Many of you may have seen the images from the Finchley protest – and counter protest last week. The anti-Israel mob decided to target the Phoenix Cinema in Finchley. It was a night a film covering the Hamas Supernova Festival massacre of October 7 was showing. Because of the incredible turnout of Jews (and their allies) for the counter-protest – and the fact the anti-Israel gang eventually needed to be escorted away – some even labelled it a historic ‘Jewish Revolt‘.

But I am not here to reinforce what may well turn into an urban legend (hey – news is bad so often these days we can be forgiven for overplaying something positive). My role – as always – is to look at the other side. In this case highlight some of the ignorance, hypocrisy, naivety and stupidity that was displayed by anti-Israel activists who were in Finchley that night – standing on the other side of the road.

Finchley and the ‘community of the good’

Because I have been around (and inside) the anti-Israel crowd for years, I sometimes see things others may not. And the hypocrisy, naivety, ignorance, double standards & antisemitism of the protests is everywhere I look. Take this photo. Three people are of interest to us. The woman on the right, the man in the London cycling t-shirt and the woman behind him on the left:

The man in the t-shirt appears to be the 2015 Green Candidate for Hendon – Ben Samuel. He is firmly convinced he is in the ‘community of the good’ – and here he is feeling all morally superior while facing Niaz – an Iranian anti-regime activist.

Ben has no real answer to her argument – as some naive and foolish white guy from London – what can he possibly say to a woman who actually knows the Middle East and personally fights for freedom against the brutal Iranian regime? He mostly just stays silent – and every now and again dismissively points to the other side of the road – indicating that she is morally beneath him and Niaz isn’t welcome alongside him in the community of the good. Instead, he thinks she belongs with the ‘bad guys’ – the supporters of Israel.

And the not so good

Standing directly behind ‘Saint Ben’ in the ‘community of the good’ is the antisemite Carol Foster. Foster was an admin for the toxic Palestine Live Facebook group. She personally penned this poem about the ‘demonic’ Jewish lobby and how these demon Jews need to be ‘robbed’ of their power:

There is absolutely no intention to suggest that Ben is aware that Foster is a rabid antisemite. That isn’t the point. Saint Ben is so blinded by the rabbit hole he has fallen down – he automatically considers Carol a ‘good egg’ – simply because she is standing in the Finchley protest holding the right poster. In fact – antisemitic Carol was the first person Ben smiled at and spoke to after he locked up his bike – just seconds before telling Niaz to go away and leave the ‘community of the good’ alone.

As a side-note – Carol got her Nakba poster from ex-Barnet Momentum chair Fred Leplat who was busy handing them out. Leplat was expelled from the Labour Party in 2018.

Finchley protest – the comical and the unacceptable

Two more images I quickly want to share from the Finchley event. The first because I found it so comical. At one point, as the police moved the anti-Israel protestors across a street, I spotted this in the crowd. These two white girls are the ones holding the big ‘Black Jewish Alliance’ banner aloft – one on the left side of the banner – and the other on the right. Seems the group was short of black members on that day.

The second image is far less amusing. There were not 1000s of protestors – at most the anti-Israel activists had 150 or so. I saw this guy several times. The police must have seen him too. And yet at no point does he appear to have been stopped and confronted about his full face covering. In these dangerous times we need the police to do their job:

Ignorance beyond all reason

But the real reason I am writing this piece is because I want to focus on one particular exchange. It involved a local woman who turned up to oppose ‘Apartheid Israel’. We all know most anti-Israel activists do not have a clue about what is really taking place. It is quite frightening that armed only with lies – some people are willing to actively campaign to destroy a democracy.

Listen to this conversation. An exchange involving a local anti-Israel activist and someone from the pro-Israel camp:

It is the absolute certainty that is frightening.

This woman has turned up to protest a cinema that is showing a movie about a massacre of Jews on October 7. Imagine the conviction it must need to take such a position over such a tragic event. But when you hear her talk – and you listen to her certainty – you realise how much of a cult anti-Israel activism has become. She really is clueless – and yet there she is – outside the cinema – spouting baseless propaganda- ‘absolutely’ certain that Israeli Apartheid exists, and positive that Israel – the ONLY DEMOCRACY in the entire MENA region – will be removed from the map for it. How is this not a dangerous cult?

The Nation-State Law

This is the law she refers to in her argument. In 2018 Israel passed a law – the Nation-State Law intended to curb a war of attrition that hostile NGOs and a left wing judiciary were carrying out against Israel. The Jewish nature of the state was not a 2018 invention. The United Nations embedded it within the very partition vote that led to Israel’s creation – and the Jewish state is explicitly referenced in the 1948 declaration of Independence.

The law is about the NATURE OF THE STATE – and has no impact AT ALL on individual liberties and the rights of Israeli citizens.

So despite being ‘absolutely certain’ – she is completely wrong.

The example of Slovakia

Many nations created in the 20th century refer to the right of self-determination. Take the 1992 Slovak declaration of independence. It is all there – the natural right of the Slovaks for self-determination in their historical homeland – whilst also recognising the rights of non-Slovaks who live there. This IS NOT APARTHEID – and only an idiot would say it was.

Yet our friendly neighbourhood Israel-hater is ‘absolutely certain’ – that Israel inside the 1949 armistice lines – pracitices Apartheid.

Even learning the truth at this point is unlikely to help. Her paradigm is so firmly embedded (it has to be if she is protesting films being shown in Finchley about the massacre of October 7) – she will do what Kuhnian philospohical arguments tell us she will do – she will rationalise the error and find another bit of propaganda to bolt on – all so she can maintain the ‘false science’ of ‘Apartheid Israel’ that she so strongly believes in.

This level of naivety, hypocrisy, gullibility and ignorance is what we are fighting. Onwards and upwards.

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