Tamimi leads pro-Palestinian march in London

MARCY OSTER

The marchers called for a “free Palestine” for a “right of return” for Palestinians, and for the end to “unprecedented attacks on Palestinians by Israel”.

The event, which marks the 71st anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, referring to the formation of the state of Israel, was organised by the Palestine Campaign with the support of Stop the War Coalition, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al-Aqsa, and the Muslim Association of Britain, as well as several trade unions and the Momentum faction of the British Labour Party.

The march was led by Ahed Tamimi, the activist teen who became a Palestinian national symbol after being jailed in Israel for aggravated assault, hindering a soldier in the line of duty, incitement, threatening a soldier’s life and rock throwing, including one incident caught on video in which she slapped a soldier. She was in South Africa in 2017 on a speaking tour.

At the protest, Tamimi called herself a freedom fighter and stated, “From the river, to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

A small counter-protest was held by pro-Israel activists, according to the United Kingdom Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a far-left and anti-Israel politician who has faced allegations that he himself is promoting anti-Semitism in Labour, offered his support to the demonstrators in a statement that he also posted on Facebook.

“We cannot stand by or stay silent at the continuing denial of rights and justice to the Palestinian people,” Corbyn said. “The Labour Party is united in condemning the ongoing human-rights abuses by Israeli forces, including the shooting of hundreds of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza – most of them refugees or families of refugees – demanding their rights.”

“Last week’s escalation of violence, during raids on Gaza, killing 25 Palestinians, and four Israelis, is both distressing and dangerous, and a reminder of the risk that full-scale conflict can return at any time,” Corbyn also said. He pointed out that a Labour government would recognise a Palestinian state, and return to “meaningful negotiations”.

During the march, Glyn Secker, the secretary of the Jewish Voice for Labour, made a speech, which was met with loud applause and cheers, claiming that Jews were “in the gutter” and “part of the problem”.

He also accused “American rabbis” of fuelling the neo-Nazis behind anti-Semitic terrorism, including the fatal terrorist attack on Poway synagogue in the United States, and claimed that they were “unleashing the extreme-right to win key votes in marginal states which determine the presidency”, according to the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.

He called the 119 Labour legislators who are “friends of Israel” a “fifth column in the Labour Party”.