On Friday (8/12) our organisations co-organised a protest outside the US embassy in London to protest President Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his intention to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. The protest was attended by more than 3000 people and was peaceful. We have been made aware that after the main demonstration had disbanded some of those who had been present remained and chanted slogans which demonstrated hatred and advocated violence. We deplore such behaviours, which are not, shared or endorsed by our organisations or by the vast majority of those who attended the demonstration As organisations we stand against racism and discrimination of all forms including antisemitism. They have no place in our movement which is rooted in principles of recognition of the respect owed to all and the rights that belong to all regardless of race, ethnicity gender or religion. We remind all those who attend our demonstrations, protests and events of the need to ensure all aspects of their behaviour are in line with these principles.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends Of Al Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain, Stop the War, Palestinian Forum in Britain
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On the 12th December, we were made aware of an image resembling a swastika at our demonstration. Below is a response from Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Stop the War:
Videos and photographic evidence show that there was a placard held at the rally with a slogan that formed an image of a swastika. PSC and STW staff were not aware of the placard during the rally. We do not believe it is ever appropriate to trivialise the swastika and to use the symbol to make political statements. The claim that the placard in question was comparing Israel to the Nazis is not backed up by an examination of the photographic evidence. The slogan in fact had the words ‘stop Trump’ with the T’s forming the sign of the swastika. The message of whoever was holding the swastika was clearly an attempt to identify Trump as representing racist and far-right views. Whilst PSC deplores the overt racism and support for far-right groups that President Trump has undoubtedly displayed, we do not endorse the use of the swastika given all of its historic resonance to make such points. The rally, which was attended by over 3,000 people, was held to draw attention to President Trump’s violation of international law in effectively supporting Israel’s illegal annexation of Jerusalem, and we should not allow anyone to deflect from that message.