mistake, his name is Dekel-Chen.

A truly pro-Israeli march would also be calling for an end to the violence, an immediate ceasefire, and peace in the region surely? I'd also join that march if it existed.

It does exist. Most of them are in Israel, but there are some elsewhere in the world. Just not very often for reasons I outlined above.

Not sure we should be expecting Muslims to have to speak out against Hamas just because they technically share a religion. It's pretty obvious that terrorists have taken the religion and twisted it to suit their incredibly sick agenda.

Yes but Israel does have the power to get the hostages released, so maybe these protests are designed to put pressure on the Israeli government not Hamas?

Currently, Israel won't agree to any sort of permanent ceasefire, and they still hold thousands of Palestinians captive in Israel. However, if the international jewry push for the hostages to be released maybe that will help put pressure on Israel to deescalate. Because you are of course totally right that no Hamas person is going to be swayed by UK protests.

Why on earth should "international jewry" push for anything?

Not technically. They are the same religion. Look at Hamas’ original charter. It’s all and only about the religion.
It’s not about expecting. It’s about - why don’t the millions of Muslims who aren’t Hamas, speak up and pressure them?

It's not their responsibility. Just like it's not the responsibility of Jewish people to speak out against illegal settlers etc. If a Muslim chooses to speak out against Hamas then that's great and should be encouraged. I just don't think that demand should be made of them. Not all Muslims will even care about what's happening in Gaza as it's completely irrelevant to them and their lives.

It wasn't me who reported your comment, by the way. I just noticed it's been deleted.

Just to add - encouraged because I think more people should speak out against Hamas.

Oh and @Giglebtink before you waste too much energy on getting annoyed with me - I'm very, very anti everything to do with Hamas and I'm a Zionist Jew with family in Israel. I just don't think Muslims should be shamed into standing up against Hamas purely because they're Muslim. Just like I don't understand why on earth the previous poster expects Jews in the diaspora to put pressure on Israel?!

I wasn’t going to. I think your answer was reasonable enough. It’s not about shaming or pressuring, the fact is I don’t understand why it’s not happening.

You can really tell who people are when they post like this.

However, if the international jewry push for the hostages to be released maybe that will help put pressure on Israel to deescalate.

WTAF?

@Nincompoopies I didn't say they should. You are looking for offence where there is none.

PP was asking why people were protesting against hamas for the release of hostages, I speculated that if the international jewry protest for return of the hostages that's more likely to put pressure on Netanyahu than on Hamas.

Personally I would like nothing better than if non-Israeli jews, and in fact anyone outside the middle east in general, stepped back and kept out of the conflict entirely. Leave them all to it.

I'm not looking for offence, the offence is there. Your speculation is inappropriate.

@malengring instead of just internet acronyms why don't you share why you disagree? Netanyahus government relies heavily on international support (mainly from the US). We all know he could get back more hostages if he compromised his position so if he starts getting backlash abroad he might get pushed towards a ceasefire that he doesn't want. You might disagree but it's not exactly a wild line of thinking.

@Nincompoopies it's not inappropriate, this is literally a thread about hostage protests in a board dedicated to conflict in the middle east. It was entirely on topic.

You just don't like me pointing out a perspective you disagree with and you are offended by a differing opinion. That's not at all the same as something being inappropriate.