A protester ranted that Sir Keir Starmer’s wife is an illegal immigrant who takes their children to a “synagogue of Satan”, as tens of thousands marched through London against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Taking place on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which saw Britain express support for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, the demonstrators walked from Whitehall to the American embassy.
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said this was designed to, “demand an end to Britain’s historic and ongoing complicity in Israel’s genocide” from its main backer.
At a “die in” outside Downing Street, dozens of people lay on the ground to commemorate the civilians killed by Israel in Gaza.
According to the enclave’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas, over 42,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict. Several academics have, however, described the numbers put out by Hamas – widely used by the international media – as statistically impossible.
Our die in outside Downing Street to commemorate the over 42,000 Palestinian men, women and children who have been slaughtered by Israel - which @Keir_Starmer STILL refuses to call a genocide. The British government must #StopArmingIsraelNOW pic.twitter.com/JRBpxIVBuN
— Palestine Solidarity Campaign (@PSCupdates) November 2, 2024
One protester, clad entirely in black and largely ignored by the crowd around him, was filmed shouting: "The child trafficking Israelis. Keir Starmer's wife has an Israeli passport. She is an illegal immigrant. From now on, you have to tell anyone, ‘your daddy is Tommy Robinson, your mummy is Keir Starmer’s wife.’
"She takes her children to the synagogue of Satan… Tell everyone the truth.”
Speaking at the march, Ben Jamal, the PSC's director, said history would condemn Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy for their support of Israel “barbarism”.
“We will not succumb to despair. We will maintain unity,” he said. “We will not stop until the 107 year struggle for justice is concluded and the day of liberation arrives.”
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “We will never walk away from the people of Palestine.”
A group of activists holding a banner reading, "from Manchester to Jenin for resist for Falasteen [Palestine]," banged drums and chanted.
Another demonstrator was filmed holding a red-and-white kefiyah in the shape of a triangle, a shapeand colour which has been used in Hamas videos to indicate Israeli forces targeted by the terror group.
The Metropolitan police said that two people were arrested after being observed carrying a placard suspected of expressing support for a proscribed organisation.
Some marched with a Palestine Action banner while chanting in support of an "intifada".
The group claimed responsibility yesterday for a campaign of vandalism that saw the offices of pro-Israel organisations sprayed with red paint and a bust of Israel’s first president stolen from Manchester University.
Palestine Action shared footage online showing two people wearing balaclavas using hammers to smash into a glass cabinet inside the chemistry faculty at Manchester University and seizing a sculpture of Chaim Weizmann’s head.
This man is parading the streets of London on the first day of Islamophobia Awareness month shouting about 'the Synagogue of Satan'
— Adam The Apostate (@The1Apostate) November 2, 2024
Why is there no antisemitism awareness this month? Is this what we are now going to expect to have to put up with on our streets? pic.twitter.com/wh83hhNFSK
Another man at the London protest wore a t-shirt featuring a swastika that read: "WW2 [World War Two] 1939/1945 Nazi genocide in Europe. Nakba 1948/Gaza 2024. Genocide in Palestine. Stop all now.”
Near the march, a small group of pro-Israel counterprotesters gathered to wave Israeli flags and display a banner with images of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7.
