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 Residence Secretary Yvette Cooper denouncing the federal government’s resolution to proscribe the activist group Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation.
The supply of the letter on Tuesday coincides with a protest organised underneath the slogan Proscribe Genocide, Not Protest. The rally outdoors Downing Road is predicted to attract lots of of contributors, together with figures from Britain’s Jewish group.
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 battle 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, stated 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 stated 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 battle 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 taking part in a associated demonstration on Saturday geared toward overturning the ban on Palestine Motion.
These collaborating 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 may result in arrest underneath the Terrorism Act 2000.
“Anybody displaying help for the group can count on to be arrested,” a police spokesperson stated.
Defend Our Juries, which coordinated the marketing campaign, rejected claims that the demonstration is meant to overwhelm regulation enforcement or the courts. “If we’re allowed to protest peacefully and freely, then that’s no trouble to anybody,” a spokesperson stated.
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 state of affairs in Gaza and take significant motion.
It requires the rapid 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 army and the termination of UK army and intelligence collaboration with Israel.
It additionally requires a ban on all Israeli imports, authorized accountability for UK residents serving within the Israeli army and the summoning of Israel’s ambassador to the UK for her public help of army actions.
The letter states that opposing genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleaning in Palestine just isn’t anti-Semitic and shouldn’t be criminalised.
“Criticising Israel and opposing the brutality … together with taking direct motion, will not be terrorism,” it reads.
Palestine Motion was banned in July after a high-profile incident through which the group claimed accountability for damaging two Voyager plane on the Brize Norton air pressure base, inflicting an estimated 7 million kilos ($9.3m) of injury.
Final week, the Excessive Court docket dominated {that a} authorized problem in opposition to the ban by Palestine Motion cofounder Huda Ammori may proceed, citing a number of “moderately debatable” grounds for overview. Nevertheless, the court docket 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.
