Protesters take part in a demonstration outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Whitehall, London, calling for the government to protect the crew of Madleen, June 9, 2025
Jewish campaigners condemn Starmer’s claim that demonstrations against genocide are ‘un-British’
JEWISH campaigners have condemned Sir Keir Starmer’s “insulting” claim that demonstrations against genocide were “un-British.”
The Prime Minister’s remarks, made today, came ahead of several student protests on the anniversary of October 7, and the national march for Palestine this weekend.
An inter-university march set off in the capital from King’s College at 2pm, before passing the London School of Economics, University College London and ending at the gates of SOAS.
Joining them was Mark Etkind, the son of a Holocaust survivor, who said: “As we speak today, weapons made in Britain are contributing to the deaths of children and others in Gaza — that has to stop now in order to save those lives, so these brave student protesters have to keep demonstrating until that genocide stops.”
He accused the government of having slandered the students, making them out to be insensitive to October 7, “while ignoring the obvious fact that their priority is to … oppose the ongoing conflict which Britain unfortunately is complicit in.”
Rallies also took place in Sheffield, Glasgow and Edinburgh, where the institution’s principal emailed students warning them to “think carefully about their actions” ahead of the protest.
Edinburgh’s Justice for Palestine Society called it a “blatant attempt to suppress campus discourse on an ongoing genocide.”
Writing in the Times, Sir Keir said it was “un-British to have so little respect for others,” echoing comments made by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who described Palestine protests held following Thursday’s attack on a Manchester synagogue as “fundamentally un-British.”
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, media officer for Jewish Voice for Liberation, said: “Those who protest are in despair at our government’s abject failure to take any kind of meaningful action to make the bombing, shooting, burning and starvation stop.
“For leaders of that government to accuse protesters of ‘un-Britishness’ is both insulting and counterproductive.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Vote Labour for Genocide.
In November, Defend Our Juries will be escalating the campaign to Lift The Ban on Palestine Action ahead of the Judicial Review against the ban.
From Tuesday 18th November to Saturday 29th November, join thousands of others across the UK and in London on key dates, for the opportunity to hold seven peaceful words in unity.
There are signs that the authoritarian powers are cracking, the police are struggling to enforce this absurd law, with some police forces outright refusing to make arrests. International and national human rights groups, politicians and United Nations representatives have condemned both the ban and the subsequent attacks on our civil liberties. Unions are declaring that they will not recognise the ban, while over 1600 people were arrested prior to our October 4th action.
We will be holding our signs around the UK in key cities and towns, as well as converging on London for the Judicial Review Itself (25-27 November). Book time off now, and sign the form to tell us where you’ll be taking action.
We will not comply with anti-democratic laws. We call on the UK Government to Lift The Ban on Palestine Action and to end UK complicity in Israel’s genocide.
In unity, not uniformity, we join together.
*Please note that these actions come with significant risk of arrest and other legal consequences. Legal briefings and ongoing support are offered by Defend Our Juries and supporting organisations, to help ensure you are informed prior to taking action.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Thousands of demonstrators gather at Museumplein demanding firm government action to stop the Israeli attacks on Gaza, in Amsterdam on October 5, 2025. (Photo by Mouneb Taim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
An estimated 250,000 people dressed in red crowded into Museum Square in Amsterdam, demanding that the Dutch government end its support for Israel.
Expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and pressuring Dutch officials to end their longtime support for Israel were the goals of a massive demonstration in Amsterdam Sunday—one of the largest pro-Palestine protests held in Europe over the weekend as the two-year anniversary of Israel’s bombardment of the exclave approached.
“The bloodshed must stop—and we unfortunately have to stand here because we have such an incredibly weak government that doesn’t dare to draw a red line. That’s why we are here, in the hope that it helps,” protester Marieke van Zijl told the Associated Press on Sunday in Museum Square in central Amsterdam, where an estimated 250,000 people gathered.
The protests in Amsterdam and across Europe came as Israel garnered global condemnation for its interception of more than 400 humanitarians from around the world who sailed toward Gaza in recent weeks with the Global Sumud Flotilla with the aim of delivering aid to the besieged territory, where a famine was declared in August due to Israel’s near-total blockade on food, water, fuel, and other necessities entering Gaza.
Wow!
