Israel Balfour protest

Obsessive and suffocating, 176 anti-Israel events in a month

At the start of a recent event at the House of Parliament, an MP opened his speech by claiming it was necessary to give the argument of ‘Free Speech on Israel’ – ‘a platform’ because apparently criticism of Israel receives no airtime. The first speaker at the event, even claimed it necessary because their argument is not given ‘any form of platform’ at all.

How wrong they both are. What follows is simply a list of events. I produce it here because I believe few understand the scale of, nor the fallout from, the problem at hand.

The larger picture

The research took time, and until the very end, when I stumbled across yet another remote exhibition in a library, I knew I would never provide a complete picture. The image is of a single month, November 2017, and contains all of the ‘pro-Palestinian’ (anti-Israel) events I could find.

The big lies

The list puts paid to the ‘no platform’ lie.  Built alongside the straw man argument that ‘all criticism’ of Israel is considered antisemitism, there is a myth that anti-Israel events almost never happen. It plays on the trope of Jewish power and influence, suggesting Jews are manipulating governments into silencing legitimate criticism. This dangerous myth, even being spread by MP’s in parliament, is one of the elements behind the rise in antisemitism.

The list below shows that those claims are simply not true.  The list shows how obsessed and suffocating the anti-Israel cause is.

These events are activity from a single 30 day month – November 2017. The list of events is not complete, and I welcome any additions (seriously – contact me). Some street stalls are not advertised, some groups are closed, group names have to be known to be searchable, and some one-off events would never be picked up.

A few events are cultural or aimed as social bonding within the anti-Israel activist community, the vast majority are explicit anti-Israel events.  In a world in which the Middle East has crumbled to sectarian slaughter, this type of obsession is clearly out of place. Churches, Unions, Parliament, University – all clearly contributing to an antisemitic environment.

The anti-Israel obsession even suffocates aid and assistance for everyone else. Syrians can suffer genocide, and there is no antisemitic driver, no convenience, no opportunity and no unity, for enough people to meet to talk about it.

