Oxford Street protesters decry M&S as symbol of “British collaboration with the racist State of Israel”
The Oxford Street branch of Marks and Spencer was picketed by anti-Israel protesters bearing incendiary signs and calling for another intifada yesterday.
Volunteers from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit were present at the protest to gather evidence.
Video footage from the demonstration — organised by the Revolutionary Communist Group — shows someone delivering a speech in which they shout: “Victory to the intifada.”
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.
The same person can also be seen saying: “M&S is a symbol on our high streets of British collaboration with the racist, settler State of Israel.”
Several inflammatory signs were also present at the protest, including one bearing the words “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
“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.
The speeches were made in front of a large tarpaulin that said “Zionism is racism”.
Another sign read “Break from the Zionist Labour Party”, whilst placards depicting further support for another intifada were also brandished.
Additionally, support for Leila Khaled, a convicted terrorist, plane hijacker and member of the violent Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who took part in two terrorist hijackings in 1969 and 1970, was on display.
Last month, 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.
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.
