In Their Desire to Protect BBC Bias the Met are Once Again Hiding Behind Jews
Owen
Jones Interviews Ben Jamal about Zionist 'fears' about Marches Against Genocide
in Gaza
As we
celebrate the ceasefire in Gaza, a ceasefire that despite his
claims, Genocide Joe Biden has nothing to do with, we see the Metropolitan
Police giving a veto to the Genocidal ‘Chief Rabbi’ Mirvis,
a settler-trained rabbi who is an out and out racist, having participated in
the ‘Death to the Arabs’ flag marches
in Jerusalem.
As
Nina Morris-Evans wrote in the Times of Israel
in May 2017:
I’m
ashamed of activities endorsed by two of the most influential members of the
Orthodox movement: Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.
This week they were in Jerusalem to support festivities planned by the
organisation Mizrachi Olami.
One
of these events is the annual Jerusalem Day March of the Flags on 24 May
(yesterday). Thousands of young people from across the country were bussed in
to march through the Jewish Old City, shutting down most of the Muslim quarter
and surrounding areas.
This
march has come to be associated with growing levels of hate speech and racist
violence, including shouts of “Death to
Arabs” and vandalism to Palestinian property. Today (Thursday), some of the
delegates were due to visit Hebron and dance through the streets with IDF
soldiers.
Hebron
is a city in which 200,000 residents live under the control of 600 soldiers,
protecting 850 settlers. This celebration is an unequivocally political act,
blatantly supporting the settlers’ presence there.
That the
Police base their decision to try and reroute the Palestine march on the views of this out and out racist
says everything about their political partisanship.
It is incredibly important that Saturday’s Palestine demonstration is
the largest yet
The Police’s
decision to try to ban Saturday’s march against Genocide in Gaza because the‘proposed
route would have caused serious disruption to a central London synagogue’ is a lie. Lying comes
as easily to the Met as a duck to water.
Laughably the Met also said ‘our role is not to take sides’. The fact
that the Met have raised disruption to a synagogue, that is not even on the
route, as a pretext to prevent a demonstration proves that they have taken
sides. The side of the supporters of Genocide
in Gaza.
Our latest position on Saturday's Palestine Solidarity Campaign protest is below.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) January 15, 2025
Their proposed route would have caused serious disruption to a central London synagogue.
We've imposed conditions mandating a new route after we were unable to agree on an acceptable alternative.
Owen Jones Interview with Ben Jamal on Police Obstruction
Implicit in this
decision is the assumption that the march poses a threat to Jews. This has been
the long-standing refrain of Israel’s genocide supporters but there isn’t a
sliver of evidence for it.
The Met have
consistently accepted the racialised narrative that Palestinian demonstrations
pose a threat to Jewish people. Their colonial
mindset is incapable of understanding that the Palestinian fight for liberation
is not an anti-Jewish one but an anti-Zionist one.
According to this
playbook Palestinians reject colonisation and occupation, not because of dispossession
and the theft of land and water but because they are anti-Jewish.
A similar narrative operated in Apartheid South Africa. According to apologists for White Supremacy Black people opposed racial discrimination not because they didn’t like being discriminated against but because they were anti-White. So it is with the Jewish Supremacist State of Israel.
The
Met have demonstrated this colonial and imperialist mentality repeatedly over
the last 15 months. Julia Bard described how, on the 9 December 2023
demonstration:
a cordon of police officers
materialised in front of us, separating us from the march. They apparently had
the idea that, since we were Jews, we must be counterdemonstrators.
We tried again and again to
explain that we were there in support of the Palestinians, and had been present
on the entire march....
But they simply couldn’t or
wouldn’t compute the idea of Jews supporting Palestinians. This isn’t the first
time. We’re getting used to police seeing the word “Jewish” on banners and
telling us which side we’re on — and if we don’t agree, trying to stop us from
joining the Palestine marches.
A month earlier, at the
protest on November 11, the several-hundred-strong Jewish bloc assembled in
Belgrave Square before joining the main march as it passed a nearby junction.
While we were waiting, two Forward “Intelligence” Team officers — the police in
the baby-blue vests — asked to speak to “the organiser” of what they evidently
thought was a separate protest....
Since they would not accept
that people holding banners with the word “Jewish” on them could support the
Palestinians, we spontaneously started chanting “Free free Palestine,” until,
eventually, one of the police officers got the point.
A more serious incident occurred on 18th May 2024.