The list – 30 Israel hating days in November

1 Morlan Center Aberystwyth Friends of Palestine 01-Nov Bernard Regan Book Tour -Balfour
2 SOAS Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS 01-Nov Palestine: A Century of Colonialism and Resistance
3 Hull University Hull University Friends of Palestine Society 01-Nov Palestine Discussion with HUSAH
4 Investcorp Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College Oxford Ramallah Friendship Association 01-Nov Talk: Mazin Qumsiyeh – Oxford
5 Bromley by Bow Centre Palestine Solidarity Campaign and others 01-Nov Portrait of Palestine – Food and Art as Resistance
6 SOAS SOAS Centre for Palestine Studies 01-Nov Palestine: A Century of Colonialism and Resistance
7 SOAS SOAS Palestine Society 01-Nov 3rd organizing meeting
8 SOAS SOAS Palestine Society 01-Nov Creating Revolutions: Comparing Grassroot Activism in Syria and Palestine
9 UCL UCL Friends of Palestine 01-Nov 100 Shades of Grey
10 University of Sheffield University of Sheffield Palestine Society 01-Nov Palestine Society Meet and Greet
11 University of Aberdeen Aberdeen University Palestine Society 02-Nov 100 Years Since the Balfour Declaration
12 All Saints Church, Bedford Friends of Al Walaja 02-Nov Talk: Mazin Qumsiyeh – Bedford
13 North Edinburgh Arts Centre Letters from Area C 02-Nov Letters from Area C
14 public-Outside Scottish Parliament Network of Photographers for Palestine 02-Nov The Legacy of Balfour
15 P21 Gallery P21 Gallery 02-Nov Gallery Talk | Women’s Movements in Palestine
16 Scottish Parliament Peter Macdonald 02-Nov The Balfour Declaration – Citizens’ Apology
17 QMU QMU Friends of Palestine 02-Nov QMFOP Cultural Stall
18 Trinity URC St Albans Friends of Palestine 02-Nov Talk: Mazin Qumsiyeh – Israel/Palestine: is a One State outcome inevitable?
19 University of Surrey Surrey Friends of Palestine Society 02-Nov Dabke! Dance class
20 The Wanstead Tap The Lynching – Jackie Walker’s 02-Nov The Lynching – Jackie Walker’s play
21 University of Exeter University of Exeter Friends of Palestine Society 02-Nov Vigil for the Balfour Declaration
22 Marple Methodist Church Warren Bardsley 02-Nov Play: Consequences, The Trial of Arthur James Balfour
23 University of Wolverhampton Wolves Friends Of Palestine 02-Nov Meet and greet
24 Methodist Church, Walcot Bath Friends of Palestine 03-Nov Israel Unplugged
25 Public demo – Chatham House Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network 03-Nov Emergency protest: Netanyahu not welcome! Smash Balfour!
26 83 Stoke Poges Lane Slough PSC 03-Nov Slough PSC relaunch event
27 UCL UCL Friends of Palestine 03-Nov Balfour: Britain’s Burden
28 Zilkha Auditorium, Whitechapel Artists for Palestine UK 04-Nov Palestine Now- Documents of a Disappearance 1917-2017
29 Bryn Cadno (Colwyn Heights) Community Centre Conwy County Peace Group 04-Nov Balfour Declaration: 100 years of betrayal of the Palestinians
30 Public – Hastings Hastings Palestine Solidarity Campaign 04-Nov Street stall
31 Public London Various PSC + Others 04-Nov National March
32 Llandudno Junction Labour Club The Lynching – Jackie Walker’s 05-Nov Jackie Walker: ‘Lynching’ and Labour’s Troubles
33 University of Manchester Students’ Union BDS UoM 06-Nov BDS Campaign Open Meeting
34 University of Sussez Sussex Friends of Palestine Society 06-Nov Palestine Awareness Week 2017 – MAIN EVENT
35 University of Aberdeen Aberdeen University Palestine Society 07-Nov Palestinian cooking class (cancelled)
36 P21 Gallery AZ theatre 07-Nov Here There Everywhere: Gaza to London at the P21 Gallery 7-11 November
37 Toronto House Exeter PSC 07-Nov Monthly meeting
38 Middlesex University Middlesex University Free Palestine Society 07-Nov The Youth of Palestine: How the occupation is blighting their future
39 Falafel restaurant PSC Manchester 07-Nov Monthly meeting
40 Royal Albert Hall demo RCG – Revolutionary Communist Group 07-Nov Zionism is Racism: Protest the Balfour 100 Concert!
41 Strathclyde Student’s Union Strathclyde Students for Palestine 07-Nov Society Meeting 3
42 University of Sussez Sussex Friends of Palestine Society 07-Nov PAW 2017 – Film Screening – The Wanted
43 Victoria Square West Midlands Palestine Solidarity Campaign 07-Nov Lobby Council defend Free Speech on Israel
