London: Planned pro-Palestine protest divides the British

“No comment”says the man with the mustache when asked if he’s with him star wanted to talk about the demonstrations for a ceasefire in Gaza planned for this Saturday. He was just smiling, now his expression is dismissive. The man wears a brown tweed jacket, many medals on his lapels, and a long clip-on necklace of red enamel poppies. He and other elderly volunteers sell the latter at the British War Veterans Organization stand, as they always do in November “Royal British Legion”which stands here in the concourse of London’s Charing Cross Station.

The Reds “Poppies” are a symbol of remembrance of the soldiers who lost their lives in two world wars fighting to defend British democracy and its freedoms. Every year on November 11th, the entire British nation, from Scotland to Wales, from Northern Ireland to Kent, remembers her. There will be another minute’s silence on Saturday, exactly at 11:11 a.m., the time of the armistice at the end of the First World War. On Remembrance Day on Sunday, the six former prime ministers, including Boris Johnson and 45-day Prime Minister Liz Truss, will stand at the War Memorial in Whitehall, while current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will lay a wreath of paper poppies at the memorial . Despite Johnson and Truss, this is a solemn and deeply moving moment every year – and one that has united this rainbow nation so far.

Sit-in at Charing Cross station

Since October 7th everything has been different in London too. The poppy stand at Charing Cross Station made headlines a week ago because the elderly people at their sales table were surrounded by demonstrators with Palestinian scarves and Palestine flags who were holding a sit-in in the station hall. The elderly ladies and gentlemen seemed obvious “not amused”but the protest was peaceful.

Also the claim that there is a poppy seller in Edinburgh, Scotland “Royal British Legion” was physically attacked, which later turned out to be fake news and the alleged victim was an impostor who had posed as a war veteran.

In general, it is currently difficult to determine in the kingdom what is true and what is made up, what is actually questionable and what is grossly exaggerated. Jointly responsible for this “Post Truth”Landscape that could come from the populist playbook of Donald Trump is Sunak’s government, which has found potential for a new culture war in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Middle East conflict as a useful vendetta

In particular, Sunak’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman seems to have discovered the conflict in the Middle East as a useful weapon in her own personal vendetta. The right-wing populist single-handedly wrote an article for Londoners “Times”in which she described the weekly pro-Palestinian demonstrations as “Hate marches” and their participants as “Hordes” designated. She continued to accuse the London Metropolitan Police of being blind in her left eye because they did not simply ban protests on the memorial weekend.

Whatever Braverman’s intentions with this article, the irony of her aim to ban a demonstration for a ceasefire on the day of commemoration of a historic ceasefire appears to have been lost on the Home Secretary. With her statements, she also managed to further inflame the already charged atmosphere in the British capital and anger both Muslims and Jews, as well as her party colleagues.

“Jewish bloc” will march on Saturday

Around 160,000 Jews live in London, making the city home to the second largest Jewish diaspora in Western Europe after Paris. Among them is Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, the organization’s press officer “Jewish Voice for Labor” and former member of the Labor Party. “A year ago Keir Starmer kicked me out”she says frankly, “because I allied myself with groups within the party that he had banned as anti-Semitic. It’s bizarre.”

Wimborne-Idrissi is annoyed that the British media is showing photos of the demonstrations that show posters and flags from Jewish organizations like hers, “But in the text these protests are then presented as anti-Semitic, as if we weren’t there. We Jews are not a homogeneous group in which everyone has the same opinion!” How many members of your organization will be participating in Saturday’s march? “All”she says without hesitation. “There are a number of Jewish organizations that have a problem with Israel’s policies.” Recently, more and more young, “very religious” Jews became critics of Israel because they watched the bombing of Gaza with great concern.

“London Jews are afraid”

Still, Naomi is keenly aware that people like her are a tiny minority among London’s Jews. How divided is the Jewish community? “Above all, many Jews now feel unsafe. You are scared.” There are good reasons for this: 218 anti-Semitic crimes have been committed in London since October 7th, according to the Metropolitan Police. This corresponds to an increase of 1,350 percent compared to the same period last year. The number of Islamophobic crimes has also increased since then, however “only” by 140 percent.

Anyone who visits the Golders Green district of North London can sense this fear. It is also said here, where many Orthodox Jews live “no comment”if you want to talk to the yarmulke-wearing men scurrying past about the protest planned for Saturday or the attacks on the Jewish community.

But evidence of fear can be found everywhere: here a hastily erected construction fence built to protect an ultra-Orthodox authority, there a synagogue behind high walls and electric gates, guarded by security personnel. The shop window of the men’s hairdresser Yossi looks as if someone had hit it with a hammer.

Behind it, a man is having his hair done in front of a wallpaper on the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Opposite is the kosher restaurant “Pita”, known for its Israeli street food. It was broken into two days after the Hamas terrorist attacks.

Around 50 percent of Brits are in favor of banning the protest

Just minutes from the kosher butchers, bakeries and restaurants of Orthodox Golders Green, you’ll find Turkish and Lebanese restaurants, a Greek Orthodox church and supermarkets selling halal meat. This famous cultural melting pot has been what Londoners and immigrants have valued so much about their city. Since October 7th, this aspect has also become a lot more complex.

Almost 50 percent of all Britons are in favor of banning the pro-Palestine protests. In particular, many Brits consider some of the slogans shouted at the marches to be controversial, for example “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. Doesn’t this mean that Israelis should be expelled from their country? “No”says Naomi, “it simply means that Palestinians and Israelis will one day live in harmony and peace in the Promised Land.” Isn’t this wishful thinking a bit naive given everything that first happened in Israel and is now happening in Gaza? “Maybe – but what is the alternative? Armageddon?”

1.3 million Muslims live in London

The “Deputy Council of British Jews” doesn’t want to say anything about the protests until Monday. “We’re watching the whole thing. Call again next week”says press spokesman Simon Round. What does he expect – an escalation, a clash with the right? “That cannot be ruled out.”

More than 1.3 million Muslims call London home, making up 15 percent of the city’s population. How do you see the situation before the protest? Are you afraid of right-wing groups that might feel emboldened by Braverman’s rhetoric? The woman in the hijab at the checkout of the Noor supermarket on the Middle Eastern-dominated Edgware Road gives the shop owner standing in the background an unsettled look. He shakes his head. “No comment.”

The Royal British Legion has now openly advised the government not to ban the protest. “Many soldiers gave their lives more than a century ago for democratic rights such as freedom of expression”says the explanation of the reasons.