Violence, politicians, marches

Violence against Jews in UK has generated a lot of anger, fear and anxiety

May 2026

The 126th peace vigil in Salisbury took place on Saturday 2 May with around 30 present. It passed without incident. A video of the event is available here courtesy of Peter Gloyns. It took place at the end of a week in which a man attacked two Jewish men in Golders Green* and has been charged with attempted murder. Jews living in the area are reported to be fearful and places like synagogues are surrounded by security fences to protect them against attack. It follows other attacks against people and property and has resulted in the threat level being raised to ‘severe’.

The attacks have generated a huge amount of comment. It is perhaps unfortunate that the attack took place only days away from local elections which has led politicians to jostle with one another to make statements and promises some of which are regrettable.

We should not need reminding that article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and article 9 of the Human Rights Act both of which say that everyone has freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In passing we might want to reflect on the fact that several of these self-same politicians are keen for us to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and modify or repeal the Human Rights Act. All of which legislation protects the rights of minorities, like Jews and Muslims, to live their lives free from violence, intimidation and attacks.

These events cannot be detached from what is happening in the Middle East. One of the problems is the conflation between criticism of Israel, anti-Semitism and Zionism. The Israeli government has been keen to label any and all criticism of their actions in Gaza, south Lebanon, and the violent actions of their settlers in the West Bank, as anti-Semitic. This policy appears to have been successful in curtailing comment and criticism by some media organisations most notably the BBC. The accusation has been misused and has begun to lose much of its potency. It’s overuse paradoxically, weakens the claim when something truly is anti-Semitic.

Ban on marches

Another response to the attacks in Golders Green is to call for a ban on marches. This was the argument of the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis. Labelled by some as ‘hate marches’ they have for the most part been peaceful and are held to promote the idea of a Palestinian state. The forthcoming march on May 16th being organised by the Stop the War Coalition is to go ahead as planned unless government or police action intervenes. It has to be recognised that marches of this kind are upsetting for some. They are noisy and although the great majority attending are reasonable people who want to draw attention to their cause, there is always a minority who want to cause trouble, who shout or display anti-Semitic statements and sometimes engage in violent actions.

Protest is part of our national culture and article 20 of the UDHR protects freedom of assembly. Governments have sought to whittle away this right with a series of laws curtailing or restricting them. Jonathan Reith of the Stop the War Coalition was interviewed on the BBC radio programme the World at One arguing that they are infrequent with the forthcoming one being only the second this year. Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health, was interviewed after Reith and described his interview as ‘nauseating’ for unexplained reasons. He is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.

An interesting event took place on the BBC Any Answers? programme on Saturday 2nd where members of the public can phone in and express their views following Any Questions? Two Jewish men phoned in. One said you cannot understand what we are seeing in this country away from the terrible events going on in the Middle East. The other said a problem was the conflation of Israel, anti-Semitism and Zionism. Too long one said the Israel government has claimed that any criticism of them was ‘anti-Semitic’. Many Jews were deeply upset by what’s happening in the Middle East.

…

Another event took place during the week on Thursday 30 April. This was the interdiction on the high seas of the flotilla attempting to take aid to Gaza. The boats were seized near Crete. Called the Global Sumad Flotilla, Israeli forces seized the vessels and destroyed the engines and communications equipment in what was almost certainly a criminal act. The action was supported by the US. We can find no condemnation of what happened from the UK government.

*Golders Green is a suburb of London with a high concentration of Jewish residents.

We shall have a stall at the forthcoming People in the Park event and would welcome enquiries. For anyone thinking of joining the local group it would be a good time to make contact.

Previous posts:

• Violence, politicians, marches
• 125 and counting …
• Opposition to Death Penalty: UK Government’s Position
• Foreign Office to close monitoring unit
• War, war, war

‘A Generation Stolen’ #Gaza on #NationalBabyDay

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://theorkneynews.scot/2026/05/02/a-generation-stolen-gaza-on-nationalbabyday/

125 and counting …

The vigils continue while terrible events take place in the Middle East

April 2026

Over 30 attended our 125th vigil – an activity which we started with no intention of it lasting so long. But the violence continues, homes are being systematically destroyed in southern Lebanon, much of Gaza has been destroyed and the killings and starvation continue. So there is no let up and people need to be reminded of the terrible events which are taking place in the region and the suffering which is happening. The British government tries to play a double game of saying the right things and condemning the violence, but quietly continues to offer support and weapons to Israel.