44 P21 Gallery AZ theatre 08-Nov Here There Everywhere: Gaza to London at the P21 Gallery 7-11 November
45 Cambridge University Cambridge University PalSoc & others 08-Nov Panel: BDS and The Globalised Struggle for Palestinian Rights
46 Friends Meeting House Coventry Friends of Palestine 08-Nov Bernard Regan Book Tour- Coventry
47 Chadswell, London Friends of Al Aqsa 08-Nov Volunteer With FOA (London)
48 Augustine United Church SPSC Edinburgh 08-Nov Video Link with Lenni Brenner
49 University of Sussez Sussex Friends of Palestine Society 08-Nov PAW 2017 – 100 Years of British Complicity: It Ends Now!
50 University of Central Lancashire UCLan Friends of Palestine Society 08-Nov first meet & greet
51 University of Exeter UoE Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies 08-Nov Testimonies on the First Century of Palestine
52 Kings College London KCL -‘action Palestine’ 09-Nov Why Is My University Funding Occupation?
53 P21 Gallery P21 Gallery 09-Nov Gallery Talk | Early Palestinian Photographers
54 Clementhorpe Room, Priory Street Centre York PSC 09-Nov York PSC Branch meeting
55 P21 Gallery AZ theatre 10-Nov Here There Everywhere: Gaza to London at the P21 Gallery 7-11 November
56 Kings College London KCL -‘action Palestine’ 10-Nov Segregated and Unequal: Palestinian Life In Apartheid Israel
57 Richmond Adult Community College Richmond and Kingston Palestine Solidarity Campaign 10-Nov Talk: John McCarthy – You Can’t Hide the Sun
58 University of Sussez Sussex Friends of Palestine Society 10-Nov PAW 2017: Social Evening
59 UCL UCL Friends of Palestine 10-Nov Segregated and Unequal: Palestinian Life In Apartheid Israel
60 Close Up Film Centre Artists for Palestine UK 11-Nov Suleiman’s ‘Divine Intervention’
61 P21 Gallery AZ theatre 11-Nov Here There Everywhere: Gaza to London at the P21 Gallery 7-11 November
62 Pellon Community Centre, Halifax Calderdale Palestine Film Festival 11-Nov The Idol
63 HSBC Liverpool Friends of Palestine 11-Nov Leafleting outside HSBC
64 Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester PSC Manchester & others 11-Nov Picket for Palestine: smash the Balfour Declaration!
65 Rainham School for Girls PSC? 11-Nov Bernard Regan Book Tour- Kent
66 Union Square SPSC Aberdeen 11-Nov No Profit from Occupation!
67 Cross Street Unitarian Chapel, Manchester. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) Manchester 12-Nov 100 years after Balfour – Palestine resists!
68 The Albert Room, Leeds Palestinian Film Festival 13-Nov Gaza Surf Club
69 The Calthorpe Project CADFA 14-Nov Palestinian Cookery Masterclass
70 SOAS Haymarket Books 14-Nov On Antisemitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for Justice
71 KCBNA Community Centre London Socialist Resistance 14-Nov Bernard Regan Book tour: with the London Socialist Resistance
72 Oxford University Oxford Students’ Palestine Society 14-Nov A Tradition of Campaigning for Justice
73 University of Warwick Warwick: Friends of Palestine Society & Warwick for Justice in Palestine 14-Nov Life under Israeli Occupation: Gender, Youth and Resistance
74 Bolton Socialist Club Bolton Socialist Club 15-Nov Bernard Regan – The Balfour Declaration – book tour
75 Cafe Palestina CADFA 15-Nov Film Night: Arna’s Children
76 The Cornerstone, Lancaster Faith and Justice Commission 15-Nov Robert Cohen- Balfour, May and the ‘Wrong Kind of Jews’
77 Kings College London KCL -‘action Palestine’ 15-Nov Open meeting – strategy
78 The Cornerstone Cafe Lancaster University Friends of Palestine Society 15-Nov From Balfour to May – Jewish opposition to Zionism
79 The Albert Room, Leeds Palestinian Film Festival 15-Nov Gaza Surf Club
80 Quaker House, Mutley Plain Plymouth PSC 15-Nov PSC Public Meeting
81 PSC Stall’ PSC Manchester & others 15-Nov Breakfast for Palestine
82 Queen Mary Campus RCG – Revolutionary Communist Group 15-Nov 100 years of Balfour
83 St. Marys Church Rhyl People’s Assembly 15-Nov Palestine: 50 Years of Occupation
84 SOAS SOAS Palestine Society 15-Nov Humus and Chill
85 University of Sussez Sussex Friends of Palestine Society 15-Nov PalSoc Meeting
86 University of Warwick Warwick: Friends of Palestine Society 15-Nov FoP Elections!
