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Kaddish For Gaza activist leads Jewish Book Week protest against Melanie Phillips and Douglas Murray
They unfurled a banner at the event saying 'Say No To Islamophobia'
March 4, 2020 11:18
They unfurled a banner at the event saying 'Say No To Islamophobia'
March 4, 2020 11:18An anti-Zionist activist - who was among those who sparked outrage with the "Kaddish for Gaza" demonstration in Parliament Square – led a protest at Jewish Book Week against the appearance of Melanie Phillips and Douglas Murray.
Rob Abrams and three colleagues unveiled a banner on Tuesday evening at JW3 that said: “Say No To Islamophobia”.
They also shouted “solidarity with trans people as well” as they tried to disrupt the event.
The activists, who belong to the Jewish Solidarity Action (JSA) group which was previously known as Jews Against Boris, were eventually escorted out of the hall with audience members shouting: “Just go home”.
On social media, JSA later announced: “Tonight JSA disrupted a talk by Melanie Phillips and Douglas Murray at Jewish Book Week because we will not stand by while our communal spaces legitimise Islamophobia and bigotry.
“At a time where our Muslim siblings are facing unprecedented levels of hate crime, we have a responsibility to show and stand up against racism, especially when it is coming from our own community.”
Mr Abrams, who co-founded the anti-Occupation Naamod UK group, later wrote: “Just got kicked out of Jewish Book Week.
“We refuse to tolerate Islamophobia, transphobia and hate. This kind of bigotry is not acceptable and should have no place in our community.”
Mr Murray later tweeted to thank "the capacity audience" at the event and Ms Phillips for the "questions and debate".
Ms Phillips told the Jewish News: "As the audience who called for these intruders to be thrown out made very clear, their attempt to smear and intimidate stands directly against the Jewish ethic of truth-telling, reasoned discussion and resistance to bigotry."
In May 2018, Mr Abrams was among a group of activists who said kaddish for 62 Palestinians, including members of Hamas, who were killed in clashes with Israeli forces on the Gaza border that month.
He later wrote: "Our detractors claim we are desecrating Jewish practice by using the kaddish prayer.
"Saying kaddish was an expression of our profound heartbreak at senseless loss of life and a community that seems to have given up on the project of peace and justice in Israel-Palestine.”
On January 30, Mr Abrams wrote on Twitter: “The majority of the non-Jews who’ve fashioned themselves as saviours against antisemitism themselves hold core beliefs that are fundamentally antisemitic.”
He is an outspoken supporter of Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long Bailey.
He wrote in January: “Genuinely just forgot Keir Starmer’s name and referred to him as goyishe Ed Miliband.”