UK – On 18
May 2024, as a result of Police actions, a Jewish activist named Jessica L was
assaulted by counter-protesters when she attended the pro-Palestine ‘National
March for Ceasefire’ wearing a Kippah and t-shirt with “Jews Say Ceasefire Now”.
Counter-protesters
had gathered holding Israel flags. When Jessica passed by this area they became
visibly and audibly hostile to her, shouting derogatory, misogynistic,
Islamophobic and antisemitic abuse. Jessica was subjected to slurs such as
“Kapo” and accusations of being a self-hating Jew—terms uniquely weaponized
against Jewish supporters of Palestinian liberation. She also received explicit
threats of violence and sexual assault.
A Met Police
Liaison Officer identified Jessica as Jewish based on her attire, forcibly
removed her from the main protest, and then pushed her towards the
counter-protestors as he shouted at her to “get
back over there”. The counter-protestors proceeded to reach across the
barriers, pulled Jessica towards them by the hair, attempted to remove her
kippah, struck her, spat on her, and they continued to shout misogynistic and
antisemitic abuse at her.
Jessica
shouted for help, but police officers failed to intervene. Eventually, she
freed herself with the help of PSC stewards and rejoined the demonstration. A police
officer then communicated that they wanted Jessica to leave the demonstration
due to the amount of hatred and hostility she was receiving from the
counter-protesters. Jessica sought to report the assault to police officers,
but she was told to report it online. When she then went to make a report at a
station, she was refused an in-person meeting with a supervising officer.
Jessica L – a
member of Na’amod and JVL – has instructed Bindmans LLP to
pursue breaches of her human rights to freedom of expression, assembly and to
enjoy these rights without discrimination. The claim is supported by a letter
confirming that she felt humiliated, shaken, and degraded by the police conduct
and the assault by counter-protesters, facilitated by the police officer’s
discriminatory conduct. The incident forced her to leave the protest early.
The incident
highlights the forms of intimidation and discrimination, including verbal and
physical abuse, that confront anti / non-Zionist Jews who publicly and
privately support justice for Palestinians. Jessica L has requested an apology
and a meeting with senior Metropolitan Police officers in order to discuss the
experiences of Jewish protesters marching in support of Palestine and to
propose changes to policing these demonstrations.
Jessica L commented:
“It
was terrifying enough to be within the grasp of counter protesters spouting
antisemitic hate speech and threats of violence but when a police officer
pushed me into their protest, seemingly because he believed that this was the
protest where Jewish people belonged, I immediately feared I was in serious
danger of harm as the mob grabbed at me, pulling my hair, spitting on me and
hurling vile antisemitic abuse at me. I screamed for help and no police officer
intervened – thankfully the protest stewards helped me. It was insult to injury
to later be told that the police believed I should leave the demonstration
because, essentially, they viewed my Jewishness as a provocation, attracting
obvious hostility and hatred from the counter protesters, when their focus
should have been on protecting my right to protest in safety from violent,
antisemitic and Islamophobic hatred.”
Max Hammer, a
spokesperson from Na’amod, said:
“The incident
on 18 May stands out for the behaviour of the Metropolitan Police officers on
site. By inferring a set of political beliefs from the Jewish activist’s
physical appearance, the officers not only displayed a distressing lack of
awareness of the political diversity within the UK Jewish community, but also
demonstrated their inability to keep non- and anti-Zionist Jews safe from antisemitic
abuse directed at them by far-right ultra-Zionists.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has announced a new route for its march this Saturday (18 January).
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) January 13, 2025
Our position on this announcement is set out below. pic.twitter.com/VNe9WjIVV5
The police’s
role in this violent assault comes amid … repeated labelling of largely
peaceful Palestine solidarity marches as “hate marches”. The incident
illustrates a persistent issue in the Police’s failure to recognise or prevent
the unique forms of antisemitism and right-wing violence directed against non-
and anti-Zionist Jews. Neither the Metropolitan Police nor the CST, a charity
which collects antisemitism data used by the police, have a reporting system
for incidents of antisemitic abuse by Jews against other Jews. …
Given that
the prevailing media narrative surrounding PSC’s marches has been that they are
unsafe for Jewish people, it is unsurprising that our presence at the marches
is not recognized by the police. We urgently call on the police to improve its
understanding of Jewish community dynamics and anti-Semitism…
The fight
against antisemitism can only be successful if it combats all forms of
antisemitism, including those directed against Jewish people who march in
solidarity with the people of Palestine.”
