British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a rare appearance outside 10 Downing Street yesterday to announce a raft of measures to curb protests and demonstrations by the people of Britain calling for an end to Israel’s indiscriminate slaughter of the citizens of Gaza.
Sunak pleaded for pro-Palestinian protesters to reject radicals and far-right groups, while Israel is governed by a radical far-right government that operates in Gaza against all international law, killing or maiming 100,000 mainly women and children in five months.
The unelected Prime Minister further warned against the activities of violent extremists, after West Bank settlers were condemned by the US and UK for their unrestricted campaigns of theft and killings against Palestinians, often backed by Israeli Defence Forces.
The International Criminal Court, the highest court in the world, told Israel in January to cease any activity in the region that could be construed as genocidal in nature: a demand Israel ignores.
On Thursday, the IDF allowed several foreign aid trucks into Northern Gaza for the first time in weeks and then opened fire on starving crowds of civilians as they attempted to collect food, killing over 100.
Almost daily reports of such atrocities have seen millions of people worldwide and some 250,000 people in the UK taking to the streets to demand Israel stop killing civilians and breaking international law.
The UK’s diverse and largely peaceful demonstrations have been branded ‘hate marches’ despite the fact that Jewish people and Muslims can be seen standing side by side at each march, calling for an end to the carnage.
One of the politicians calling the marches hateful is Sunak’s former Home Office minister Suella Braverman, who has relatives serving in the IDF.
Sunak too has ties to Israel, with his family profiting from business operations. IDF military intelligence veterans hold senior positions at their company, Infosys, in the country.
The PM additionally used his address to pinpoint a phrase used by pro-Palestinian demonstrators as the crux of alleged antisemitism against Jewish people in Britain – ‘From the river to the sea’ – however, the phrase is equally used by Israel.
Likud’s 1977 election manifesto stated, “Judea and Samaria will not be handed to any foreign administration; between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”
Israeli politicians, Gideon Sa’ar and Uri Ariel, use the phrase as does Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his speeches.
In 2014 Ariel said, “Between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea there will be only one state, which is Israel.”
Last week saw the most powerful speech to the ICC to date, detailing how Israel’s occupation of Palestine is manifestly illegal and its territories must be returned to Palestinians, immediately.
This week’s victory of former Labour MP George Galloway in the Rochdale by-election as a Gaza protest vote also drew criticism from Sunak, who called the electoral result “beyond horrifying”.
The Prime Minister said extremism demanded a response “not just from government, but from all of us”.
In response to people marching in the UK against the extremism of Israel, Sunak pointed to a new police framework that has sought to clarify when officers should step in if extremist chanting or activity is seen in protests.
Communities Secretary Michael Gove will unveil the plans this month for a new definition of extremism that will enable the Government and public bodies to bar groups from venues or campuses and block funding if they are judged to be promoting extremist ideology that “undermines” British values.
