Daniel Sugarman at Jewish News on the reaction to last Saturday's Tommy Robinson march, compared to the previous two years of Free Palestine violence and intimidation:
Politicians queued up to condemn Saturday’s march – such condemnation is entirely understandable. The Prime Minister released a statement, telling the nation, among other things, that, “People have a right to peaceful protest. It is core to our country’s values. But we will not stand for assaults on police officers doing their job or for people feeling intimidated on our streets because of their background or the colour of their skin. Britain is a nation proudly built on tolerance, diversity and respect.”
I had to laugh a little at that. It may have escaped notice from some, but the last 23 months have seen plenty of marches through London which have seen both assaults on police officers and people feeling intimidated because of their background.
On these marches, people have routinely engaged in Holocaust inversion, echoed age-old antisemitic conspiracy theories by accusing the world’s only Jewish state of exercising unnatural control over politicians, media and financial systems, and called for globalising the intifada (I suggest you look at pictures of the aftermath of the many terror attacks which took place during the last intifada to truly understand what that means to most Jews).
Many members of the UK Jewish community have made clear that they have found these marches acutely intimidatory….
In the last few days, I have seen a number of MPs and local councillors, many based in the capital, whose silence over the last 23 months, in the face of dozens of marches, was deafening. But when marchers are holding Union Jacks or the cross of St George, rather than a Palestinian flag? Apparently then, and only then, is it time for platitudes about how minorities should not feel threatened.
Fortunately for those politicians in question, in just a few short weeks yet another of those ostensibly pro-Palestinian demonstrations will take place in central London. These MPs and councillors will have the opportunity to demonstrate that their outrage about minority groups feeling threatened by a major march through London is not selective.
British Jews will watch to see whether such politicians can show a shred of consistency.
I think we can safely predict exactly how much consistency – or how little – we'll see.
Jews still don't count.
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