British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged students to skip Tuesday’s planned pro-Palestinian protests marking the Hamas attack second anniversary, deeming such demonstrations profoundly disrespectful to victims and Jewish communities nationwide.
Students from several London universities planned to walk out of classes on Tuesday before marching through central London. Organisers also scheduled vigils and rallies in cities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, and Manchester. However, the Manchester gathering comes after a deadly attack outside a synagogue last week left two people dead, one fatally shot during the incident and another dying later from injuries likely caused by police gunfire.
Starmer denounces “loss of humanity”
In a column for The Times, forcefully alleged that regular pro-Palestinian protests have been shamefully used by some participants as a “despicable excuse to attack British Jews” over circumstances for which they have “absolutely no responsibility.” He explicitly called this behavior “a total loss of empathy and humanity,” specifically citing the protests scheduled for Tuesday as inappropriate and deeply divisive.
Furthermore, Starmer wrote, “This is not who we are as a country,” adding that it felt “un-British to have so little respect for others” before protestors began “chanting hatred towards Jewish people all over again.”
In sharp contrast, the Jewish Bloc for Palestine immediately responded on Saturday, asserting the government was trying “to weaponise the fear and grief of our community” by resurrecting a damaging slur against protestors. They argued this implied those protesting for Palestine represented a danger to British Jews, a charge which they firmly denied in their official statement.
Rising antisemitism and the Manchester attack
Marking this significant anniversary in a separate statement, Starmer acknowledged that the past two years have witnessed a concerning “rising antisemitism” across the UK, pointing specifically to the car ramming and stabbing attack in Manchester. Notably, this incident occurred on Yom Kippur, which is considered the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, highlighting the painful timing for the community. Therefore, the British leader affirmed, “This is a stain on who we are, and this country will always stand tall and united against those who wish harm and hatred upon Jewish communities.”
Hamas attack and Israel’s response
Hamas’s October 2023 assault killed 1,219 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. In addition, the Palestinian group seized 251 hostages, 47 of whom still remain in Gaza, and the Israeli military estimates 25 of those hostages are now dead.
However, Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 67,160 Palestinians over the last two years, according to health ministry figures from the Hamas-run territory, which the United Nations considers reliable.
Reflecting on the conflict, Starmer said, “Since that awful day, so many have endured a living nightmare,” promising to continue efforts to bring home British hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The Prime Minister, who already made the landmark move for the UK to recognise a state of Palestine last month alongside other allies, also welcomed the current US plan “towards peace in the Middle East” in his official statement.
Divided streets in Britain
Despite pleas from the government for protestors to refrain from gathering following the Manchester attack, pro-Palestinian demonstrations went ahead over the weekend across Britain, showing widespread public commitment to the cause. Consequently, activist group Defend Our Juries (DOJ) said calls to end these protests were “wrongly conflating the actions of the Israeli state with all Jews.” Specifically, DOJ’s Zoe Cohen stated on Saturday, “Jewish people around the world are not responsible for Israel’s crimes and there are many Jewish people who do not support the actions of the Israeli state.”
Separately, approximately 3,000 people gathered in central London for a separate commemorative event to mark the 7 October anniversary, where attendees waved Israeli and Union Jack flags while holding poignant posters of the remaining hostages.
