Letters to the Editor, May 15 2026

Flag waving, however indicates support for the government without exception. For this reason flag waving should have had no place at a demonstration against antisemitism.
Kippot, fringes, slogans, yes, but flags are de trop.

Barrington Black
London NW3.

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I have attended all the recent marches and rallies addressing and protesting against antisemitism.

The authorities now throw more and more police at the problem, which can  be seen as purely cosmetic and to a large extent a “sop” and an easy way out.

Real effective action must be taken by the government, the police and the justice system, inter alia, to enforce existing anti-racist legislation, “outlaw” all antisemitic behaviour wherever it takes place, stop the pro-Palestinian hate marches, ban the IRGC and the Muslim Brotherhood, and arrest and properly charge offenders where it is appropriate.

This saturation of police has an opposite effect  – it intimidates the community. The police may be present to protect us but they are also anticipating trouble from Jewish protesters, which is a nonsense. Jewish demonstrators are peaceful and non-violent.

You have to ask: are the police making the community feel more isolated, beleaguered, weak and vulnerable? Is this policy of swamping us with police making us feel more or less secure by putting up walls leading it to resemble a ghetto-like existence? North-west London, north of the Finchley Road, already feels like that.

And are the police doing their job effectively? The police representative at the recent St John’s Wood Synagogue meeting for Central London Synagogue members talked about “human rights” and didn’t seem to understand the severity of the situation and that forceful action should be taken by the police. This was not what occurred when antisemitic and anti-Israel posters were displayed outside Central Synagogue at a recent political meeting or collection boxes for Hamas were seen outside the London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park.

The platitudes continue apace, including at the rally. Let us see some real action by the government, rather than it simply saying “we don’t approve of antisemitism” and having yet another summit. It should start by banning the inflammatory Al Quds march this coming Saturday.

Jonathan Metliss

Chairman, Action Against Discrimination

London W1

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Where were the Jewish Labour MPs, intellectuals, academics and human rights lawyers at the rally, let alone the non-Jewish ones? Their absence gives an indication of the scale of our problem.

Malcolm Goldstein

London N2

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When will The JC have a petition for non-Jewish people to sign who support Israel and the Jewish people?

Mark Wood

Tunbridge Wells

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Antizionism

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I would like to applaud Yitzchak Freeman’s letter ( Letters, May 1) regarding the underlying causes of the recent antisemitic attacks. He particularly picks out the demonisation of Israel through the false allegation of genocide. It should not need stating that deaths in war generally do not constitute genocide. It’s a particularly outlandish accusation when the conflict was triggered by Hamas and about two million Palestinians, mostly Muslim, live in Israel without fear of being killed by the state for being either Palestinian or Muslim.

I would add that the singling out of Israel for opprobrium through relentless marches of condemnation is a catalyst of antisemitism. It is self-evident that the pro-Palestine marches focus more on hate for Israel and Jews than they do on the love of Palestine or its people. They are hate marches. Hamas gets a free pass despite starting the war in Gaza and its ambition alongside Iran to destroy Israel. And it is notable that there are no similar regular marches challenging other conflicts, such as in Ukraine or Sudan, or in support of the rights of other Muslims, for example the Rohingya and Uyghur, to highlight their plights.

In another act of singling out, the prime minister stated in 2025 that “statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people”. Does he or anyone else making that argument believe that any other stateless peoples have such an inalienable right – Kurds? Tibetans? Basques or Catalans? Welsh or Scots? I don’t see similar calls from him. And in the case of Palestine, there is no contingent requirement for any putative Palestinian state to respect what we should all believe are Israel’s inalienable rights.

However, the most insidious libel that goes largely unchallenged in polite society is the calumny that Zionism is racism, which leads to the use of the  word Zionist as a term of abuse.

Zionism is recognising that Israel has an undeniable and legitimate right to exist as a country with a Jewish character that supports all its peoples to thrive. If you substituted Israel with the name of any other country and insert the primary religion of that country, would people object? Answer: no.

The fact is antizionism is racism. It denies rights to Israel, and by extension Jewish people, that all other nations take for granted. Israel should not have to continuously justify its existence.

Being a Zionist is independent of being sympathetic, or otherwise, towards the government in power in Israel at any particular time and independent of one’s view of the long-term status of Gaza and the West Bank. You can be, and very many are, both pro Israel and pro Palestine. Sadly, the antizionists are not.

To those politicians, councillors, trade unionists, and all well-meaning people who ask how they can best help British Jews, it’s by announcing proudly and publicly “I am a Zionist”. Perhaps the JC might consider creating a channel for people to register their support so that the term can be rehabilitated rather than remain a slur.

Howard Erdunast,

Pinner

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Refugee figures

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In his article about Labour MPs calling for a ban on Nakba Day marches, Lorin Bell-Cross cites the number of “Palestinian” refugees as about 750, 000.

In his book, Battleground, Facts and Fantasy in Palestine, Samuel Katz, puts the figure at no more than 420,000 (Bantam Books, January 1973).

In the preceding pages he explains how he comes to this number.

Initially, the Arab League claimed two million refugees. The exaggeration has been allowed to go unchallenged for 78 years.

Most of the Arabs left of their own accord, even before the British left Palestine.

Samuel Katz quotes Arab leaders themselves admitting that they themselves put the fear of God into their fellow citizens in order to make the way clear for Arab armies and irregulars to more easily slaughter Jews.

Henry Tobias.

Maale Adumim

Israel