87 University of Aberdeen Aberdeen University Palestine Society 16-Nov Panel Talk: Crisis in Gaza
88 The Savoy Jersey Jersey Palestine Solidarity Campaign 16-Nov Balfour Declaration 100 Years On, What Is Its Legacy?
89 LSE LSE Palsoc 16-Nov LSESU Palsoc Meet and Greet
90 P21 Gallery P21 Gallery 16-Nov Book Launch | A Blade of Grass
91 Unite Office, Portsmouth Portsmouth & South Downs PSC 16-Nov Talk by Tom Suarez
92 Friends Meeting House, Manchester PSC Manchester 16-Nov Ben White- Rogue State – Israel’s Human Rights Violations And Ongoing Impunity
93 QMU QMU Friends of Palestine 16-Nov Balfour’s Centennial: What Went Wrong?
94 Dundee Central Library Dundee-Nablus Twinning Association 17-Nov 1001 Olive Trees – an event with the San Ghanny choir
95 Beccles Market Place Norwich PSC 17-Nov PSC Stall Beccles Market Day
96 Cafe Palestina CADFA 18-Nov What is Cadfa and how to get involved
97 Dundee Central Library Dundee-Nablus Twinning Association 18-Nov Nablus Exhibition – Central Library Dundee
98 Public – Hastings Hastings Palestine Solidarity Campaign 18-Nov Street stall
99 Carriageworks Leeds Palestinian Film Festival 18-Nov The Occupation of the American Mind – film & talk
100 Barnstaple High Street North Devon PSC 18-Nov Event
101 Cloverhill Village Hall Norwich PSC 18-Nov Palestine Fundraising Supper
102 SOAS SOAS School of Law 18-Nov Balfour@100: A Century of International Law In Palestine
103 Chagford Jubilee Hall, Newton Abbot Various charities – Amos Trust 18-Nov Silent Art Auction – fundraiser for women in Gaza
104 Ealing West London PSC 18-Nov Stall and leafleting
105 University of Manchester Students’ Union CAAT & BDS UoM 19-Nov Banner Making Party! Apartheid Off Campus!
106 Summerhill Church, SPSC Aberdeen 19-Nov Oppose Balfour celebrations!
107 SOAS Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS 20-Nov From Balfour to Banksy: Visions and Divisions in Palestine
108 Trafalgar Square Jews for Justice for Palestinians 20-Nov Yartzeit/Taddhakor for the children killed by the Occupation
109 George Street Social Newcastle Palestine Solidarity Campaign 20-Nov DCI Palestine Speaking Tour
110 SOAS SOAS Centre for Palestine Studies 20-Nov From Balfour to Banksy, SOAS
111 University of Exeter University of Exeter Friends of Palestine Society 20-Nov Screening of “Stories From the Intifada” Documentary
112 University of Manchester CAAT & BDS UoM 21-Nov Film Screening: Shadow World
113 Hull University Hull University Friends of Palestine Society 21-Nov FOP letters to MP’s
114 Mechanics Institute Nottingham Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign 21-Nov DCI Palestine Speaking Tour
115 Oxford Town Hall Oxford Ramallah Friendship Association 21-Nov Monthly meeting
116 Strathclyde Student’s Union Strathclyde Students for Palestine 21-Nov Last meeting of semester
117 All Saints Park, Manchester CAAT & others 22-Nov Protest: UoM Divest from Israeli War Crimes!
118 Cafe Palestina CADFA 22-Nov FIlm night: The Wanted 18
119 Oxford University Oxford Jewish Students for Justice in Palestine 22-Nov Prof Ilan Pappé: 100 Years of Balfour’s Britain
120 Oxford University Oxford Students’ Palestine Society 22-Nov Film screening – 138 pounds in my pocket
121 Westminster PSC 22-Nov Lobby of Parliament for Palestine 2017
122 private venue SPSC Edinburgh 22-Nov Branch meeting (cancelled)
123 University of Sussez Sussex Friends of Palestine Society 22-Nov PalSoc Meeting
124 University of Warwick Warwick: Friends of Palestine Society 22-Nov How brainwashed are we?
125 SOAS Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS 23-Nov Memory Metamorphosis: An Exhibition on Palestine Remembered
126 St Paul’s Church, London Friends of Alrowwad UK 23-Nov The Bethlehem Concert – London
127 Glasgow University Glasgow University Palestine Society 23-Nov ears of Gaza’ Film Screening
128 P21 Gallery Middle East Monitor (MEMO), 23-Nov 6th Annual Palestine book awards
129 Wesley Memorial Church, Oxford Oxford Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) 23-Nov Palestinian Children in Israeli Military Detention:
130 SOAS SOAS Centre for Palestine Studies 23-Nov Memory Metamorphosis: An Exhibition on Palestine Remembered
