A planned pro-Palestine bake sale on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks has been cancelled as Keir Starmer warns students to avoid demonstrations today.
Students across the country are set to defy warnings from the Prime Minister, who described the protests which are scheduled to take place at universities today as ‘un-British’, claiming they show a lack of respect for others.
Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage in the deadly attacks on Israel in 2023.
Despite the warnings, universities across the country will see demonstrations held today, calling for an end to the war in Gaza.
Of the more than a dozen protests being held at universities to mark the anniversary, themes include events to ‘honour our martyrs’ and celebrate ‘two years of resistance’.
While others have advertised their marches with the phrase ‘long live the intifada’ – an anti-Semitic term used as a rallying cry to violently overthrow the Jewish state.
In Liverpool a ‘Palestine bake sale’ was being advertised to take place at the Guild of Students today. The event was subtitled ‘time for dessert’, which one witness described as implying that the ‘main course’ was the massacre of so many people two years ago.
She said: ‘I know that Jewish students at the uni are very distressed by this – my daughter is one of them – and the planned event, coming also as it does just days after a terrorist attack on Jews at the Heaton Park Synagogue on Yom Kippur.
‘It has made them feel unwelcome and unsafe. The event was posted on their Instagram on Friday – the day after Manchester’s attack.’
However the University of Liverpool told Jewish News the event had been postponed.
Another protest at Strathclyde University in Glasgow had also been planned, where students were urged to ‘grab your flag and keffiyeh’ and attend a ‘Protest 4 Palestine’. However, this event has also been postponed amid mounting fury over the rally.
Writing in The Times, Sir Keir said: ‘Today, on the anniversary of the atrocities of October 7, students are once again planning protests.
‘This is not who we are as a country. It’s un-British to have so little respect for others. And that’s before some of them decide to start chanting hatred towards Jewish people all over again.’
He added the pro-Palestine protests have been used by some as a ‘despicable excuse to attack British Jews’.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson also called on students to ‘pause’ their protests and ‘show some humanity’.
‘There is, of course, within our country the fundamental right to protest. It’s a cornerstone of our democracy,’ she told Sky News.
‘But my message is that, as we remember the awful atrocities that took place two years ago on October 7, I would just encourage those considering taking part in protests to pause, to reflect and to understand the deep sense of loss that many people in our country will be experiencing today, not least given the appalling attacks we saw at Manchester last week.
‘So my message is that whilst you might have the right to protest, I would urge people to show some humanity, to show some respect and to understand the deep sense of grief and loss that many Jewish people in our country will be experiencing today.’
Students in London are set to come together for a large march in the capital today.
Other large demonstrations are set to take place in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol.
It also comes less than a week after two men were killed in a terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester.
Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, killed Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, in the attack which unfolded on Yom Kippur, the most holy day in the Jewish calendar.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has pledged to put ‘every available resource into making sure that we understand precisely what has happened’.
Sir Keir said: ‘Today we mark two years since the horrifying attacks on Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
‘Time does not diminish the evil we saw that day. The worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The brutal, cold-blooded torture and murder of Jews in their own homes. And the taking of hostages, including British citizens, some of whom remain in Gaza today.
‘Since that awful day, so many have endured a living nightmare. When I spoke with some of the families of the British hostages, I promised them in person that we will not cease in our efforts to bring their loved ones home.
‘But back here in the UK, our Jewish communities have also endured rising antisemitism on our streets, in our country. And last week, a horrifying terrorist attack on the holy day of Yom Kippur in Manchester.
‘This is a stain on who we are, and this country will always stand tall and united against those who wish harm and hatred upon Jewish communities.
‘Our priority in the Middle East remains the same – release the hostages. Surge aid into Gaza. And a ceasefire that can lead to a lasting and just peace as a step towards a two-state solution. A safe and secure Israel, alongside a viable Palestinian state.
‘We welcome the US initiative towards peace in the Middle East, and this Government will do everything in our power to bring about the day where every child of Israel can live peacefully, alongside their Palestinian neighbours, in safety and security.’
The Prime Minister has been criticised for his decision to recognise a Palestinian state, with some Jewish leaders and Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage accusing Starmer of ’emboldening protesters’ with his actions.
Thousands of people attended an event in Trafalgar Square in central London on Sunday to mark the two-year anniversary.
Pro-Palestine protests also took place in the same location, with almost 500 people arrested for allegedly expressing support for the banned terror group, Palestine Action, over the weekend.
And on Thursday, hundreds of other activists held protests in London and Manchester – just hours after the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue terror attack rocked the nation’s Jewish community.
Britain’s Jewish leaders, as well as university chiefs and senior politicians, have now voiced their repulsion at the timing of tomorrow’s planned demonstrations.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was ‘disgusted by reports of recent hate-filled protests on university campuses’.
‘In the wake of the terror attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation it is clear we need fundamental change of mindset to drive out anti-Jewish incitement at all levels of our society, including from our universities,’ a spokesman added.
Keith Black, chairman of Jewish Leadership Council, was also sickened by the scheduled events on the anniversary of Hamas’s massacre in Israel.
‘Protesting on campuses on October 7 is a disgraceful and deeply upsetting strategy to cause maximum pain to Jewish students,’ Mr Black said.
