Open letter to Rishi Sunak – our protests are NOT hate marches
JVL Introduction
An open letter to Rishi Sunak calling on him to publicly reject Suella Braverman’s wilful misrepresentation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
She is needlessly stoking fear among Jews, and hatred and distrust of Muslims in the wider community.
Please add your name.
This article was originally published by CAMPAIN on Tue 7 Nov 2023. Read the original here.
Sign the Open Letter below asking Rishi Sunak to end misrepresentation of protestors
Dear Prime Minister
We are writing to protest at Suella Braverman’s description of the pro-Palestinian marches as “hate marches“, and ask you to publicly reject it.
The driving motivation of those participating in these marches is compassion for the Palestinians, who once again are being killed in their thousands by Israeli bombing. Of course, the protestors are angry at the Israeli government, and they are angry too at the UK government’s “unqualified support” for Israel, and refusal to call for a ceasefire. But anger is not the same thing as hate, and it is dangerously misleading to conflate the two. We also object to the government’s conflation, in many of its statements, of all Jewish people with the state of Israel. As you must have seen, many of those participating in the pro-Palestine protests are Jews, who belong to groups that range from the ultra-orthodox to the secular, and with members of all age groups. The demonstrators are expressing their anger at Israel, not their hatred of Jews. To conflate the two encourages inter-community tensions, and is utterly irresponsible.
By contrast, acknowledging the fact that the pro-Palestinian demonstrators are fundamentally calling for peace and human rights, and recognising the existence of a broad range of opinions about the current actions of the Israeli government among British Jews, would go a long way towards preventing the Israel-Gaza crisis from becoming a cause of antisemitism and Islamophobia on the streets of Britain.
We therefore ask you to publicly reject Suella Braverman’s wilful misrepresentation of these demonstrations. She is needlessly stoking fear among Jews, and hatred and distrust of Muslims in the wider community.
Yours sincerely, the
undersigned
I fully support the demonstrations but it is noticeable that the absolutely justified concern for the innocent citizens of Gaza doesn’t seem to be matched with concern for the hostages held by Hamas.
Anyone demanding a ceasefire should, surely, also be demanding the release of the hostages, as a step towards peace negotiations.
I fully support the sentiments expressed in this letter
Braverman needs sacking for inciting hate.
Braverman is clearly not a fit and proper person for the post.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations are calling for peace and love. Stop spreading hatred, Suella Braverman.
In free Palestine Jews Christians and Muslims would be able to worship and follow their religion just like they did before creation of state of Israel please stop scare mongering
Andy Coombes wrote, ‘Braverman is clearly not a fit and proper person for the post.’
It’s the case that in Britain, Home Secretaries tend to be either thick or vindictive; I’d say that both Braverman and her predecessor Patel are doubly qualified for the job.
These are peace demonstrators that are arguing for the justice of Palestine who have no protection at. All
There is no war of two sides There is one side of armed soldiers (with the most horrific weapons )massacring an unarmed, imprisoned, civilian ghetto population whom they publicly call animals and wish to exterminate . They armed side are hate-filled invaders stealing the land and killing its owners in defiance of their professed religion and rabbis. Braverman should be sued for her outrageous unfounded accusation of peace-loving humanitarians.
Of course there are armed Palestinians but the people being killed in Gaza (and the West Bank) are overwhelmingly unarmed. AndIsrael is one of the best resourced armed forces in the world and have also given out more powerful guns to settlers.
Over 4000 children in Gaza already have been killed in this horrific bombing campaign! How can any political leader NOT call for a complete ceasefire. Stop these murders now and negotiate hostage exchange and a future for Palestinian people!!!!
Each march and vigil I have attended is marked by sorrow for lives lost and ideas about peaceful coexistance. Many thousands are walking alongside each other, only you in government and the shameful opposition push for more war. Stop it. Ceasefire now.
Graeme Atkinson: But also you seem to ignore the over 1,000, possibly many thousands by now, Palestinians held in Israeli Jails under “Administrative Detention”. This is a means of detention indefinitely without being tried or even charged. By all means include release of hostages in any ceasefire, but hostages on both sides, as that is what these Palestinians held in Israeli jails are. See the Tribune article reproduced in the same JVL email as this article.
So much hatred in the world at the present time. Suella Braverman is one of the most hate filled individuals ever.
Time to move away from hatred and move towards peace. The huge majority of people in this world want peace, regardless of their religion, race or faith. Peace is and will always be the only way to make progress.
Ban Suella
A well worded observation of the activities of a hateful politician supported by an incompetent PM: this is Guernica (spelling from memory of octogenarian!) of which she is probably ignorant!
It is hateful to mus-represent pro peace marches in this way. Suella Braverman uses biased and inflammatory language which is irresponsible and dangerous.
The recent marches have seen an amazing range of people across the demographic spectrum.
From the River to the Sea I want to see freedom for all and have always supported the call for one person, one equal vote. Immediately we need a ceasefire now and end to the impunity of one of the populations of that space, fully armed and supported by US and UK governments, to bomb civilians
The responsibility to cease firing on the Palestinians is primarily with The Government Of Israel many Jews are protesting in Israel. The people are not the government.We are hardly synonymous with our government.I think we should always prefix our complaint with the Israeli government not Israel. So please ask the Government of Israe to cease its firing on the children of Palistine.We have no absolute proof that there are tunnels built under the ground of hospital. and schools.
@Graeme Atkinson – calling for a ceasefire automatically includes wanting the safety of hostages. The indiscriminate bombing, which is apparently because Hamas “uses human shields” is putting the hostages at even greater risk. Some of the hostages families want a ceasefire too, but when they’ve demonstrated this, get met with aggression from other Israelis or the Israeli government. There are leaflets in Tel Aviv demanding the flattening and extermination of Gaza, there are people in the diaspora saying the same, and a government using the bible to justify the states actions, so when we combine that with the high death toll, its hard to not think of genocide. This is all done under the guise of Israels right to self defence, but surely, if it was concerned with defence, the first thing to do would be to ensure the safe return of all hostages, and although its too late now, never favouring Hamas over the PLO to divide Palestinians in the first place. Of course, what Bibi really means is revenge.