Opinion (1/7)

"‘I’m Jewish and I march for Palestine – don’t ban protests for me’

As the prime minister considers prohibiting some pro-Palestine protests after a rise in antisemitic attacks, Richard Kuper tells Radhika Sanghani he believes the marches are being blamed for a problem they didn’t cause

’ve been on dozens of pro-Palestinian marches, proudly marking my Jewish identity along with my Jewish friends, and I’ve received nothing but a generous welcome. The marches are not festivals of hate as they're claimed to be. There’s a generalised recognition that we’re all there in solidarity with people who are being treated abysmally. Even if you don’t think it’s a genocide, you can recognise the genocidal elements that have gone into making the current situation in Palestine.

It’s part of our Jewish heritage to take the side of the oppressed. We’ve learned the lesson from the Holocaust of “never again to anyone”. In the solidarity movement, thousands of us are coming together in national demonstrations on the Jewish bloc. We say very confidently that what Israel is doing is not in our name. We stand together because we want to get our voice across. But we often feel ignored, blanked out, and treated as though we don’t exist by mainstream media."

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/starmer-antisemitism-protest-ban-uk-jewish-palestine-b2971615.html

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