Jeffrey
Newman, Rabbi Emeritus, commented:
“Jewish
campaigners and groups who have campaigned against the Occupation of the West
Bank and the war on Gaza or for recognition of the right of Palestinians to
their own State on the West Bank and Gaza are frequently vociferously opposed,
sometimes with the use of force, by other Jews.
There is a word for the behaviour of Metropolitan Police officers who refuse to understand or recognise that not all Jews support Genocide in Gaza and that is anti-Semitism.
That is why the MPS has rejected the route that was already agreed, citing spurious concerns about the Central Synagogue. The Met’s justification is here. The Jewish Bloc therefore issued a second statement on 14.1.25.
JEWISH BLOC DEMANDS FREEDOM TO PROTEST AGAINST GENOCIDE
— JewishVoiceForLabour (@JVoiceLabour) January 14, 2025
The @metpoliceuk decision to block the new route of the National Demonstration for Palestine reveals the real reason for their crackdown: To suppress the right to protest genocide. pic.twitter.com/2ETuUX5zxu
What
will the Met do? attack the JB in order to protect Jews?
BBC Exec Downplayed Israel ‘Plausible Genocide’ Ruling to Dismayed Colleagues
Holocaust Survivors and Descendants Sign Open Letter Opposing Ban on BBC Protest
The Metropolitan police intend to ban the 18
January Palestine march from the area around the BBC
headquarters in Portland Place in London. Their excuse is that Jewish
attendees at a synagogue that is well away from the march route will suffer
‘disruption’ of their religious worship.
We are writing as Jewish Holocaust survivors, and
descendants of survivors, to protest against this clear attempt to
dissuade people from opposing the Gaza genocide. Along with
thousands of other openly Jewish protesters, we have attended numerous
Palestine demos in London and have received nothing but support and warmth from
our fellow demonstrators. To suggest that the 18 January march is a threat to
Jews, or is in any way antisemitic, is simply a fabrication in order to
restrict everyone’s right to protest.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen
Kapos (survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary)
Agnes Kory
(survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary)
Haim
Bresheeth (son of two survivors of Auschwitz)
Mark
Etkind (son of a survivor of the Lodz ghetto and Buchenwald)
Aurora
Yaakov (daughter of survivor of Dachau & Kaufering camps)
Yosefa
Loshitzky (daughter of survivors of the Holocaust in Poland)
Miranda
Pinch (daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia)
Ursula
Blumenthal (daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust in Germany)
Peter
Kapos (son of a Holocaust survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary)
Peter Hall
(son of a survivor of the Holocaust in Austria)
Sonja
Linden (daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust in Germany)
Chris
Romberg (son of a survivor of the Holocaust in Austria)
Beatrice Hoffman (daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust in Germany)
Palestine
Solidarity Campaign have also issued a Statement on police barring 18 January march
from the BBC which has been signed by 42 Members of Parliament and
many others.
We strongly condemn police attempts to stop an agreed march for
Palestine from protesting at the BBC on 18 January.
The route for the march was confirmed with the police nearly two months
ago and as agreed with them, was publicly announced on 30 November. This route
has only been used twice in the last 15 months of demonstrations and not since
February 2024. With just over a week to go, the Metropolitan Police
is reneging on the agreement and has stated its intention to prevent the protest
from going ahead as planned.
The BBC is a major institution – it is a publicly-funded state
broadcaster and is rightly accountable to the public. The police should not be
misusing public order powers to shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny.
The excuse offered by the police is that the march could cause
disruption to a nearby synagogue which is not even on the march route. As the
Met Police have acknowledged, there has not been a single incident of any
threat to a synagogue attached to any of the marches. Any suggestion that
pro-Palestine marches are somehow hostile to Jewish people ignores the fact
that Jewish people have been joining the marches in their thousands.
The rights to protest and free speech are precious. It is not
acceptable in a democratic society that, in the face of an ongoing genocide in
Gaza, people should be barred from protesting at the BBC. We call on the police
to drop their objections and allow the protest to go ahead as planned.