Amsterdam today 🇳🇱
A tsunami of people demanding an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
In Sofia, Bulgaria, citizens carried signs reading, “Gaza: Starvation Is a Weapon of War,” while in Turkey’s capital of Ankara, protesters held up placards condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza, where more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.
Scholars on genocide and the Holocaust have joined leading human rights organizations—including some in Israel—and United Nations experts in declaring that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is a genocide. The International Court of Justice is also considering an ongoing genocide case brought by South Africa regarding the military assault and starvation policy.
In Amsterdam, most protesters wore red in solidarity with Palestine and many displayed Palestinian flags.
In the Netherlands, the government has long been a staunch supporter of Israel but in recent months has increasingly denounced its attacks on Gaza. In July it banned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering the country because they “repeatedly incited violence against the Palestinian population.”
On Friday, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said he was “unlikely” to grant an export license to send F-35 fighter jet components to Israel. The country’s Supreme Court last week ordered the government to review the currently suspended license to determine whether reinstating it would violate international law. The Netherlands is home to one of three regional warehouses for components of the US-made fighter jets.
Marjon Rozema, a spokesperson for Amnesty International, which helped organize the demonstration, called for the Dutch government to use “all economic and diplomatic means to increase pressure on Israel.”
Mass demonstrations were also held over the weekend in countries including Spain and Italy, where demonstrators demanded the release of organizers who had been aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Rome, Madrid, and Barcelona, home of former Mayor Ada Colau, who was among those detained by Israel last week.
JUST IN: 300,000 people marched in Barcelona, one of the LARGEST pro-Palestinian protests in the city’s history! pic.twitter.com/fdPVrDNDwd
Organizers in Rome said 1 million people took part in Saturday’s march, which followed Friday’s one-day general strike across Italy.
“Governments, especially the Italians, are not taking action against what is happening in Gaza,” one university teacher told the BBC on Friday at a rally. “We’re here to say that it is time to intervene and solve things.”
Hundreds of thousands fill the streets of Rome in support of Gaza and in protest against the genocide. pic.twitter.com/NNovgFmI69
“The Italian demonstrations for Gaza and the flotilla have been of a rather unprecedented power in recent times,” said scholar Bruno Montesano on Monday. “And they have had a global resonance that is equally surprising. And perhaps its strength derived from a sort of widespread spontaneous humanitarianism, as well as from the clashing contradictions between Western liberal-democratic chatter—certainly weakened even further due to the rise of the far right—and the racist and colonial practice of supporting Israeli fascism.”
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
dizzy: This is a small excerpt (the closing paragraphs) of a long Guardian article by journalist Owen Jones. The whole article is recommended. Will these new laws lead to widespread challenges just as the proscription of Palestine Action has done? Is it too much to expect the arrogant Zionist Labour government to learn from it’s mistakes?
…
On the same day as the synagogue attack, the Israeli army killed at least 57 Palestinians in Gaza – another hideous tally in two years of daily atrocities that have left tens of thousands dead. British politicians and media outlets have barely concealed the lack of value they attach to Palestinian life. It is among the most brazen expressions of racism of our time. One wonders how history will judge this moment: politicians are accusing people who are protesting against genocide of inciting hatred, while they are supporting those who are committing genocide.
Our government has already crossed a dangerous threshold by proscribing Palestine Action, a non-violent, anti-genocide direct action group. More than 2,000 British protesters have been arrested, mostly for holding placards opposing genocide and supporting the banned organisation. Many of them are pensioners; one is a retired priest, another the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. When the state begins calling movements “terrorism” when they are nothing of the sort, it is attacking democracy itself.
It’s not hard to see where this all leads. In the US, Democrats helped to demonise pro-Palestinian protests: the former house speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that some were “connected to Russia”, while Joe Biden called such protests antisemitic. In doing so, they only helped to legitimise the authoritarian crackdown on such protests – and on freedom of expression in general – under Donald Trump. If Nigel Farage becomes prime minister, a hard-right government would be granted sweeping powers to control dissent. What do you think a Reform government would do with this repressive toolkit? Our ancestors struggled, suffered and died to secure our freedoms. We will come to rue how casually we let them go.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWREPalestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Protesters take part in a demonstration outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Whitehall, London, calling for the government to protect the crew of Madleen, June 9, 2025