Of interest is an article in the Observer newspaper concerning Forensic Architecture which forensically analyses and documents using architectural techniques, human rights abuses around the world. It was founded by a Jewish man Eyal Weizman who has just written a book Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide (Fern Press, pub. available on May 7th).  

He has devoted time to the genocide taking place in Gaza and his forensic methods enable a high degree of certainty to the crimes they describe. As usual with those pointing to these crimes, he has suffered de-platforming and the familiar accusations of anti-Semitism. This is especially inappropriate as not only is he a Jew but lost people ‘connected to my family’ as he put it, on October 7th massacre.

It is a long article but a particularly moving passages are:

“FA has also worked at a larger scale, mapping the pattern of expulsions driven by Israeli forces. On 13 October 2023, thousands of leaflets fell on Gaza City, telling residents to move out of what was now a “battlefield”.

“People were given 24 hours to evacuate. For some pro-Israeli commentators, this was a sign of humanity; that the IDF gave people the chance to avoid obliteration. Weizman calls the leaflets “some of the most lethal things to have fallen on Gaza”.

“They were the beginning of a pattern whereby people would be forced into hazardous journeys east and south towards the most barren parts of the [Gaza] strip, to the dunes where they would struggle to survive. Some would be attacked en route.

“Undergrounding tells how Israeli forces also attacked hospitals, schools, universities, mosques and churches. They destroyed orchards, farms, greenhouses, fishing boats, water desalination plants and wells. They polluted the land and the sea. They killed almost all the cattle, sheep, goats and poultry, blocked aid and attacked people who tried to receive it.

“According to Weizman “they engineered famine”. […]

He discusses the defence that Hamas are hiding in these facilities and therefore the destruction is justified. However, he argues that the scale of destruction show an intent that can only be called genocidal.

NGO Monitor the Jerusalem based organisation, says FA “through slick graphic presentations, [it] creates a façade of credibility to mask analyses that are consistently misleading, blatantly biased and based on unverifiable ‘evidence’,” (Israel does not allow independent journalists into Gaza).

May we draw your attention to the local CND website which has a number of posts of interest. Of particular note is the piece Murder Most Foul concerning the death of another journalist Amil Khalil and the practice of ‘double tapping’ that is after a bombing or missile attack waiting for medical staff to appear and mounting a second attack. In this case medical help was denied. The story was covered on Channel 4. At least 226 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7th making it the deadliest conflict in history.

72,344 have died in Gaza and over 172,000 injured, many of whom are children.

No sign of the local MP, Mr John Glen, who is a member of the well-funded Conservative Friends of Israel group and indeed, told the readers of the Salisbury Journal that he was a ‘proud member’ of the group.

Previous posts:

• 125 and counting …
• Opposition to Death Penalty: UK Government’s Position
• Foreign Office to close monitoring unit
• War, war, war
• UN rapporteur sanctioned by the US

Photo: courtesy of Peter Gloyns

“Have you seen the parts of me scattered?”

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://theorkneynews.scot/2026/04/25/have-you-seen-the-parts-of-me-scattered/

War, war, war

Hostilities continue with little sign of lasting peace let alone reconciliation

April 2026

There is a ceasefire in Gaza/killings continue; the straight of Hormuz is open/the straight of Hormuz is closed; the Iranians have agreed to hand over their nuclear material/the Iranians will not hand over their nuclear material; there is a ceasefire in southern Lebanon/homes continue to be demolished in southern Lebanon. Welcome to the now you see it, now you don’t world of Middle East warfare.

