Divide and rule – assumptions about Jews
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
On the 9th December demonstration the Jewish Bloc, standing in solidarity on the pavement as the marchers went past, found itself briefly surrounded by the boys in blue.
Whether to protect us or the marchers from us wasn’t immediately clear, but it was obviously assumed that we – as Jews – must be opposed to the demonstration.
Julia Bard writes about this event and the policing of Jews on Palestine protests more generally, showing that they reveal alarming ignorance laced with racist assumptions.
RK
This article was originally published by Julia Bard's blog on Tue 12 Dec 2023. Read the original here.
Divide and rule
The policing of Jews on Palestine protests reveals alarming ignorance laced with racist assumptions
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I witness the arrest of a protester who has a home-made placard saying ‘Zionists are Nazis’ on one side and the Palestinian flag on the other. The crowd were chanting ‘let him go’ and ‘not in our name’ and ‘shame’ but he was carried off. So much for policing by consent. Again we have the assumption by the authorities that Zionist are only Jews when in-fact Christians and non Jews are just as likely to support Zionism. Rev Dr Stephen Sizer has recently released an interview he gave in Malaysia on how Christians were the first to push the idea of a Jewish homeland. Worth listening to and can be found on his Facebook page.
Thank you Julia for writing about the character of these marches, where people of different ages and backgrounds welcome each other in a common humanitarian cause. That has been my experience too. Sadly the media and lobbyists often try to paint another picture.
‘This time, though, almost as soon as we stopped at St Clement Danes, a cordon of police officers materialised in front of us, separating us from the march.’
The fact that they DID is surely proof that it was planned and arranged in advance to do so.