Second Israel democracy demo in Parliament Square attracts big turn out
Israeli Maayan Shahar Kallir, a mother of three now living in the UK, tells Jewish News:'I want my country to stay as Israel, a democracy'
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Israel democracy campaigners have again responded in numbers to calls for another demonstration in Parliament Square against the Benjamin Netanyahu government’s proposed overhaul of the judiciary.
Organisers said they were staging the demo, which began at 4.30pm on Monday, to “show support for the people of Israel defending our democracy back home.”
They referenced the Enough Is Enough demo that had taken place in the same location five years earlier against antisemitism in the Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour Party, and urged members of the UK Jewish community to turn up in a show of solidarity.
Israelis and British Jews gathering in Parliament Square in solidarity with Israelis on the streets pic.twitter.com/0MSrwJrDHT
— Hannah Weisfeld (@hannahweisfeld) March 27, 2023
Amongst the hundreds to attend the protest was Simon Sadie, the chair of Yachad, whose organisation have responded to the request of Israelis in the UK, by turning up at a series of protests in this country.
Sadie told Jewish News:”I think when see so many people out in Israel trying to make their point at such desperate times, I downed everything and came along to show solidarity.
“At this moment I see friends out on the streets in Israel, and I felt like I can’t leave them to it.”
Sadie said on the one hand it was saddening that Yachad have found themselves at the centre of protests within a political situation “so challenging for us all.”
Also at Monday’s demo was Michael Rubin, Labour Friends of Israel’s director.
He said he felt compelled to attend the protest, and an earlier one in Israel to “show my support for all those standing up for democracy and independence of the judiciary.
“What’s been so powerful about the demos here in the UK is they’ve seen Israeli members and the Jewish community speaking out so powerfully.”
Maayan Shahar Kallir, grew up in Israel, but had been living in the UK for the past five years.
She attended the protest with her three children, and brought along a placard featuring an image of Theodor Herzl, with a tear on his face.
Kallir told Jewish News it had been “really tough” watching the developing political crisis in Israel, with some of her family still living there.
She added:”I want my country to stay as Israel, a democracy.
“And I want my family, my children if they wish to go back there one day. But I want them to have that choice, and at the moment it’s hard to encourage that.”
During Monday’s demo, those gathered were asked to join in now familiar chants that have come to characterise the earlier protests, both here and in Israel.
A further demo, planned for tonight, outside ambassador Tzipi Hotovely’s north London residence, was postponed.
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