Is the penny finally starting to drop about anti semitism and hate marches?

[mids2019]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/04/starmer-c al l-society-response-rising-antisemitism

I think we are now seeing the cumulative impact of the anti senitism that has built up over the last 3 years where there has been a permissive environment with politicians hesitant to intervene in events in the streets that have incubated anti Jew sentiment.

All political parties apart from the hate apologist Greens are now waking up to the fact we need better policing and perhaps legislation. I for one will acting a vote for a party that recognises hate marches for what they are and also willing to tackle the vile posts appearing on social media (and Labour have reacted too late too little). Enough is enough for a Jewish community that lives in perpetual fear.

"A Metropolitan Police spokesperson responded by clarifying that Sir Mark’s comments, "not carried in full in the article," were "not specific to the upcoming protest on Saturday May 16."
Instead, he was "reflecting on the totality of the period of sustained protest since October 2023," during which around 30 large marches were organised by the coalition's constituent groups.
The spokesperson added that for "around half of those marches, the original proposals put forward by organisers involved starting or ending in the vicinity of, or walking past, a synagogue."
They further stated that on 20 occasions, the route or form-up point was changed "to protect Jewish communities and sensitive premises from disruption and/or intimidation," through conditions or pre-event discussions.
The spokesperson explained the Commissioner believed the organisers’ repeated intent "to continue to try and assemble or pass close to synagogues on so many occasions could, in his view, send a message to Jewish communities which feels like antisemitism."
While acknowledging he "recognised that may or may not be a fair inference," they stressed that "the strength of feeling from those communities makes clear that for many, it is the message it sends."
The Met concluded by appealing to everyone, including protest organisers, "to be mindful of the impact their actions, whether intended or not, have on other Londoners" and to "acknowledge how British Jews are feeling in the current climate.""

You appear to be making the mistake of thinking that they care what Jewish people think, unless they are the Jewish people on the marches. Then what they think is really important. Other Jews, not so much. They're probably Zionists which means they support genocide and killing babies so their opinions can be safely disregarded.

Exactly. They all seem to know 'lots of Jews who march', anyone else’s concerns can be disregarded apparently.

Plenty of countries use tear gas, water cannons and police brutality to disperse peaceful protest too, but that doesn’t make it right.

I was under the impression from what I’ve read on the thread that discussion on it should be restricted to UK?

You're comparing using tear gas and water cannons on peaceful protestors to disperse them with giving them an area to protest in?

In order to restrict marches, there has to be a strong case against them. ‘Repeated intent’ is misleading given that the Met themselves rejected routes that did not pass synagogues. The marches are peaceful, so no grounds to restrict.

Scraping the barrel to suggest the organisers’ planning is anti semitic

How is 'repeated intent' misleading given that you agree the Met had to reject proposed routes?

They rejected routes that did not pass synagogues! As I said. I’m off now as this is getting circular.

And they also rejected routes which did pass/go in the vicinity of synagogues. For around half of the marches. Why are you ignoring this?

Incidentally if anyone is not sure that anti-Zionism is just repackaged antisemitism, I've just seen an image on twitter saying 'Global Zionism' with a picture of an evil octopus with sharp teeth, the Israeli flag on its forehead, and its tentacles wrapped around the world.

Jewish people have also told us that they feel intimidated and threatened by Palestinian flags, by leaflets, by children's drawing. If feelings are enough to get things banned then where does it stop?

“We can’t ban calls to kill Jews because then we would have to ban children from drawing”

Yes, it seems like it’s either 'Jews also go to these marches' (the good ones) or 'they’d ban children’s drawings if we let them' (the bad 'Zionist' ones).
Anything to avoid listening to Jewish people’s concerns.

That's a disappointing response.

Compromise is needed and I expect you would feel the same if TR marches were happening as regularly as Palestinian marches and along a route you use regularly.

Static demonstrations would achieve the same result - which mainly just seems to be publicity for the cause. It wouldn't make any difference to the people of Gaza if the marches became static but it would make a difference to Jewish people in the UK.

I assume they were referring to this from a few years ago

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/27/artwork-gaza-schoolchildren-removed-chelsea-and-westminster-hospital?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Thanks.

"One plate showed the Dome of the Rock, a site in Jerusalem of religious significance to Muslims and Jews, with a Palestinian flag. Another, featuring the Palestinian fishing industry, was accompanied by a text referring to the shoreline of Palestine running from Gaza’s border with Egypt to Israel’s border with Lebanon. Since 1948, most of the shoreline has been in the state of Israel."

One wonders what they are teaching in those UN schools. However, it does sound completely inappropriate to be displaying those in a hospital.

well said

It depends on the goal
A moving march raises more awareness

It is Excellent for capturing public attention across a wide area and showcasing the scale of a movement.

Physically moving through a city creates a highly visual narrative that is more likely to draw local media coverage.

A static drmonstration is more relevant if you want to campaign against one particular entity
such as The anti abortion brigade demonstrating outside clinics

So take down the two plates mentioned not the whole art piece. It states why it was on display.

The origins of the display were in a collaborative art project between schoolchildren in Gaza and members of the Chelsea community hospital school, which provides education for children in hospital or undergoing medical treatment.
Fail to see what's inappropriate about it but anyway it was taken down a few days after the complaint so the hospital obviously caved to pressure.

How much more awareness do you think is needed?

Surely everyone who takes even the tiniest bit of interest in world affairs is aware now of the war in Gaza and that Israel retaliated with great (many would say disproportionate force) after Hamas attacked them.

Everyone I know in real life that is at all interested in overseas wars took a position on the one in Gaza some time ago and has chosen which side they have more empathy for. Weekly marches aren't going to change anything now after more than 2 years of war.

Maybe nobody would have taken an issue with it if the two plates hadn’t been included in the first place? Maybe there were more than just these two plates that were a bit problematic?
Have there been similar exhibitions in the UK displaying drawings by Israeli children who lost friends or relatives on October 7th?

Agree
There is already lots of attention

although I would say there is far less coverage of whats going on in Gaza now in our mainstream news

I was commenting on a pp saying ….basically ….
whats the difference,

Theres a big difference

The hospital discovered that instead of displaying a nice community artwork project they had inadvertently been displaying propaganda from an extremely contentious war in the Middle East and you think they were wrong to bin the whole thing as a bad idea?

They're a hospital.

Well no, if someone calls for Jews to be killed then they can be arrested. That's illegal. You don't have to restrict people's right to protest to deal with that. There are already laws in place.

The poster I quoted said Jewish people are telling us they feel threatened and intimidated by marches as if that's a reason to ban them. Jewish people have also told us they have felt threatened and intimidated by flags, by leaflets, by drawings. Do we ban them too or do we have a better way to determine whether or not something should be banned than people's feelings? Banning things because of feelings just isn't feasible is it?

What is the big difference between a normal demonstration and a static one then, if gaining more attention to the cause isn't the aim?

It's natural that there is far less coverage of what's going on in Gaza now in our mainstream news because most people aren't fixated on Gaza and many are more interested in the Iran war now, which in turn will be replaced by a newer war.

The issues don't necessarily get resolved but public attention is fickle and that is still proving to be the case while we do have regular Gaza marches.