A whole lot rally close to Downing Road as delegation delivers letter to UK authorities calling for sanctions on Israel.
Main Jewish figures in Britain have signed a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and House Secretary Yvette Cooper denouncing the federal government’s choice to proscribe the activist group Palestine Motion as a “terrorist” organisation.
The supply of the letter on Tuesday coincides with a protest organised beneath the slogan Proscribe Genocide, Not Protest. The rally outdoors Downing Road is anticipated to attract lots of of individuals, together with figures from Britain’s Jewish neighborhood.
The letter, signed by about 300 Jewish British residents, condemns the ban as “illegitimate and unethical” and requires pressing authorities motion in opposition to Israel over its conduct of the warfare within the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip and over escalating violence engulfing the occupied West Financial institution.
Among the many signatories are human rights lawyer Geoffrey Bindman, filmmaker Mike Leigh, writer Michael Rosen and author Gillian Slovo. Jenny Manson, chairperson of Jewish Voice for Labour and one of many lead organisers, mentioned the group was performing each as human beings and as Jews with an ethical obligation to oppose genocide.
“We’re Jews horrified by the genocide being carried out by Israel in opposition to the Palestinian folks,” Manson mentioned in an announcement. “For us, ‘By no means once more’ doesn’t imply solely crimes in opposition to Jews however by no means once more by anybody to anybody.”
Audio system on the rally embody Andrew Feinstein, son of a Holocaust survivor and former South African MP; historian Joseph Finlay; documentary filmmaker Gillian Mosely; and comic and writer Alexei Sayle.
A whole lot of hundreds of individuals in the UK have been protesting weekly in opposition to Israel’s genocidal warfare since October 2023, making it clear they really feel their voices aren’t being heard.
Protest regardless of police warning
The rally comes because the rights group Defend Our Juries confirmed that greater than 500 folks have dedicated to “risking arrest” by collaborating in a associated demonstration on Saturday aimed toward overturning the ban on Palestine Motion.
These participating are anticipated to carry placards studying, “I oppose genocide. I help Palestine Motion.”
The Metropolitan Police Service has warned that expressing help for Palestine Motion might result in arrest beneath the Terrorism Act 2000.
“Anybody exhibiting help for the group can count on to be arrested,” a police spokesperson mentioned.
Defend Our Juries, which coordinated the marketing campaign, rejected claims that the demonstration is meant to overwhelm legislation enforcement or the courts. “If we’re allowed to protest peacefully and freely, then that’s no trouble to anybody,” a spokesperson mentioned.
Greater than 200 folks have been arrested in protests throughout the UK final month for displaying the identical message.
The letter being delivered on Tuesday urges the UK authorities to maneuver past “handwringing” over the scenario in Gaza and take significant motion.
It requires the speedy recognition of the State of Palestine and the imposition of sanctions on Israel, together with suspension of the UK-Israel commerce settlement, an finish to all exports utilized by the Israeli navy and the termination of UK navy and intelligence collaboration with Israel.
It additionally requires a ban on all Israeli imports, authorized accountability for UK residents serving within the Israeli navy and the summoning of Israel’s ambassador to the UK for her public help of navy actions.
The letter states that opposing genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleaning in Palestine isn’t anti-Semitic and shouldn’t be criminalised.
“Criticising Israel and opposing the brutality … together with taking direct motion, aren’t terrorism,” it reads.
Palestine Motion was banned in July after a high-profile incident through which the group claimed duty for damaging two Voyager plane on the Brize Norton air drive base, inflicting an estimated 7 million kilos ($9.3m) of harm.
Final week, the Excessive Court docket dominated {that a} authorized problem in opposition to the ban by Palestine Motion cofounder Huda Ammori might proceed, citing a number of “fairly controversial” grounds for evaluate. Nonetheless, the courtroom declined to pause the ban earlier than a three-day listening to set for November.
If upheld, the proscription means membership in or help for Palestine Motion is a felony offence punishable by as much as 14 years in jail.