131 Dina Gallery, Sheffield The Lynching – Jackie Walker’s 23-Nov The Lynching – Jackie Walker’s play
132 University of Central Lancashire UCLan Friends of Palestine Society 23-Nov Britain and Palestine – unravelling a century
133 Clementhorpe Room, Priory Street Centre York PSC 23-Nov York PSC Branch meeting
134 Unison Offices, Cardiff Cardiff PSC 24-Nov DCI Palestine Speaking Tour
135 St Mary’s Cathedral Edinburgh action for Palestine 24-Nov Reflections on Justice & Peace In the Holy Land
136 The Old Fire Station Leeds Palestinian Film Festival 24-Nov Firefighters Under Occupation
137 Public demo -Elbit PSC Manchester & others 24-Nov Charges Dropped! Celebration/Protest at Elbit Arms Factory
138 London Interfaith Centre QMU Friends of Palestine 24-Nov A concert for Gaza’s Children
139 Showroom Cinema Cinema Palestino 25-Nov Cinema Palestino 2017: Reels of Memory
140 Glasgow Green Glasgow SPSC 25-Nov SPSC at St.Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism March & Rally!
141 White Rock Hotel, Hastings Hastings Palestine Solidarity Campaign 25-Nov State of Terror – How Terrorism Created Modern Israel, with Tom Suárez
142 , Mayfair, London Living stones of the holyland trust 25-Nov Open Day: Why do Christians in the Holy Land want Britain to recognise the State of Palestine?
143 King St Halls Orkney Friends of Palestine 25-Nov Aspects of Palestine
144 Unite Building, Birmingham West Midlands Palestine Solidarity Campaign 25-Nov DCI Palestine Speaking Tour
145 Trinity Sports Centre BDS UoM 26-Nov 5-A-Side: Football For Palestine
146 Somers Town Community Centre Camden PSC 26-Nov Festival for Palestine
147 Hyde Park Picture House Leeds Palestinian Film Festival 26-Nov The Time that Remains
148 University of Aberdeen Hosted by Elisa Marei and Sarah Schröder 27-Nov What is BDS?
149 Public Inminds 27-Nov Rag’n’Bone Man Dont Play Apartheid – London Vigil
150 Kings College London KCL -‘action Palestine’ 27-Nov Women in resistance
151 George Street Social Newcastle Palestine Solidarity Campaign 27-Nov Balfour Declaration – Palestine, Empire and Resistance
152 NUT Office Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign 27-Nov Branch Meeting
153 UCL UCL Friends of Palestine 27-Nov Culture in the Cloisters
154 University of Exeter University of Exeter Friends of Palestine Society 27-Nov Part 2 of the “Stories From the Intifada” Documentary
155 Public demonstration Brighton BDS 28-Nov Rag’n’Bone Man Dont Play Apartheid – Brighton
156 Cambridge University Cambridge University Middle East Society 28-Nov Six Day War, Fifty Years On: Prof. Khaled Fahmy on 1967
157 St OSwald’s Institute County Durham PSC 28-Nov Bernard Regan Book Tour- County Durham
158 St Stephen’s Church Hall East Kent Justice for Palestinians 28-Nov Open Bethlehem’ screening in Canterbury
159 Kings College London KCL -‘action Palestine’ 28-Nov Keffieyeh and Knafeh
160 The Willington West Midlands Palestine Solidarity Campaign 28-Nov History of Labour Party’s support for Zionism
161 Bradford Bradford PSC 29-Nov Bernard Regan – The Balfour Declaration – book tour
162 Cambridge University Cambridge University Middle East Society 29-Nov 5 Broken Cameras Film Screening
163 Friends Meeting House Coventry Friends of Palestine 29-Nov Shir Hever Talk And Booksigning
164 Palace of Westminster EuroPal Forum 29-Nov PalestineDay: How to end 70 years of injustice?
165 SOAS SOAS Palestine Society 29-Nov Society meeting
166 University of Sussez Sussex Friends of Palestine Society 29-Nov PalSoc Meeting
167 Sutton Quaker Meeting House Sutton for Peace and Justice 29-Nov Public Meeting: Palestine 100 years after Balfour
168 St Nicolas Church Hall West Surrey PSC 29-Nov Palestine: more than black and white
169 Oxford Centre Initiatives of Change UK – Oxford 29-Nov Being the Change – Britain and Palestine
170 Brunel University London Brunel Friends of Palestine 30-Nov Living In Occupied Palestine
171 Kings College London KCL -‘action Palestine’ 30-Nov Film screening
172 Otley Courthouse Leeds Palestinian Film Festival 30-Nov The Idol
173 P21 Gallery P21 Gallery 30-Nov Gallery Talk | The Balfour Declaration’s Backstage Story
174 QMU QMU Friends of Palestine 30-Nov Stories from GAZA
175 UCL UCL Friends of Palestine 30-Nov 5 Broken cameras

