Why we must march for Palestine on May 16th; join the Jewish Bloc

This may be one of the most important marches for Palestine as the government and police try to clamp down on our general right to protest but on our right to march for Palestine in particular,  Without any evidence, the dreadful antisemitic attacks in Golders Green – and other parts of North West London –  on top of the deadly attack in Manchester last October have been linked to the marches.  The reality is that Jewish people are always hugely welcome on the marches, that they have never marched outside a synagogue and that there have been zero incidents of violence from those marching for Palestine.

Rabbi Herschel Gluck, president of the Shomrim in N.E. London told Owen Jones that banning the marches would be antisemitic since “More Jews are marching on pro-Palestinian marches pro rata than any other community.”

Despite continual reference to weekly marches, there have, in fact, been 34 marches in the 134 weeks (31 months) since the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad attack of October 2023. This will be only the second national march of 2026 and yet the narrative of these being continual and also being “hate marches” that are causing the rise in antisemitic attacks dominate our politicians and legacy media.  Our civil liberties are under attack while people are still being killed in Gaza, the West Bank – and Lebanon.

Showing our solidarity is important to let the Palestinian people know we have not forgotten them and to let the British government know that we have not forgotten and that they need to end their complicity.

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