Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Downing Street demanding tougher action against antisemitism following the killing of two men at a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur.
The rally, which was organised by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) and occurred on Thursday, accused the government of ‘cowardly appeasement’ and failure to confront what it called the growing threat of extremist violence in the UK.
Journalist Camilla Tominey told the crowd the media must shift its focus from events thousands of miles away to radicalism at home.
A friend of Adrian Daulby, one of the victims of the terrorist attack in Manchester, which happened on 2 October during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, also made a plea for action.
Stephen Silverman, director of investigations and enforcement at the CAA said: “The last two years have been an awful stain on this great country of ours that we love so much.
“We have seen warm words, we have seen statements that antisemitism has no place in the country. Well, I’m sorry, Prime Minister: it very clearly does.”
A CAA spokesperson added that ‘the BBC and universities must be deprived of state funding until they reform’.
Sarah, a protester who declined to give her last name, was carrying a placard that said ‘you failed us, stop Jihadi extremism’.
She said: “I’m terrified, I have the same job as the men who were killed”.
The CAA accused the government of employing a two-tier policing system, where protestors are policed differently according to their political leanings and or religion.
The organisation is calling for the government to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Houthis and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as terror groups.
When approached for comment about the government using pro-Palestine sentiment to usher in ‘anti-democratic’ protest laws, a CAA representative said that the proposed restrictions are not sufficient – calling the UK ‘a miserably soft touch’.
The group said that while freedom of expression must be protected, ‘it does not extend to support for terror or incitement to violence, genocide and racial hatred’, which it claimed has characterised pro-Palestine protests since October 7.
Home office figures show the number of hate crimes in England and Wales has risen for the first time in three years, with Jewish and Muslim communities continuing to experience high levels of violent hate crime.
2,000 non-violent protestors have been arrested for supporting Palestine Action since it was designated as a terrorist group in July, on par with Hamas and al-Qaeda.
Earlier this month, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood called for Palestinian protestors to cancel their demonstrations, calling them ‘dishonourable and ‘un-British’.
Mahmood has also pledged to grant new powers to police officers to weigh up the cumulative impact of ‘repeat’ protests, and ban them if there has been ‘repeated disorder’.
Dr Jeffrey Vernon, a teaching fellow at Imperial College, spoke out against Mahmood’s comments at the Palestine Action protest on 4 October.
He said: “I believe that what’s happening in Israel goes against the Jewish values I was brought up with.
“There’s no reason why you cannot mourn the two dead people in Manchester and, at the same time, campaign for peace in the Middle East, for Palestinian liberation, and for an end to British support for Israel.”
The CAA stressed that there was a firm distinction between criticism of the Israeli government and antisemitism, but Israeli flags could be seen throughout the crowd.
They rely on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which has been protested by more than 100 Israeli and international civil society organisations, arguing it has been ‘misused’ to protect Israel from legitimate criticism.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both been accused of antisemitism under the IHRA definition over detailed reports which claim Israel practices a form of apartheid.
However, other Jewish organisations take a more critical stance on Israel.
In a video on X, a representative from the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) said: “They have been claiming that they represent Jews, all Jews all over the world, and they have been committing genocide. What do you expect people will conclude from that?”
Just four days after the Manchester attack, Peacehaven Community Centre & Mosque, East Sussex, was targeted in an arson attack while worshippers were inside.
Dr Wajid Akhter of the Muslim British Council said: “These incidents do not occur in a vacuum. This comes as media and political figures escalate collective blame and deliberate misrepresentation of Muslim communities, their causes and their faith.”
He asked Mahmood: “How will you ensure that such awful attacks on places of worship are not exploited to restrict the democratic right to free speech or delegitimise protest?”
Featured image credit: Charlotte Lang
