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

Is this your idea of a 'beautifully fignified' march?

www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/05/jerusalem-israeli-nationalist-flag-march-muslim-areas

From the article:

"It is often marred by violent clashes between marchers and Palestinian residents of the Old City, as well as anti-Arab hate speech and vandalism of Palestinian property."

I'm not buying this. Barring those with a personal connection, there's nothing intrinsically better or more humanitarian about these marchers which says they are the only ones who think children dying is a terrible thing. Literally, everyone is upset at the idea of children suffering in war. I can name any number of conflicts or disasters where children have died and there have been no protests.

Those are the equivalent of EDL marching. Not sure you'd expect EDL to behave dignified either. I'm also not sure this is who you want to be comparing yourself to.

That's fair enough. But you did say:

"As usual with the Israelis it was a beautifully dignified March too"

Of course there are always exceptions... but your post didn't allow for exceptions.

That wasn't me who said that.

I just wanted to point out that the march you are referring to is an annual one and nothing to do with the current war or the hostages, although I'm sure it'll be mentioned by some. That's absolutely not what the march is for though.

Sorry, you're right that wasn't you. Apologies for getting you mixed up.

Of course it will be mentioned, as it is absolutely tied up with all of this, rightly or wrongly. You go on about the intentions of a tiny minority of those in the massive pro Palestine marches, using one, much smaller, pro Israeli march as a comparison.

I'm not really sure what point you're trying to make.

It's not a tiny minority who are hateful, intimidating and far from peaceful in the weekly marches, just a minority. Although not sure it can always be considered a minority when the organisers themselves are sometimes part of the hateful messaging.

A tiny minority would imply just a few people. It's definitely not just a few problematic people on these marches. Like the people shouting "shame on you" at families going to McDonald's or Starbucks. It's definitely not been just a few of them. The people chanting "from the river to the sea" - also not just a few people. People chanting about globalising the intifada, or resistance is justified, or calling for Jihad - also not just a few people. People shouting "fuck the Zionists" - also not just a few people or a peaceful thing to be saying. And that's not even taking into account those who attend in Hamas headbands or with anti-Semitic posters. And, of course, the fireworks in crowded areas. Also not peaceful.

Hopefully you can see this more clearly now so we can stop having this conversation on repeat.

Just realised it wasn't you I was having this conversation with earlier - sorry 🤦🏻‍♀️

😂😂😂 No probs. Glad it's not just me getting confused with who I'm talking to at any given moment 😂 I'm blaming being of a certain age.

Maybe don't make accusations about the police at the protests being Islamophobic without even a shred of evidence. It's not common knowledge or fact just because you say so.
The police and other organisations ( fire service) have been found to be institutionally racist. The home office ,not so long ago, have demonised "illegal immigrants", most of them Muslims. I don't believe every policeman or woman is racist but the culture is. My husband has direct experience of this on numerous occasions too.

Oh its a significant majority now?

That's a very goofy post. The marches have been massive and peaceful. There is no hate coming from it at all... and I think they're heavily policed from within, as they know the government would love any excuse to shut them down

*goady, not goofy 😆 sorry

Agreed and I have asked MN to withdraw it as I meant to say "Minority", not majority.

It was a goofy error though😂

@HelenHen but come on - no hate coming from them at all?😉

Of course there'd be some hate. It's a pretty contentious issue. They won't all be there with love and joy in their hearts unfortunately. Wherever there's a massive group of people, you will have some with bad intentions. Just just life, sadly.

And yes, I did totally contradict myself just there 😂 I'll save you the post! You can "goof" all over that 😂

Wooah, what is your problem?

Why can't there be a SINGLE thread about the release of hostages without hateful people weighing in with all their anti-Israel vitriol?

Peppermintcloud, you can’t really expect an echo chamber on this issue. Any one genuinely who wants a ceasefire knows that hostage release would surely follow. If you want the suffering of the Palestinian people to end it would also lead to an end to the suffering of the hostages. It is totally unrealistic to expect hostages to be released whilst Palestinians are under continuous attack. It is a fantasy idea that Hamas could be completely destroyed and the hostages would survive. I don’t hold up much hope for anyone in Gaza if this war continues.