UK media coverage of growing public indignation of Israel’s suspected genocidal actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank have focussed on a small number of arrests and reported only ‘tens of thousands’ attended.
The number of arrests made was equivalent to the number of shoplifters arrested in central London on a weekend for offences such as walking in a park not designated as part of a protest route and holding a placard featuring language authorities deemed offensive.
Sunday’s national march was set to end at the Israeli embassy, however, 1,500 police officers forced protestors to stop several hundred metres from the building.
The march set off from Marble Arch at midday but was delayed by authorities so a Jewish event at a synagogue along the route could finish first.
Many Jewish people could be seen among the crowds calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, with placards such as ‘Expel the Israeli Ambassador’ and ‘Judaism condemns Zionist Terrorism in Gaza’.
Former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman, whose family serves in the IDF – which has killed over 30,000 and injured around 70,000 mainly women and children in Gaza and the West Bank in the past five months – calls such protests ‘hate marches’.
James Taylor, a protestor at Sunday’s march said there was no hatred there, and attended because politicians were failing to represent ‘the decent people they were elected to represent’.
“I’ve been watching news and analysis since 7/10 and I’ve been feeling so sickened and helpless about the hideous massacres of innocent people taking place in Gaza and the West Bank.
“Our political leaders are complicit – from Sunak’s family business Infosys making millions in Israel – to Starmer’s cowardly refusal to condemn Israel’s daily atrocities.”
On 7 October, several armed groups as well as individuals took advantage of a breach in Israel’s security fence to cause havoc during a military operation conducted by the armed wing of Hamas.
Operation Flood was conceived by Hamas to abduct Israelis to swap for the thousands of Palestinians Israel has abducted and imprisoned without charge in recent years.
Israel continues to hold Gaza under siege so it has no control over its borders, its sea or its airspace and nothing may enter or leave Gaza without Israel’s permission.
After 7/10, Israel declared Gaza ‘closed’ with no provision of power, water or food in stark violation of international law, and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked the biblical story of Amalek, which calls for ‘the killing of all men, women, children and animals’ in Gaza. Israel’s military leaders lifted ‘all restrictions’ on the conduct of its armed forces in Gaza, where the IDF has shot dead its own citizens who were waving white flags at the time. Many more Israeli hostages have died under US-supplied bombs dropped by Israel in Gaza, exceeding the equivalent of two Hiroshimas, to date.
Mr Netanyahu was due in court on corruption charges before 7/10, but his case is on hold until the war finishes. He continues to ignore all calls by such organisations as the United Nations to assist in providing basic human rights to Gazans.
The media continues to report that Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis on 7/10, however many Israeli survivors of the attacks have provided testimonies that the IDF employed its Hannibal directive on the day, and opened fire on its own people.
Pictures from the scene show cars melted together – the effect of Hellfire missiles fired by Apache helicopters that were sent to the scene – and structural damage to illegal settlements, the result of IDF tanks shelling civilian houses.
Israel has refused to report how many Israelis it killed on 7/10, saying it would not be ethical to conduct such an investigation.
Around 120 Israelis remain prisoners of Hamas within Gaza, whom Hamas pledged to release in a peace deal it put forward last week, which Israel rejected.
The International Court of Justice, the highest court in the world, is currently investigating whether Israel is committing genocide of the Palestinian people and has requested that Israel not do anything that could be construed as such.
