A jurist who reviews anti-terrorism legislation for the British government and the head of the opposition called last week for a ban on anti-Israel rallies in the near future following a series of serious antisemitic attacks.
Jonathan Hall, the government’s independent reviewer of terror legislation, said the government should consider a “moratorium” on the marches following the April 29 stabbing of two Jews in London’s Golders Green neighborhood, allegedly by a Somalia-born British citizen named Essa Suleiman, The Telegraph reported.
“It pains me to say this, but I think we may have reached a point where we need to have a moratorium on the sorts of marches that have been happening. It’s clearly impossible at the moment for any of these pro-Palestine marches not to incubate within them some sort of anti-Semitic or demonising language,” The Telegraph quoted Hall as saying last week.
The stabbings followed a string of major incidents targeting Jews, including the torching on March 23 of four ambulances of the Hatzola Jewish emergency response group, also in the neighborhood of Golders Green.
Anti-Israel activists are planning to hold a major rally on May 13 for “Nakba Day,” a commemoration of what they call “the catastrophe,” meaning the Arab defeat in the 1948 war that Israel’s enemies launched to prevent it from being established.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicated a willingness to ban some protests against Israel, Sky News reported on Saturday, saying: “There are instances for the latter” when asked whether a ban would be issued.
Laurence Taylor, the Metropolitan Police’s head of counterterrorism, said that the force was reviewing whether upcoming pro-Palestine marches would go ahead, the Telegraph quoted him as saying.
Tommy Robinson, a right-wing activist and vocal advocate of Israel, is planning a follow up to his Unite The Right march in September. That rally is also being reviewed, according to the Telegraph.
Speaking outside Scotland Yard, Taylor told reporters: “As part of our review into the change in the threat level, police will be reviewing all events across the country.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition as the head of the Conservative Party, told Sky News: ”I think it is time to ban these marches. They’ve been given the benefit of the doubt but it is quite clear that they are used as a cover for promoting violence and intimidation against Jews.”
