'Pain' of Israel-Gaza war fuels divisions in tense London

Call for people in UK to unite or at least consider their neighbours amid rising tension and hate crimes

A demonstrator at a protest in solidarity with Palestinians, in London. Reuters

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Raissa, a British-Iraqi in her mid-30s, has attended all of the national demonstrations for Palestine since the onset of the Israel-Gaza war with a sense of pride in the solidarity shared on the marches.

“I have walked alongside Muslims, Jews, Hindus, old people, young people, families with children and babies,” she said. “The diversity of the people attending the protests is really visible."

The huge turnout at these protests reminded Raissa of those opposing the US-led war on Iraq in 2003, when hundreds of thousands of people marched through London.

“When the Iraq war happened I was too young to engage and protest," she said. "Now seeing this, as an Iraqi, I feel a sense of responsibility. This is what happened to us."

Ahead of this weekend, commemoration of the First World War Armistice, the issue of pro-Palestinian marches is top of the UK news agenda. Organisers are proposing a 5km demonstration on Saturday that culminates at the US embassy in Vauxhall. The government has called for the weekly march to be scrapped to recognised the national importance of remembrance.

It is not the first controversy to surround the demonstrations that have taken place each weekend since the October 7 Hamas attacks. Raissa has sought inspiration to keep going to the mass marches. She was moved by social media posts from Palestinians in Gaza, who wrote that seeing the large turnout in support of a ceasefire had given them hope.

Raissa has saved screenshots of these on her phone, to remind herself why she is marching. “I can’t imagine how isolating it must be for them. If that provides anyone with a sense of solidarity, then that makes it all worth it,” she said.

But Raissa – like many people of Arabic heritage approached for this story – declined to give her full name because of the fear of the stigma associated with the Palestinian solidarity movement in the UK.

Some frontline British politicians have clamoured for a tough police response to the marches, warning of community division and a spillover of fear for Jewish residents of the city.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman went as far as describing them as “hate marches”.

The charge is one that angers Raissa, who fears it is the politicians who are pitting communities against each other.

Ms Braverman "is the only one spreading hate, it’s so beautiful to see everyone coming together for something like this", she said.

Rabbi Jeremy Gordon, who has spoken at vigils for Israel, and has made calls on behalf Noam Sagi, a British-Israeli whose mother remains in Hamas captivity, takes a different line from Raissa and Ms Braverman.

The leader of the New London Synagogue told The National cross-community empathy was needed.

“Its really important that when we speak we are careful about the language that we use,” Rabbi Gordon said, because messages can be easily misconstrued.

“The chant ['From the river to the sea'] is understood within the Jewish community as a call for the elimination of Israel. It’s also clear that not everyone [at the pro-Palestine protests] means that.”

A concern often raised about the protests is limited acknowledgement of the Israeli hostages still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

“We have to acknowledge both our own pain and the pain of other people,” Rabbi Gordon said. "It's important that we acknowledge the sanctity of human life."

A member of his own congregation has been the victim of anti-Semitic and hateful remarks.

“Clearly that’s not what the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims in London are doing,” he said.

The government had urged pro-Palestine protesters to delay the march planned for Armistice Day on Saturday but police have confirmed it will go ahead as planned.

Simmering community tension and a rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim attacks in the capital have led to a public debate about the rallies.

Some demonstrators appeared to be showing support for the actions of Hamas, a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, causing public outcry.

The fallout from the Israel-Gaza war is being felt on London’s streets, as protesters gather weekly in support of either Israel or Palestine, with some fearing for their safety and others for their right to speak out against the fighting.

London resident Amanda had never taken part in public demonstrations about Israel before the October 7 attack by Hamas.

But on Tuesday, she was outside Downing Street with hundreds of Israeli expatriates and members of London’s Jewish community to mark a month since the assault.

“This is the least I can do, to be here and to show my support,” Amanda told The National.

She has been out at these vigils each week, demanding the release of about 240 hostages still held by Hamas, and commemorating the 1,400 Israelis who were killed.

The hundreds of thousands of people in central London demonstrations, meanwhile, condemn Israel’s assault on the enclave, which has killed more than 10,300 Palestinians, including 4,327 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

UK Justice Secretary Alex Chalk acknowledged that many of the protesters were simply expressing their grief about the loss of life in Gaza.

But Mr Chalk warned the rallies may become tainted by those espousing a “toxic” ideology.

“There are elements on these marches that, I’m afraid, are exposing hate,” he told the BBC.

"Equally, there will be those people who are there expressing their anguish at the untold suffering.

“Those who do attend these marches will want to consider carefully whether they are intentionally – or more likely unintentionally – giving help or encouragement or supporting those people who are really espousing some toxic, hate-filled and really corrosive ideology.”

Those calling for a ceasefire in Gaza say they are being unfairly portrayed and fear that support for Palestinians is being silenced.

Community tensions have come to the fore. The city has recorded a 14-fold increase in anti-Semitic attacks and a tripling of hate crimes against Muslims, the Met Police chief has said.

People at the vigil for Israel described living in fear for the past month, due to the rise in anti-Semitism.

The Holocaust Memorial Library was smeared with the red paint, while the words “Death to the Jews” and a swastika were scrawled in the toilets of a North London school.

And a woman wearing a hijab in West Yorkshire last month was attacked by a man who threw a concrete paving slab at her head.

This mood had left Rabbi Gordon fearful of the future relations of Jewish, Arab and Muslim communities in the UK.

“I have felt alert in myself, thinking 'do these people hate me and do they think that I hate them'," he said. "I am not used to feeling that, I find it very sad and very worrying."

Rabbi Gordon also hopes that civil society will come together and “not give up" on the possibility of peace in Israel and among communities in the UK.

“There are people within the Jewish community who despite the fear and atrocities of October 7 still believe there is some kind of shared future, built on the importance of civic society,” he said.