Stand With Israel Rally – Trafalgar Square

To London: 100 days since the massacres – We Stand with Israel – Bring the Hostages Home.

Security at the Square was thorough. The main area was contained and men and women of the CST (Community Security Trust) were directing people to the main entrances at the north east and west corners where queues had

formed for bag and body checks.

They also had a first aid team of the Hatzola group of volunteers who deal with what I hope was merely a person fainting in the cold.

The Metropolitan Police were policing the pavements and streets around Trafalgar Square. A police helicopter circled over and around Downing Street south of us 4 or 5 times and vans, including officers of the tough Special Patrol Group raced down Whitehall. But I never found out why. If there was a jihadi/Hamas lead opposition group massing down there I have not heard about it, or not yet.

We decided to stay outside and rove. We were not alone.

Representatives of the October Declaration who were present on 11th and 19th November were also present today.

And  a  splinter group expelled from Socialist Action.

 

Some views across Trafalgar Square as the queues filed in and we listened to Israeli music.

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There were a number of Iranians some with their flags, and even a picture of the late Shah. Plus the flag of India, one of Greece and Union flags. This gentleman was using humour to make his point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speakers included an Iranian gentleman whose name I have not yet identified who spoke of opposition to the Islamic Regime and freedom and peace with Israel and the rest of the world.  Miri Mesika sang.

Lord Eric Pickles of Conservative Friends of Israel (a stout Yorkshireman) who said that peace would be achievable once the hostages were home. “I’ve met many Holocaust survivors and I never understood why in the 1930s nobody did anything about the Nazis. By midday on Oct 7 I understood. The world is wonderful at remembering not-long-dead Jews but when the Jews seek to defend themselves the world is indifferent.”

Christian Wakeford MP of Labour Friends of Israel who said he agreed with Lord Pickles wholeheartedly. Such a contrast with MP for Coventry Zara Sultana and Apsana Begum MP for Limehouse East London who shared a platform yesterday with a man calling for massacres to be normal.

Eylon Levy Official Spokesperson for the Government of Israel, who said “100 days after Oct 7, one day after another hate parade in London we stand here outnumbered and outmanned yet unafraid and united.”

Ayelet Svatitzky who spoke of those members of her family some of whom were murdered, or taken hostage and one is still a hostage. 

Tzipi Hotovely the ambassador from Israel.

Revd Hayley Ace Co-founder of Christian Action Against Antisemitism who I also heard speak in  November.

And a video message from the President of Israel, Issac Herzog. He thanked the King, our government, even Sir Kier Starmer and the British public for our on-going support for Israel

All had the same message – Bring Them Home.

This month “our” hostage to hold up in support was Sasha Trufanov. Suella Braverman the former Home Secretary attended in the crowd and was seen to weep.

It wasn’t quite the end but we decided to make our way slowly back to the station.

When we spotted some opposition, the useful idiots of Neturei Karta with their Palestinian flags and Anti-Israel banners. I have never seen a woman from that sect with them on the streets; are they, like some Islamic women not allowed out of the house. They were being argued with under police ‘supervision’ and I believe that there was a scuffle over a banner.

The speakers were good. The comradship was good. Yes, the numbers didn’t rival the mass ranks of the great unwashed of Jihaderday but, as I informed one bystander, they don’t have to work in the week, so have plenty of time for demonstrations.

If sneering at numbers, which were quality over quantity is the only arguement the pro-Hamas merchants have then the moral high ground is still ours.

Photographs E Weatherwax and husband. London January 2024