Really Troubling

Areeb Ullah and Simon Hooper write:

The organisers of the pro-Palestine marches that take place in central London have strongly criticised remarks by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley, accusing him of spreading “dangerous misinformation” about the intentions of the marches calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Earlier on Friday, Rowley responded to intense questioning over how his police force is keeping the Jewish community safe after a man stabbed two people in Golders Green, a predominantly Jewish area of London.

Rowley told Good Morning Britain that he was “really troubled” by claims that protest organisers intended to march near synagogues.

“I’m really troubled by what we have seen. Many of these marches set out with an intent to march near synagogues, and every single time we have put conditions on to prevent that,” said Rowley.

“Even that intent causes me concern that they repeatedly ask to do such things.”

He added that the police had imposed conditions to prevent marches approaching Jewish places of worship.

But leading figures from the Palestine Solidarity movement pushed back on these claims, describing the commissioner’s comments as “dishonest and frankly dangerous”.

Ryvka Bernard, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said Rowley’s intervention risked heightening tensions.

“It’s shocking that Rowley would make such dishonest and reckless comments in a moment when his police force should be focused on protecting vulnerable people,” she said.

“We have repeatedly rejected any conflation of Jewish people with the horrific actions and policies of the state of Israel,” said Bernard. “This dangerous misinformation … will only serve to create more fear and anxiety.”

“Our marches for Palestine are about showing solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle against apartheid and genocide, and to protest against British government complicity in Israel’s crimes against them,” said Bernard.

“Our upcoming march on 16 May will be no different.”

She rejected the suggestion that demonstrations had targeted Jewish sites, stating: “None of our marches or proposed march routes has ever targeted a synagogue or even directly passed one along its route, and the Met Police knows that.”

Lindsey German, convener of the Stop the War Coalition, similarly dismissed Rowley’s claims as “simply untrue”.

“We have never set out with intent to march near a synagogue and we have never intentionally held a demonstration outside or near to one,” said German. “We keep our routes well away from them.”

She pointed to a previous dispute with police over a march in January, when organisers were blocked from assembling near the headquarters of the BBC because of a synagogue several hundred yards away.

This incident led to the organisers being forced to hold a static march near parliament and the main protest organisers being arrested for walking towards the headquarters of the BBC to lay a wreath for Palestinian children.

German said organisers had proposed multiple compromises, including altering the timing and route, to avoid disrupting worshippers.

'No connection'

The controversy comes amid heightened scrutiny of pro-Palestine protests in the UK after the UK's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, called for a “moratorium” on pro-Palestine marches because of recent antisemitic attacks in London.

"It pains me to say this, but I think we may have reached a point where we need to have a moratorium on the sorts of marches that have been happening," Hall told Times Radio.

On Friday, a senior rabbi in north London rejected any connection between the pro-Palestine marches and Wednesday’s stabbing attack.

“It is certainly not the marches that caused the tragic stabbing attacks on Wednesday in Golders Green,” Herschel Gluck told Middle East Eye.

He said that banning the marches over antisemitism concerns would be an own goal because of the large number of Jews who regularly took part in the protests.

“There are many Jews who participate in the marches. Pro rata, there are more Jews than any other community. And the idea of banning speech is something that is a very un-Jewish thing to do.”

Gluck, who is also president of the Shomrim neighbourhood patrol group in North and East London, said police on the ground were “engaging very well” with the Jewish community and taking its concerns seriously.

But he said he believed they were facing political pressure to take firmer action over the marches, and accused Labour, Conservative and Reform politicians of using antisemitism to distract from issues such as the economy, the cost of living and the fragile security situation in the world.

“They are just using the situation for their own ends and not really caring for the Jewish community. They are using the conflict to create more conflict.”

Jewish voices

He called on political leaders to listen to all Jews, including those speaking out against Israel’s actions in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East.

“They’re not marginal, but sadly, certain politicians choose not to listen also to these Jewish voices. And I think that again borders on antisemitism, when they decide not to listen to the concerns, feelings, and strong sentiments of a very large segment of the Jewish community.

“We need to enable and foster a more peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.”

Since the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in 2023, large demonstrations have drawn hundreds of thousands of participants, while also prompting political debate over public order, community relations and freedom of expression.

Campaigners argue that Rowley’s comments risk undermining trust between protest organisers and authorities, as well as fuelling narratives that conflate pro-Palestinian activism with hostility towards Jewish communities.

Despite the row, organisers say the march planned for 16 May will proceed as intended, with a continued emphasis on peaceful protest and opposition to racism in all forms.

