The Guardian article cited campaigners’ objection to Bain’s reported investments “in military technology, including Israeli security companies”.
The small rally, organised by pro-Israel activist group Our Fight, was attended by around two dozen people, who held up a banner saying “Stop the new hate movement”.
Standing outside the newspaper’s office at Kings Place in central London, the group chanted: “We stand with Gail’s. Shame on the Guardian.”
The rally at the Guardian[Missing Credit]
Eve, a rally organiser, said: “I’m a resident of Archway. It’s shocking that within a week of Gail’s opening it was attacked, had seven windows smashed. And then the Guardian newspaper published an article minimising the attack saying it was a small act of petty symbolism.
“They don’t realise that we’re living through a tsunami of Jew hatred.”
Comedian Josh Howie, who was at the protest, said: “[I’m here because of] frustration and disgust with the Guardian. The newspaper has assiduously ignored the hate being directed toward us for years now and arguably now added to it.”
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch earlier in the week told the JC she was “more than shocked” by the article, which has been widely criticised on social media.
“I mean, to be honest, The Guardian has previous on this, that article, which was pretending to be about Israel… was just yet another cover for antisemitism,” she said.
The Guardian has since published a correction note on the article, which reads: “This article was amended on 17 March 2026. A reference to the arrival of Gail’s feeling like “an act of heavy-handed high-street aggression” has been repositioned to clarify it meant to refer to the described fears about the chain’s impact on small traders.
"Also, a comment contrasting activism that is capable of influencing global events with “small acts of petty symbolism”, which was not intended to minimise local vandalism but rather to suggest its misdirected futility, has been removed to avoid misunderstanding."
