By, Jonathan Kalmus
1 min read
ByJonathan Kalmus, Jonathan Kalmus
Chancellor George Osborne has condemned attacks against Jews.
In a message to participants at Sunday's Say No to Antisemitism rally, Mr Osborne said: “Whatever one's views about the politics of Israel and Gaza there is absolutely no place in our country for antisemitic attacks.”
An estimated 2000 people attended the demonstration in central Manchester, with communal leaders and MPs among the speakers.
Mr Osborne's statement was read out by local Labour MP Ivan Lewis, who said antisemitism must be met with cross-party support from MPs.
Board of Deputies' vice president Jonathan Arkush told the crowd that the House of Commons vote recognising a Palestinian state saw “members of Parliament lined up to direct bigotry and bile solely at the world's only Jewish state”.
“It was a was a depressing and shameful spectacle which only served to demonstrate the shocking ignorance of too many of our elected members of Parliament,” he added.
His remarks were greeted with cheers.
Speeches were also given by MPs Jim Murphy and Graham Evans.
Manchester Representative Council's vice president Jonny Wineberg said the Crown Prosecution Service had been wrong not to take action against Respect MP George Galloway over his speech in August calling for Bradford to be an Israel-free zone.
Chaim Ferster, a Holocaust survivor now in his nineties, struggled to contain his emotion in a rousing speech recounting how his pre-war life was destroyed by racists.
“I'm not here to scare you about the recent upsurge in antsemitism here or to say we are going down that same fate. But antisemitism has evolved, Zionism has become a dirty word to beat us with, and we need to reclaim it,” he told the crowd.
Demonstrators came from Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Wales to attend the rally, which was organised by North West Friends of Israel.
There were no reports of any incidents.
Days before the event, antisemitic grafitti was daubed on the tarmac of a street in Prestwich, north Manchester.