At one level it is bizarre. Largely stemming from Washington, it seems to represent a desperate desire by the Americans and President Trump to claim some kind of victory for the ill-considered and catastrophic war they were persuaded into by the Israelis. At another level it is a disaster in which death, destruction and human misery is foisted on the peoples of Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. The killing is wanton. The pretence that the bombing and killing is directed at terrorists and because innocent people are human shields seems no longer to be the story in town.

In addition to the visible destruction there is the treatment of Palestinians in prisons around Israel which the latest UN report discusses. In exposing this practice, Francesca Albanese has been atrociously treated by the Americans as we discussed in our previous post.

Any Questions? and Danny Kruger

It is disappointing to listen to some of our politicians speaking in support of this continuing violence and carnage in the region as some kind of solution to the problems there. One such is the Reform politician Danny Kruger, the MP For East Wiltshire, a constituency touching on Salisbury. In a BBC radio programme called ‘Any Questions?’ where members of the audience put questions to a panel of – for the most part – politicians, he said in answer to a question on the Pope’s comments about Donald Trump:

“[It is] important that the Americans and Israelis win this war (audience demurs) and it is important the right side comes out on top. The Americans and Israelis were right to recognise that Iran poses and existential threat to its own region and to the safety of the world. One day we are going to have to take on the challenge of defeating the Iranian regime, the most evil regime in the world and I recognise why so many people are appalled at how President Trump conducts himself. […]

“But guys, you’ve got to be on the right side of this conflict. […] Fundamentally, the Iranians are the bad guys in this conflict and it’s really important that their power to develop nuclear weapons and their power to support terrorist organisations around the region – and in this country – [are] degraded. So I really, really hope that the outcome of this conflict is a weaker Iran [no audience applause].” (our italics)

Noticeable in this one-sided approach to the conflict is the absence of balance. No one would claim that the Iranian regime is other than a violent and unpleasant one, but the language of ‘winning’, ‘defeat’ and the desire to see a ‘weaker Iran’ is disappointing to say the least. Since it is Israel which has been engaged in bombing and assassinations, the absence of any mention of their activities – the killing of over 70,000 in Gaza for example, and the current process of demolitions in south Lebanon – is questionable. Is it only Iran posing an ‘existential threat to the region?’. Israel is the only nuclear power after all. One wonders if Mr Kruger has ever read the speeches of Ben Gvir or Bezalel Smotrich? It is especially disappointing to hear a politician like Mr Kruger – someone who regularly espouses his Christian faith and beliefs – to speak in terms of violence as a solution to the problems of the region.

Caterpillar Tractors

On the subject of demolitions, our attention has been drawn to a YouTube post on the activities of the American plant company Caterpillar which provides the armoured machines enabling the demolitions in south Lebanon and Gaza to be carried out. See ‘How Caterpillar profits from the genocide in Gaza and [US citizens] pay for it.‘

124th vigil

Yes, they continue with over 30 yesterday (18 April) with around 40 passing motorists sounding their horns.

No sign though of another local MP, Mr John Glen – nor any mention of them in his weekly column in the Salisbury Journal – who is a ‘proud’ member of Conservatives Friends of Israel the biggest lobby organisation in Parliament. Hundreds of his constituents turned out and have done so for 124 weeks, yet not a word. Along with some Labour ministers like Peter Kyle and David Lammy, they are part of a large contingent of around 150 MPs who promote the interests of Israel in parliament.

• 125 and counting …
• Opposition to Death Penalty: UK Government’s Position
• Foreign Office to close monitoring unit
• War, war, war
• UN rapporteur sanctioned by the US

Photo courtesy of Peter Gloyns

“Culture is not only a victim of war, it is also a source of resilience, dignity and hope.”

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://theorkneynews.scot/2026/04/18/culture-is-not-only-a-victim-of-war-it-is-also-a-source-of-resilience-dignity-and-hope/

Giving the closing benediction at the Patriots Vigil at Minute Man National Historical Park on Friday night. The vigil is an annual lantern-light walk across the North Bridge with re-enactors, music, poetry, and a recitation of the names of the 122 who died in the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1776.

#photography #vigil #patriotsday