Jewish Bloc goes public on Met refusal to discuss repressive policing
In January the Metropolitan Police, backed by Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, ratcheted up heavy handed policing of pro-Palestinian protest on the specious grounds that it was protecting Jews. Since then the Jewish Bloc of organisations represented on every major demonstration has been attempting to meet the Met to explain how wrong that policy is.
The Met, which frequently speaks to pro-Israel Jews who want the protests banned, has so far failed to organise a face to face meeting with the JBloc delegation.
The Bloc has now issued a press release, published below, protesting about the Met’s failure to engage with Jews who support pro-Palestinian protest.
NWI
Why won’t the Met meet Jews who support pro-Palestinian protests?
After weeks of fruitless back and forth communication, a coalition of groups representing thousands of Jews who back calls for Israel to halt its attacks on Gaza is publicly demanding that the Metropolitan Police hear their views.
They say the Met, which has ramped up draconian restrictions on pro-Palestinian protest, is only listening to militantly pro-Israel Jewish bodies even though these organisations are themselves divided. They say the same is happening at central government level, with ministers citing supposed concern about Jewish safety to justify legislation which will give police even wider powers to suppress dissent.
“Large and growing numbers of Jews in Britain and around the world are horrified by Israel’s savagery towards Palestinians, flouting every tenet of Jewish ethics,” said Diana Neslen, an observant Jew in her eighties, one of those representing the Jewish Bloc in its attempts to gain a hearing from the Met.“We have marched alongside tens, hundreds of thousands of non-Jews in huge demonstrations calling for peace and justice. We are outraged to hear them denounced as “hate marches” that pose a threat to Jews. Such rhetoric is dangerous and divisive and must not be allowed to dictate the police approach to legitimate protest.”
NOTES FOR EDITORS
· The Jewish Bloc includes the following organisations:
Jews Against GenocideJewish Voice for Labour (member of Global Jews for Palestine)· Statement – The Met Police Refuse to Meet with the Jewish BlocThe Metropolitan Police have refused to meet with a delegation from the Jewish Bloc to discuss the policing of the Marches in protest at the continuing genocide in Gaza, and in the West Bank.
The Bloc-appointed delegation has engaged in a long and ultimately fruitless correspondence with the senior officer responsible for policing the marches. It has now become quite plain that they have no intention of agreeing to a meeting at which they could have learned about the impact of their policing on a significant sector of Britain’s Jewish population.
They are willing to accommodate only the views and priorities of the ‘official’ though non-representative Jewish organisations, all of which have been captured by militant supporters of Israel. The same priorities have been articulated by successive Home Secretaries, who have enacted a raft of legislation giving police wide powers to suppress dissent.
The Jewish Bloc formed spontaneously to have a Jewish presence on the national Palestine Solidarity marches. We have been there on every march since, in hundreds and sometimes in thousands. We represent a significant strand among Jews in the UK, and also internationally. We are outraged at the multiple violations of international law and of any concept of Jewish ethics being perpetrated by Israel, without a word of condemnation from Britain’s Labour government.
The Labour Party does not seem to realise that the non Zionist Jewish organisations stand for freedom of expression and non violence. Things the old Labour Party fought for. Today that party accepts repression and the killing of people who don’t agree with them and supports the country that openly commits genocide.
It is absolutely scandalous that the MET and the Home Office, and even more extreme Yvette Cooper are still pushing the outdated Hasbara lines of lies and disinformation. They seem oblivious to genocide upon genocide happening in front of our eyes. Are these people human? Or are they inflicted with Zionist pathology and a zombie illogicality that makes them blind to reality.
Thank you for being there. Your presence and support is of incalculable importance to the campaign for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel.
Hard to imagine that a small group of terrorists who call themselves jewish and the occupied territory they live in a jewish state exert a hold on western governments resulting in arming and supporting genocide.