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40 thoughts on “Obsessive and suffocating, 176 anti-Israel events in a month

  1. I feel physically sick. Rest assured that this will be sent out widely from the Archbishop of Canterbury , politicians of major parties, Council of Christians & Jews (UK / Australia),Christians United For Israel (CUFI), journalists, broadcasters, and many others in between. There are no words to thank you for what you do David, only humble gratitude.

  2. Do you have data for the year as a whole? I am happy I now live in Canada and am icreasingly concerned for my family still in the UK

    1. Hi Daniel, I don’t have that type of data. On the one hand this month did carry two anniversaries, but on the other, I came across many groups that had events in October or have them scheduled for December, but didn’t do anything in the month I listed. I have no reason to believe this is not pretty standard for any month between September and April (May – July is university exam time + August is summer holiday).

      As for your family – there is no need to pack bags just yet. Unless they are directly involved in the struggle, or have children at school or university, it is still possible for Jews to believe everything is just fine. I believe that will change – but is still quite a way off.

      1. Thanks. I would be interested in any data especially broken down by area and other demographics.

  3. It would be interesting to have a “control” list of comparable events about, say, Syria or Yemen over the same time period. It would be a lot of work but would enhance the validity of your findings hugely.

    1. David, it is being done. I am putting the list in as an appendix in a book I am trying to complete. There are some caveats to the accuracy of the vastly smaller number of events on the situation in places like Syria + Yemen (my unfamiliarity with the groups involved for a start). The chapter that uses the list as a reference looks at the obsession through the lens of ‘institutional racism’ as detailed in the Macpherson report. It was only because I felt this appendix would be of some current use to highlight the obsession, that I released it in this form via the blog.

  4. It has to be said that November was probably not ‘typical’, because of the number of events in opposition to the Balfour Centenary celebrations. in the first week of that month.

    1. Still astonishing though .. and yes, shows their claim about ‘not being able to get a platform’ is a lie.

      But their entire existence is based on lies so it’s not really surprising.

    2. I did think of this possibility as I was going along – but I was surprised at how few university events there were (palsocs with a November free diary) & there were non campus ‘November silent’ groups that are normally active. Many groups had October and will have December events, but none in November. Groups like INMINDS who normally operate a few only had one and so on. Perhaps because of the increase in Balfour activity, regional groups took a break. For example – the single big national trip to the demo on the 4th – how many individual events that weekend would have been cancelled? In the book, perhaps I will run several months, to see if it spiked, just to set aside that argument.

  5. David are you suggesting that there should be a quota on meetings that displease the Israel lobby. Mick Davis once suggested something similar. Remember Mick Scoffie ?

        1. You obviously subscribe to the theory of the beating of a butterfly’s wings. A few edgy Jewish rads raving it up in the Shoreditch massive once a month is about the sum total of it . They still go home to break bread with their families every Friday night . Not revolutionaries – just naughty Jewish children .

          1. I don’t check out Jewishness Stephen. I leave that to obsessives like you. Thanks for the Painted Bird videos – Germany’s best known Bundist Tribute Band. I prefer to listen to Australian Pink Floyd . That way I don’t get to listen to Waters . It’s a win win

    1. No, I am suggesting people be aware that the cause could be said to be ‘institutionally racist’, even if it does not set out to be, or if some of the activists are oblivious to it. If antisemitism is in any way a cause of the conflict itself (Arab refusal to accept Jewish self rule on Muslim land or religious Islamic antisemitism), then racism stands at the heart of the conflict. The perpetuation of the conflict similarly can be viewed through that lens. The ‘exceptionalism’ Israel receives, is also a matter of convenience (NGO’s don’t operate freely in Russia, you can’t shout at Chinese Soldiers, and you don’t volunteer to go to Syria), so it is convenience (supported by additional Jew hatred) piggybacking on the results of antisemitism.

      Some of the blacks arrested by the Met were indeed criminals, but the Met was still institutionally racist. Much of the problem wasn’t even connected to the MET directly (the racist societal infrastructure that placed the non whites in the police sights in the first place). All that racism still needed to be addressed and yet nobody was suggesting the Met stop arresting criminals who happened to be black.

  6. If only the neer do wells had a merest idea of the negligible impact their posturing and petty machinations has on Israel, they would give up and do something useful with their lives. In reality BDS failures are in inverse proportion to Israel’s success.

    1. You seem to be at odds with David here Harv. David seems to be very concerned.

      ” The cause ” is not an institution David apart from the fact that there is likely not just one cause.

      But leaving that aside obviously something had to be done about the met and institutional racism. What would you like to be done about too many events that dis[lease the Israel lobby?
      Palsocs ? How many JSoc events were there last month ? Street stalls ffs ?

      Suffocating ? Only if you were compelled to attend all of these events.