Palestine Coalition Organisations
Adnan Hmidan,
Acting Chairman, Palestinian Forum in Britain
Ben Jamal,
Director, Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Ismail Patel,
Chairman, Friends of Al-Aqsa
Lindsey German,
Convenor, Stop the War Coalition
Raghad Altikriti,
Chair, Muslim Association of Britain
Sophie Bolt,
General Secretary, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Members of Parliament (42)
Abtisam Mohamed
MP
Adnan Hussain
MP
Andy McDonald
MP
Apsana Begum
MP
Ayoub Khan
MP
Baroness
Christine Blower
Baroness Jenny
Jones
Baroness Pauline
Bryan
Baroness Rosie
Boycott
Bell Riberio Addy
MP
Brendan O’Hara
MP
Brian Leishman
MP
Carla Denyer
MP
Cathal Mallaghan
MP
Chris Hazzard
MP
Chris Law
MP
Dáire Hughes
MP
Dawn Butler
MP
Diane Abbott
MP
Dr Simon Opher MP
Grahame Morris
MP
Ian Byrne
MP
Imran Hussain
MP
Iqbal Mohamed
MP
Jeremy Corbyn
MP
John Finucane
MP
John McDonnell
MP
Jon Trickett
MP
Kim Johnson
MP
Lord Bryn
Davies
Lord John
Hendy
Lord Prem
Sikka
Nadia Whittome
MP
Órfhlaith Begley
MP
Pat Cullen
MP
Paul Maskey
MP
Richard Burgon
MP
Seamus Logan
MP
Shockat Adam
MP
Siân Berry
MP
Steve Witherden
MP
Zarah Sultana
MP
'Genuinely dangerous to be Jewish' near London's pro-Palestinian marches, Michael Gove says https://t.co/9Y9XBCeWqg
— LBC (@LBC) May 21, 2024
Trade Union and Civil Society Leaders
Akiko Hart, Director, Liberty
Amnesty International UK
ARTICLE 19
Asad Rehman, Executive Director, War on
Want
Brian Linn, General Secretary, Aegis the
Union
Charlotte Marshall, Director, Sabeel-Kairos
UK
Christians for Palestine UK
Climate Justice Coalition
Daniel Garnham, General Secretary, Security
Industry Federation (SIF)
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary, National
Education Union (NEU)
Dave Ward, General Secretary, Communication
Workers Union (CWU)
David Wilson,
co-founder, War Child
Dr Jo Grady, General Secretary, University
College Union (UCU)
Dr Sara Husseini, Director, British
Palestinian Committee
Fran Heathcote, General Secretary, Public
and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
Gawain Little, General Secretary, General
Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU)
Greenpeace UK
John McGowan, General Secretary, Social
Workers Union (SWU)
Kate Flannery, Secretary, Orgreave Truth
and Justice Campaign
Louise Hazan, Co-Director, Tipping Point
UK
Maryam Eslamdoust, General Secretary,
Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association
Matt Wrack, General Secretary, Fire
Brigades Union (FBU)
Mick Lynch, General Secretary, National
Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)
Mick Whelan, General Secretary, Associated
Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF)
Nick Dearden, Director, Global Justice
Now
Peace & Justice Project
People & Planet
Rev Chris Rose, Director, Amos Trust
Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers,
Food and Allied Workers Union
Steve Gillan, General Secretary, Prison
Officers Association (POA)
Steve North, President, Unison
Zamir Dreni, General Secretary, App Drivers
and Couriers Union (ADCU)
Zita Holbourne, Joint National Chair,
Artists Union England and Chair BARAC UK
Prominent individuals including artists, journalists, academics and
lawyers
Ahdaf Soueif, novelist
Ahmed Alnaouq, journalist and director of
We Are Not Numbers
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, journalist
Alex Lawther, actor and filmmaker
Alex Nunns, author
Alexei Sayle, author and comedian
Andrew Murray, journalist
Andy de la Tour, actor
Ben Smoke, journalist
Bilal Hasna, actor
Brian Eno, musician
Brigid Keenan, writer and co-founder of the
Palestine Festival of Literature
Charlotte Church, singer
Daniel Levy, writer and political
analyst
Francesca Martinez, comedian and
writer
Hamza Yusuf, journalist
Harriet Walter, actor
Jasleen Kaur, artist (winner of the Turner
Prize 2024)
Jen Brister, comedian and actor
Jo Siedlecka, editor, Independent Catholic
News
John Rees, journalist
Juliet Stevenson, actress
Kamila Shamsie, novelist
Katharine Hamnett, fashion designer
Ken Loach, director
Khalid Abdalla, actor
Kim Longinotto, filmmaker
