LONDON In Britain, the Gaza war heats up the atmosphere enormously more than in Finland. The weekend demonstrations in favor of a cease-fire in Gaza gather hundreds of thousands of protesters in London.
Britain’s conservative government is annoyed by the protests. It has criticized them as hate marches that frighten Jews so much that they don’t dare to move around the city.
– What started as protests in the streets has slipped into threats and the planning of violent attacks, said the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently.
A wide range of people have participated in the protests, and there are also Jews demanding a cease-fire in Gaza.
However, the government considers the demonstrations to be a worrying start to extremist activity, which it plans to curb now with new restrictions. The definition of extreme activity has been changed.
The authorities have also ordered the removal of Palestinian flags, which have been raised on street poles and windows in London’s Muslim-majority neighborhoods.
The minister considers the marchers blue-eyed
In Britain, the situation in Gaza is more prominent than the war in Ukraine. Gaza is constantly in the headlines in the media and causes controversy in communities.
Minister of Local Affairs Michael Gove said in the Sunday Telegraphthat the protests are led by persons belonging to extremist movements.
– They are attended by good-hearted people who are touched by suffering and who want peace. “Maybe they should ask who is organizing these marches,” Gove told the paper.
The police have not stopped the demonstrations that have continued since October, despite the ministers’ demands. It has reminded them that they went peacefully. In February, only 12 people were arrested in a demonstration of a couple of hundred thousand people for disorderly conduct or slogans considered anti-Semitic.
According to Gove, the conflict in the Middle East has sharpened the dividing lines in British society. Because of the conflict in Gaza, MPs have been threatened and protesters have rushed to council meetings.
– Elected representatives perform like a trapeze, fearing that they will say something wrong and offend one or the other party, Gove said last week when presenting the new definition of extremism in parliament.
Ministers are particularly annoyed by the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. Critics interpret the phrase to mean a wish for Israel’s destruction.
According to the protesters, the phrase only calls for justice for the Palestinians. The police have not interfered with signs containing the slogan due to freedom of speech.
Only ideology is now counted as extreme activity
Due to the tension that has grown since October, the government has now tightened the definition of extremist activity so that extremism is considered not only concrete actions but also ideology.
Extremism is defined as ideas that seek to deny the rights and freedoms of others or undermine Britain’s liberal parliamentary democracy.
Organizations defined as promoting extremism do not receive public funding, and the public authorities may not have anything to do with them. Suspected organizations are not declared illegal, but their names are made public.
Michael Gove considers the extremist activities of Islamist and Nazi groups to be a threat in particular. They operate legally in Britain. However, according to Gove, they are pushing to replace democracy with their own ideology, so they must be blocked.
In his speech to parliament, Gove named three Islamic groups and two far-right groups.
The government’s new definition of extremism has been criticized, among others, by three ministers of the interior of the former ruling conservative party. Also the Archbishops of Canterbury and York Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell say in their statement that the government’s actions threaten freedom of speech and the right to demonstrate peacefully.
– The danger is that it will disproportionately target Muslim communities, which are already experiencing growing hatred and mistreatment, the archbishops write on its website.
Hate acts against Jews and Muslims increased
Hate acts and speech against Jews and Muslims have multiplied in Britain since last October.
Investigating the growth of Islamophobia According to the Tell Mama organization hate speech and acts against Muslims have tripled compared to the previous year since Hamas’ attack on Israel in October. In the course of four months, 2,010 hate crimes came to its attention.
According to the Community Security Trust, there have been 2,699 anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish acts from the beginning of October to mid-February, says The Times magazine.
Dozens of politicians resigned because of the Gaza crisis
Even those in power argue about Gaza openly. Both the ruling Conservative Party and the opposition Labor Party have had to expel and reprimand their own members for anti-Semitic or anti-Islamic comments.
Sixty members of the Labor Party in local councils have resigned from the party, considering its leadership to be too pro-Israel.
The dispute has also led to the strengthening of the far-right and far-left ahead of the parliamentary elections. A prominent Member of Parliament dismissed by the Conservative Party Lee Anderson joined the far-right Reform UK party.
Far leftist George Galloway won the by-election when the Labor Party withdrew its own candidate from the race because of his anti-Israel comments.