      This entire post reeks of hysteria and paranoia.

      Not your finest hour David

      1. Oh Stephen, sorry to disappoint but not every piece of a jigsaw can be a corner piece, side piece, or an elusive connection between two blocks you’ve been building. Sometimes, a jigsaw piece is just another part of the sky. This is not about a ‘finest hour’, it is part of a wannabee appendix, used to (as Ian rightly points out) counter the absurd notion I had heard just two days ago in Westminster. Because I have been working on it, and the comment was made – I thought I would highlight the absurdity by posting it here.

        How many Jsoc events? Are you joking?

        As for the ’cause’ not being an institution, you are better than simply playing someone so one dimensional. You are right, something needed to be done about the Met and institutional racism, and I hope nobody fools themselves into believing that we have even begun to dig ourselves out of those holes. But the institutional racism referenced in the report, wasn’t just about the end result (the racism of the institution) – but rather the systemic societal racism that makes the black man more likely to be a Met target in the first place. ‘Society’ isn’t an institution either. If Israel is more likely to be a target of public frustration, than say Switzerland, and antisemitism is in part responsible for this (the conflict itself), then parallels can be drawn. In any event, I am currently exploring that avenue, and the list of events is simply evidence of the clear obsession’ the UK has. No more – no less.

      2. If you read my comment, I referred specifically to Israelis , not David and not grass roots Uk Zionists. We may be concerned but the fact is you and your ilk are of zero consequence to Israel . You don’t exist. I suggest you try reading what’s there and not what’s in your warped hate filled imagination.

        1. Harv I am as interested in what is of conseqence to Israel or Israelis as I am in the results of last Sundays results in the 4th division of the Albanian basket league.

          1. Lol . You obviously do otherwise you wouldn’t be obsessing about it here on a constant basis . We are what sustains you . It’s cathartic for you to vent your hate on this site and it beats visiting a shrink . Cheaper too

          2. Harv I don’t obsess about Israel. Israel, like apartheid South Africa will implode under the weight of it’s racist contradictions. My concern is the assault on hard won civil liberties in the UK by its front orgs, in the meantime.

  7. Taking your disingenuous trousers out for a spin Bellers? You are well aware that the purpose of the piece is a response to the suggestion that limited time is given to “Free Speech on Israel” and that the argument is “not given any platform at all. David simply presents examples that show the contrary. Not really a hysterical response or paranoia is it really? Just showing that a statement is inaccurate. isn’t he? Come on Bellers, unlike the more primitive trolls here you do have a go from time to time but even you can play a better game than this.

    1. Ian I am not budging an inch on this. Ordinarily I would have said a centimetre but what with brexit and all. I avoid being gratuitously offensive to David because he passes my 4 hours in the pub test. And at the end of the day there are ultimately two kinds of people in the world. Those that pass the test and those that don’t.

      This is awful. Ten plagues bad.

      1. Bellers your budgies are of no interest to me at all. We both know that we don’t come here to change minds as much as we’re aware of our respective roles here, aren’t we?

        Fair play to you though. Anticipating that anyone would spend 4 hours in the pub with you has restored my faith in the power of boundless optimism.

          1. I do Bellers. But as a diagnosed ornithobic I got sidetracked when you mentioned your budgie.

      2. “Not budging”, even! You stand by the Jew-smear that the “Israel Lobby’ is controlling and repressing you even though David has just proven that the “repressed” party is goose-stepping freely all over town… Yet you call *David*’ paranoid / hysterical!

        Truly, you would be a harmless pub joker, except that your same paranoia/hysteria is exactly what had Nazis “defending themselves” against Jewish infants….which is why David is indeed the clear-thinking one; not you.

        My advice: keep your antisemitism. But at least improve your talking points. Not everyone is an idiot.

  8. I think there is an upside to this. As the government morphs into a Nazi state with laser like focus on one thing and only one thing – the extermination of all the Jews in a far off country that the UK government has no control over then it’s lost track, lost interest in doing anything about the UK in the UK. Let everything implode in flames at home. Let everything fail. Let the social clock in Britain unwind a thousand years. All I ask, all anyone asks, is that as you become a third world nation, abandon your nuclear weapons before you return to the Dark Ages. Beyond that? Good luck and godspeed. When you kill the last person who remembers how to keep the lights on, you squat around the dung fire and shake your fists at Allah.

Comments are closed.