Universities across Britain are preparing for a wave of pro-Palestine protests on the anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.
The demonstrations are expected to take place on multiple campuses on Tuesday, exactly two years on from the massacre which left 1,200 dead, with many more kidnapped and wounded.
Britain’s Jewish leaders have voiced concerns over the timing of the protests, less than a week after two worshippers at Manchester’s Heaton Park synagogue were killed in a violent rampage by Islamist Jihad Al-Shamie.
A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said they were “disgusted by reports of recent hate-filled protests on university campuses”.
The demonstrations are expected to take place on multiple campuses on Tuesday
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He added: “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”
Despite requests from police chiefs, politicians and prominent members of Britain’s Jewish community, organisers of the pro-Palestine protests have refused to postpone.
Organisers of a rally named “Two Years of Genocide, Two Years of Resistance” at London’s Queen Mary University have said the demonstration will go ahead as planned.
Glasgow’s Strathclyde University is set to see a “Protest 4 Palestine”, with protesters told to “grab your flag and keffiyeh” for the demonstration.
PICTURED: The ‘Oxford Liberated Zone’ in front of the city’s Pitt Rivers Museum. Organisers of the pro-Palestine protests have refused to postpone
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Students from King’s College London have been invited to a talk called “Why It Didn’t Start On October 7th”.
University of Birmingham students have organised a vigil to “honour our martyrs” on the anniversary of the massacre.
President of the Union of Jewish Students Louis Danker said: “We respect the right to protest and the importance of free speech within the law.
“There are 365 days in the year and on one of them, October 7, Jewish students seek the space to mourn their loved ones murdered in southern Israel.
“Moreover, marking ‘two years of resistance’ on October 7 echoes the explicit justification and glorification of the Hamas terrorist attacks on campus witnessed over the last two years.”
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Mr Danker confirmed that his organisation has written to university executive across the country to “remind them of their obligation to stand against the glorification of terror”.
The scheduled demonstrations come just days after nearly 500 demonstrators in central London were arrested for showing support for the banned Palestine Action group.
Just hours after the Manchester synagogue attack, pro-Palestine protests took place in multiple cities across Britain.
At one demonstration outside Downing Street, activists could be heard shouting: “I don’t give a f*** about the Jewish community right now.”
Speaking to GB News, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Those messages are utterly disgraceful. They are fundamentally un-British in nature, as far as I’m concerned.”
Ms Mahmood also told The People’s Channel that she was ‘very disappointed that some of the organisers haven’t heeded the call to step back’
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GB NEWSMs Mahmood also told The People’s Channel that she was “very disappointed that some of the organisers haven’t heeded the call to step back” in the wake of the terror attack.
Jewish Leadership Council chairman Keith Black called the planned protests on university campuses as “disgraceful and deeply”, adding that they were designed to “cause maximum pain to Jewish students”.
He added: “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.”