Dr Sarah Ingham is the author of The Military Covenant: its impact on civil-military relations in Britain.
On Sunday in her first speech to the Manchester Conference, Kemi Badenoch described many of the pro-Gaza protests as “carnivals of hatred directed at the Jewish homeland.”
The Conservative leader not only identified sentiment towards Israel but the festival atmosphere these protests can generate. They are like Notting Hill without the sound systems, dancing and street food. Glasto minus the music, for two years the pro-Palestine gatherings have been anti-Jewish hate-fests.
“Protest is a human right”: (Amnesty) “The right to protest must be protected”: (Home Office on X) “Everyone has the right to protest and to organise protest”: (Liberty).
But noisy assertions about rights surrounding protest must be set against the silence about protestors’ reciprocal responsibilities.
The social contract, around since Socrates, helps a state to function harmoniously. For the past two years, the Gaza marches have been evidence that too many in Britain are happy to rip up that contract – and politicians on all sides have sat back and watched them.
The moral justification for the pro-Pal protests has been Israel’s retaliatory action in Gaza following the Hamas attack whose second anniversary was commemorated on Tuesday. Hundreds were taken hostage and 1,200 people were murdered. It was the highest deliberate loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust.
Given some UK-based protestors’ often shaky knowledge of geography (Which river? Which sea?), it is unlikely they know much history, including that the term “genocide” emanated from the industrial killing of six million Jewish people.
Israel’s military action in Gaza is not genocide – as former Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed last month to the International Development Committee. He stated: “As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.’ The Government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.”
The prevailing fake news genocide narrative has gone unchallenged by too many politicians. It is to be expected from Labour. After all, they have long been playing a faith-based numbers game; 270,000 Jews vs 3.9m Muslims whose votes they count on. Conservative reticence is less explicable.
The media-abetted post-truth “genocide” in Gaza gives cover to those claiming their right to protest. It is especially apparent this week, after the attack on the Heaton Park synagogue and on the anniversary of the 7th of October atrocity.
In a futile attempt to stop Tuesday’s student protests, the Prime Minister invoked Auschwitz, before stating that protestors’ lack of respect was “un-British” and “not who we are as a country”.
This claim implies that Sir Keir has not given up the comforts of the Arsenal directors’ box for just one Saturday in the past two years to see the protests for himself. Otherwise, he would be better informed about what we are as a country.
Performative mass public prayers on Whitehall near the Cenotaph. “From London to Gaza, we’ll have intifada.” Demands for jihad, which of course does not mean holy war but spiritual struggle (©Metropolitan Police). Stencils of paragliders. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” 7th October celebrated. Calls for the elimination of Israel. Support for terrorist groups. “Israel is a terror state: kill all Jews.”
Incitement to murder should be a tad un-British, Keir old chap. Shamingly, it has become routine, thanks to Mayor Sadiq Khan, the Met Police, successive Home Secretaries and the entire political class. Bleating about “rights”, they have played parcel-the-parcel, all saying dealing with the protests is up to someone else.
At Saturday’s Palestine Action vigil in Trafalgar Square, protestors’ views were reported by the Sunday Times’ Matthew Syed (undoubtedly the Conservatives’ most welcome new member). It’s a must-read for anyone in Downing Street or Parliament who can’t be bothered to get out and see what has been happening on their doorstep week in, week out.
It took last week’s Manchester attack to awaken the political officer class to the hate they have fostered. Home Secretary Mahmood now claims that “cumulative impact” assessments could be used to restrict the protests. Too little, too late.
Last month, the Unite the Kingdom march was held. We don’t need to go to Paddy Power to check the odds that the capital’s authorities would never have permitted Tommy Robinson to have exercised his rights to organise such protests for two years.
Tacitly backing the Gaza protests and not correcting the “genocide” narrative, too many have also refused to consider the rights of millions to go about their daily lives without disruption and, especially if they are Jewish, to feel safe.
Across Europe, particularly in Germany and France, a far more robust stand has been taken against anti-Israel, antisemitic, pro-Gaza protest. It is time Britain followed their lead.
Loud in their condemnation of Israel, noisy about their rights, busy calling for the death of Jews, the responsibilities-free terrorism-supporting protestors have been silent about Russia and its war against Ukraine.
The Bucha massacre and the Mariupol siege must be the wrong sort of conflict.