‘The content of these demonstrations is likely to be anti-Semitic and incite violence. For those involved to claim any kind of moral authority is a lie, these protests are driven by hate.’
At Queen Mary University in London, organisers are planning a rally dubbed: ‘Two Years of Genocide, Two Years of Resistance’.
Students at Goldsmiths, University of London, are also gearing up for an event, advertised as a ‘night of remembrance and resistance’.
At nearby King’s College in London, students have been invited to a talk entitled: ‘Why It Didn’t Start On October 7th’.
‘Wear your keffiyeh, bring your voice, and join us as we demand divestment from Israel and justice for Palestine,’ one post advertising the rally on Facebook said.
It later adds ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ – a chant critics have branded anti-Semitic, because it implies the destruction of the state of Israel.
In Birmingham, protesters will stage a vigil for Palestine to ‘honour our martyrs’, with posts for the event saying: ‘Two years of genocide, 100-years of resistance’.
Meanwhile, at the University of Sheffield, the Revolutionary Communist Party refused pleas to move the date of its march, citing the cost of having to reprint posters.
At the University of Leicester, activists will be rallying inside the institution’s David Wilson Library. In Nottingham, a protest is due to take place at 5pm in Old Market Square to mark ‘two years of resistance’ and ‘honour our martyrs’.
Students at the University of Leeds are also set to hold a protest after declaring ‘long live the intifada’ – a call to violently overthrow the Jewish state.
Other events are also planned at universities in Bristol, Sussex and Edinburgh.
Isaac Zarfati, executive director of StandWithUs UK, said Jewish students have been subjected to ‘vile’ levels of ‘Jew hate, intimidation, ostracisation, and even violent assault’ over the past two years.
Mr Zarfati warned a recent report conducted by StandWithUS UK, showed Jewish students in Britain now faced ‘terrifying levels of racism… day in, day out and it shows no sign of abating even following the terrible events in Manchester’.
‘The deliberate scheduling of “resistance” events on the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 terror atrocities is particularly grotesque,’ he added.
He called on the Prime Minister and education secretary to ‘get a grip of rampant anti-Semitism and extremism’ now seemingly raging across university campuses.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the pro-Palestine demonstrations showed ‘the same hatred that fuelled (the October 7 attacks) still festers today’.
‘Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, has faced hatred, war and terror since the day it was founded. And yet, it has stood strong. A beacon of democracy and resilience in the Middle East,’ she said.
‘But two years on from the horrific massacre on October 7, we must also be honest: the same hatred that fuelled those barbaric attacks still festers today.
‘We see it in the so-called ‘protests’ that turn into hate marches on our streets. We hear it in chants calling to ‘globalise the intifada’. And we saw it again, tragically, in the appalling terrorist attack on our Jewish community right here in Manchester just last week.’
She added: ‘It is shameful that in recognising Palestine as a state, the Government has rewarded the terrorists that perpetrated the 7th October atrocities.
‘Appeasement does not work. There are still 48 hostages held captive in Gaza. They must come home now.’
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said students considering joining pro-Palestinian protests on the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel should ‘pause’ and ‘show some humanity’.
Ms Phillipson told Sky News: ‘There is, of course, within our country the fundamental right to protest. It’s a cornerstone of our democracy.
‘But my message is that, as we remember the awful atrocities that took place two years ago on October 7, I would just encourage those considering taking part in protests to pause, to reflect and to understand the deep sense of loss that many people in our country will be experiencing today, not least given the appalling attacks we saw at Manchester last week.
‘So my message is that whilst you might have the right to protest, I would urge people to show some humanity, to show some respect and to understand the deep sense of grief and loss that many Jewish people in our country will be experiencing today.’
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick branded plans for protests in towns and cities, on the anniversary of the attacks ‘a f****** disgrace’.
He told a fringe event at the Tory party conference: ‘I heard today that there are protests being scheduled in universities for October the 7th – that’s a f****** disgrace.
‘I would say first and foremost to people, our fellow citizens who are thinking of doing that, show some common decency.’
If organisers refuse to call off such protests then a change in the law to consider the ‘cumulative impact’ should be considered, he said, noting Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has already taken steps towards this.
Ms Mahmood said repeated large-scale protests had caused ‘considerable fear’ for the Jewish community, as she pledged to give police greater powers to restrict protests.
Queen Mary University of London – where one of the marches is being planned – insisted it had ‘robust’ measures to deal with the situation.
A spokesman added: ‘We do not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, abuse, incitement or harassment of any kind, and have robust procedures in place to deal with any such complaints, including reporting to the police. As a university, we must work within the law and have a duty to uphold lawful freedom of speech.
‘Since the beginning of the current crisis in the Middle East, we have consistently urged respect for each other’s different beliefs and points of view, and to support each other with compassion and empathy. The majority of our community of 38,000 student and staff continue to do just that.’
The Government will amend Sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to explicitly allow the police to take account of the cumulative impact of frequent protests on local areas in order to impose conditions on public processions and assemblies.
The Home Secretary will also review existing legislation to ensure powers are sufficient and are being applied consistently by police forces – this will include powers to ban protests outright.