And Imran Mulla writes:

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been criticised for linking pro-Palestine marches to antisemitic violence after saying that "if you stand alongside people who say 'globalise the intifada', you are calling for terrorism against Jews and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted".

The prime minister made the comments in an address to the nation following the stabbing of two Jewish men, aged 34 and 76, in Golders Green, a neighbourhood of northwest London with a large Jewish population.

A 45-year-old Somali-born British national was arrested on Wednesday afternoon after the attack. He had left a psychiatric hospital just days before the attack, Channel 4 reported on Thursday.

On Friday, London's Metropolitan Police announced that Essa Suleiman had been charged not with terrorism offences, but with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Suleiman is also accused, according to the BBC, of attempting to murder Ishmail Hussein, whom he had known for about 20 years, on the morning of the Golders Green attack.

There have been no recorded incidents in the UK of an antisemitic attack involving the phrase "globalise the intifada". However, in December, the Metropolitan and Greater Manchester police forces announced they would arrest people for chanting "globalise the intifada" or holding placards displaying the phrase.

In January, three pro-Palestine protesters were charged for allegedly chanting "intifada" at a demonstration.

On Friday, it emerged that the Met is reviewing implementing a possible ban on upcoming pro-Palestine marches.

The Stop the War Coalition is planning a demonstration in London on 16 May to mark Nakba Day, which commemorates the forcible displacement of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in 1948.

Meanwhile, Green Party leader Zack Polanski has accused the government of "using the pain of the Jewish community to restrict our right to peaceful protest".

Polanski said on Thursday afternoon: "I am the only Jewish leader of a major political party, and I suffer antisemitic abuse every single day. For other politicians to use antisemitism as a political football, especially after these appalling attacks, is utterly appalling and should be beneath them.

"We must also be clear that any response to these abhorrent attacks that curtail our civil liberties would be wrong."

Surge in antisemitic attacks

Starmer said on Thursday evening: "Antisemitism is an old, old hatred. History shows that the roots are deep, and if you turn away, it grows back. Yet far too many people in this country diminish it.

"They either don't see it or they don't want to see it. Take the marches that happen regularly across Britain.

"Of course, we protect freedom of speech and peaceful protests in this country. But if you are marching with people wearing pictures of paragliders without calling it out, you are venerating the murder of Jews."

Three women were found guilty of a terror offence in February 2024 for having displayed images of paragliders on their clothes in a march on 14 October 2023, shortly after the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel.

It has not been common for attendees of pro-Palestine marches to display images of paragliders.

On Thursday evening, Starmer called on "everyone decent in this country to open their eyes to Jewish pain, Jewish suffering and Jewish fear".

There has been a large surge in antisemitic attacks in recent months, including numerous arson attacks and incidents investigated by the Met as antisemitic hate crimes in the past month.

In 2020, Suleiman was referred to the Prevent counter-extremism programme.

Calls for ban on pro-Palestine marches

An obscure group that first appeared online on 9 March, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (Hayi), claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday afternoon.

The claim has not been verified or substantiated. No details have emerged to suggest how a middle-aged British-Somali man who had been in a psychiatric hospital could have taken instruction from such a group.

Hayi has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks across Europe in the past two months. 

The Israeli government has said the group is linked to Iran, but British police have not established any such connection, although they are understood to be investigating its possibility.

Activist groups have criticised attempts to link pro-Palestine protests to antisemitic attacks.

Pro-Palestine activists have strongly denied that "globalise the Intifada" is antisemitic or a call for violence, and British Jews have been prominent in pro-Palestine marches in the UK.

Intifada comes from the Arabic root word nafada, which means "to shake off" or "to rise up", and translates to "uprising".

On Thursday, the UK's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, called for a "moratorium" on pro-Palestine marches because of recent antisemitic attacks.

Hall said on Times Radio: "It pains me to say this, but I think we may have reached a point where we need to have a moratorium on the sorts of marches that have been happening.

"It’s clearly impossible at the moment for any of these pro-Palestine marches not to incubate within them some sort of antisemitic or demonising language."

In response, the Stop the War coalition criticised Hall's remarks as "unacceptable".

The coalition said: "We condemn unequivocally these attacks, as we do all forms of antisemitism and racism. No one should be attacked for their race or religion.

"However, the attempts by Hall, sections of the media and some politicians to connect such attacks with the Palestine marches are wrong."

Stop the War added: "These marches are supported by many Jewish people who attend. They are not the ‘hate marches’ described by right-wing politicians but expressions of solidarity and support for those under attack."

The left-wing outfit Your Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, said: "Politicians are weaponising the abhorrent stabbings to take away our civil liberties and baselessly attack the Palestine movement."