Demonstrators at London anti-Israel rally call for another intifada and recite antisemitic “From the river to the sea” chant
Last night, an anti-Israel protest outside the Embassy of Israel in London attended by hundreds featured calls for another intifada and the antisemitic “From the river to the sea” chant.
Volunteers from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit were present at the protest to gather evidence.
The chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was heard throughout the rally.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state — and its replacement with a State of Palestine — and is thus an attempt to deny Jews, uniquely, the right to self-determination, which is a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.
According to the Definition, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is an example of antisemitism.
Calls for another “intifada” were also heard, with the claim that there is “only one solution”. The “intifada” is widely understood as the campaign of Arab terrorist violence against Jewish Israeli targets in the early 2000s that claimed hundreds of civilian lives and brought an end to the peace process.
Incendiary signs were also present, including ones denouncing Zionism as “terrorism” and claims that Israel is a “terrorist state”.
The event featured a variety of speakers, including antisemitic former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Director Ben Jamal, and National Education Union President Louise Atkinson.
PSC Chair Kamel Hawwash also spoke, where, in breach of the Definition, he claimed that Israel was “a racist state”.
A month-long investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism in 2017 exposed extensive antisemitic bigotry amongst PSC supporters on social media. Earlier this year, a PSC branch published an Instagram post calling Zionists “brainwashed racists” who should be fired from their places of work.
In May, an anti-Israel rally held outside Downing Street featured several signs comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
Similar signs and chants were on display at April’s “Al Quds Day” rally in central London.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over five hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than five times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
