British Jews descended on Kensington, London for an hour on wednesday night to voice their support for Israel over its worldwide condemnation after the deaths on the Mavi Marmara last sunday.
300 pro-Israel supporters draped in Israeli flags met near the cordoned off Israeli Embassy and waved signs which read “Peace activists don’t use weapons” and “End Hamas Rockets = End Blockade”.
They sang Hatikva and Am Israel Chai and cheered as cars sounded their horns in support.
The demonstration was organised by the Zionist Federation.
One black cabbie had “Am YIsrael Chai” stuck to his window as he drove by (see blog).
The boys from Chabad were there doing brisk business in laying tefillin on people (see blog).
There was a huge police presence to divide the pro-Israeli supporters from the 40 or so anti-Israel supporters, which included Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (JBIG) and the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network (IJAN). But the anti-Zionists of the Neturei Karta had obviously taken the night off to go to the flicks.
There were rumours that the English Defence League might turn up to support Israel, but there was neither a skinhead nor a beer-belly in sight.
At the end the hundreds of pro-Israel supporters were escorted to the station under heavy police-guard, which isn’t surprising as they were assailed with cries of “Nazis” (see 2nd video on blog), “Racist scum” and “Long Live Hamas”, as they passed in front of the anti-Israel supporters.
They hit back quickly with “We support peace, you support terror”.
For pictures and videos:
http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/british-jews-mobilise-for...
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