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Reader clarifies that antisemitism is 'not the same as opposition to the Israeli government'
Martin (MetroTalk, Mon) calls for a pause on the pro-Palestinian marches out of compassion for the Jewish community following the Manchester synagogue terror attack.
He says ‘the Jewish community in the UK are not responsible for what’s happening in the Middle East’ and it’s time to stop ‘the posturing and politicising of what’s happening over there’.
The murders in Manchester were an act of antisemitism. Antisemitism is prejudice against Jews. It is not the same as opposition to the Israeli government.
Our protests in London on Saturday were against the Israeli government perpetrating a genocide in Gaza and against the British government suppressing peaceful dissent.
We are not against Jews. We are for peace and freedom for all people. We have nothing to do with the Manchester attack and in no way do we support it. We stand for peace. The perpetrator of that attack was a violent terrorist.
Israel does not stand for Jewish people. Israel is not the same as Judaism. A few people seem to think that these things are one and the same, and that an attack on Israel is an attack on Judaism, and vice versa. But saying that is in itself antisemitic, as it attributes the actions of a rogue state to the members of a whole religion.
The large number of fellow Jews at the protests for Palestine would agree. Charlie Parrett, Stoke
‘The Met is choosing which laws to enforce and which to ignore’, says reader
Last week, my local café was broken into and the takings were stolen.
When the staff reported this to the police, they were told that there’s a lot of it going on. The police did nothing. At the weekend, the same police force staged a mass deployment of officers to arrest people for holding up placards saying they support Palestine Action.
Since the Met is choosing which laws to enforce and which to ignore, why doesn’t it enforce the ones that matter and ignore this silly, unjust and completely unnecessary one?
That would send a much-needed message to the government that it cannot abuse its position to silence dissent. James, Orpington
Is the police’s treatment if peaceful protestors damaging UK’s global reputation?
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I was appalled to receive a text from my nephew in Norway, reading: ‘Bizarre and scary pictures from England in Norwegian media. Old people, disabled, vicars and people in wheelchairs being arrested and taken away for peacefully demonstrating against genocide.’
That’s quite an impression we are making around the world – and not, I think, a good one. Molly Neville, Sheffield
Reader says anti-genocide protestors are ‘in support of Hamas’
It is absolutely shameful that the mobs who have been marching in support of Hamas for the past two years decided to stage more protests on the anniversary of the Palestinian group’s murderous attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
And it is especially shameful in light of the fact that there is a real chance talks currently taking place could bring an end to the war that has seen millions of Gazans displaced or killed – many of them women and children.
‘Celebrating’ (for that is exactly what the protesters are doing) the murder of 1,200 Israelis and the taking of more than 200 hostages will do nothing to help the peace talks – just the opposite, in fact!
It really is time for the government to redefine ‘peaceful protest’. A protest is not ‘peaceful’ just because those taking part do not resort to violence or damage property. Stirring up racial or religious hatred, or bigotry of any kind, is also violence – and those doing so should feel the full weight of the law.
Indeed, we should go further and make the organisers of marches responsible for the behaviour. Bob Readman, Sevenoaks
‘As long as the government arrests and demonises people calling out for peace, it is perpetuating this cycle of killing’, says reader
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood and prime minister Sir Keir Starmer are trying to exploit the appalling killings at Manchester’s Heaton Park Synagogue, for their own agenda – suggesting that this atrocity somehow makes it inappropriate to protest against genocide and for the lifting of the ban on Palestine Action.
In reality, we all know that violence fosters violence. As Pope Francis said, we need to ‘take the side of peace’.
The killing of Israelis, the killing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and the killing in Manchester are all linked.
As long as the government arrests and demonises people calling out for peace, it is perpetuating this cycle of killing. Dr Bob Banks, Grindleford
Reader warns against crackdowns on freedom of expression
Anyone who thinks we need more crackdowns on freedom of expression should remember two things.
Firstly, that fewer opportunities to protest peacefully will only make people more resentful and, secondly, that more police at protests means less police to stop real crime. Caitlyn, Beeston
‘Home secretary is doing more than the protestors to stir up fear’, says reader
I have been to many of these peaceful protests with friends and family, including young children.
Many Jewish people are among the protesters. This has been totally misrepresented by the home secretary, who is doing more than the protesters to stir up fear. Dr Sue Roffey, London
Reader says ‘Palestinians have wasted every single opportunity offered to them’
Louis (MetroTalk, Mon) says ‘constant meddling’ has prevented Palestinians from governing their own land.
But it is Palestinians who have wasted every single opportunity offered to them.
If they’d said ‘yes’ to the UN Partition Plan in 1947 they could have spent the past almost 80 years building their own state alongside that of Israel.
Instead they said ‘no’ and were taken over not by Israel but by Egypt and Jordan.
Since then they’ve said ‘no’ to the chance of their own state on multiple occasions. When Israel pulled out of Gaza completely in 2005, what did the Gazans do? They voted in Hamas who set about building infrastructure designed for warfare.
If Palestinian people want a state, they need to change course and vote for coexistence with their neighbours, not annihilation of them. Sally, London
Reader defends Tony Blair as a peace negotiator
I am no uncritical admirer of Tony Blair but Louis’ attack on him, and the proposal that he oversees a post-war Gaza, is unjust.
Louis writes from County Down – can he deny that Blair was a prime mover in the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement, that put an end to decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland?
Less well known, perhaps, is Blair’s part in putting an end to a bloody civil war in Sierra Leone in 2002 – to the extent that newborn Sierra-Leonean boys were named after him. Peter Bavington, London
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