Kneecap, music band
Lemn Sissay, author and broadcaster
Mark Adderley, director
Mark Rylance, actor
Mark Seddon, former speechwriter to UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Max Porter, writer
Maxine Peake, actor and writer
Mike Lerner, producer
Myriam François, journalist and
filmmaker
Nadia Sawalha, actor
Nadim Sawalha, actor
Nancy Strang, producer and filmmaker
Omar Robert Hamilton, author
Owen Jones, journalist
Paloma Faith, singer-songwriter
Pam Hogg, fashion designer
Peter Kennard, Professor Emeritus of
Political Art, Royal College of Art
Rachel Holmes, author
Rana Begum RA, artist
Rebecca O’Brien, producer
Richard Sanders, journalist and TV
producer
Riz Ahmed, actor
Sarah Agha, actress
Susan Abulhawa, author
Taj Ali, journalist
Tariq Ali, political activist and
writer
The Mary Wallopers, band
Tony Graham, theatre director
Tracy Seaward, producer
Victoria Brittain, journalist and
author
Vijay Prashad, author
Yanis Varoufakis, economist and
politician
Yusuf Cat
Stevens, singer
Zackie Achmat, filmmaker and activist
Alex Callinicos, Emeritus Professor, Kings
College London
Alex Gordon, former President, RMT
Amira Nimerawi, CEO, Health Workers 4
Palestine (HW4P)
Anas Altikriti, CEO & Founder, The
Cordoba Foundation
Andi Kocsondi, GFTU National
Executive
Andrew Feinstein, political activist
Barnaby Raine, historian
Brian Shaw, London and South East Regional
Secretary, PCS
Chris Doyle, Director, Caabu
Clare Short, former Secretary of State for
International Development
Claudia Webbe, former MP
Daniel Machover, solicitor
Dr Andrew Myerson, A and E Doctor, London
Hospital
Dr Elina Shaari, Surgeon, London
Dr Feyzi Ismail, Goldsmiths University of
London
Dr Michelle Staggs Kelsall, Senior Lecturer
in International Law, SOAS University of London
Dr Milly Williamson, Goldsmiths, University
of London
Dr Paul O’Connell, Reader in Law, SOAS
University of London
Dr Tanzil Chowdhury, Associate Professor in
Public Law, Queen Mary University of London
Emeritus Professor Bill Bowring FAcSS,
Barrister, Field Court Chambers
Emeritus Professor Mica Nava, University of
East London
Fraser McGuire, Unite the Union Hospitality
Sector activist & Arise – a Festival of Left Ideas
Geoffrey Shears, trade union lawyer
Gholam Kiabany, Goldsmiths, University of
London
Haldane Society
of Socialist Lawyers
Hugh Lanning, Labour & Palestine
James Schneider, author and activist
Jess Barnard, Labour National Executive
Committee
Khaled Dawas, Director of GI Surgery,
UCLH
Leanne Mohamad, political
activist
Linsay Taylor, CEO, Muslim Engagement &
Development (MEND)
Matt Foot, Criminal Defence Lawyer
Matt Willgress, editor, Labour
Outlook
Max Holloway, Leader of Welwyn Hatfield
Borough Council
Michael Mansfield KC, barrister and head of
chambers at Nexus Chambers
Mohammed Kozbar, Deputy Secretary General,
Muslim Council of Britain
Muhammad Uddin, Newham Muslim Forum
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Jewish Voice for
Labour
Nimer Sultany, Reader in Public Law, SOAS
University of London
Omar Abdel-Mannan, President/Chair, Health
Workers 4 Palestine (HW4P)
Paul Heron, Legal Director, Public Interest
Law Centre
Professor Adam Hanieh, University of
Exeter
Professor Alpa Shah, University of
Oxford
Professor Catherine Rottenberg
Professor Des Freedman, Goldsmiths,
University of London
Professor John Sloboda, PalAcademic
Campaign
Professor Jonathan Rosenhead
Professor Justin Schlosberg, University of
Westminster
Professor Laleh Khalili, University of
Exeter
Professor Natalie Fenton, Goldsmiths,
London University
Professor Neve Gordon
Professor (Emeritus) Phil Taylor
Rachel Waller, solicitor and former Chair
and Trustee of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR)
Swee Ang, co-founder and honorary patron,
Medical Aid for Palestinians
Todd Wolfson, President, American
Association of University Professors
Zack Polanski, Deputy Leader of the Green
Party of England and Wales and London Assembly Member
Zoë Garbett, Green Party London Assembly
Member
See
also BBC Exec Downplayed Israel ‘Plausible
Genocide’ Ruling to Dismayed Colleagues
