Thousands flock to Trafalgar Square, united by one cry: ‘Bring them home now’
Freezing temperatures did not deter those attending the event, organised by the 7/10 Human Chain Project with the backing of most of the big communal organisations
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
One hundred days after Hamas terrorists murdered hundreds of Israelis, and kidnapped men, women and tiny children into Gaza, thousands of British Jews and their supporters rallied in Trafalgar Square, united by one cry: “Bring them home now”.
Freezing winter temperatures did not deter those attending the central London event, organised by the 7/10 Human Chain Project with the backing of most of the leading communal organisations.
But — apart from Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely — there were few familiar community faces on the platform for the two-hour rally.
Instead, the organisers sought to show that Israel was not alone in its struggle against Hamas, bringing speakers as disparate as Ben Freeman, founder of the Modern Jewish Pride movement, Afshin Payravi, director of the Association of Iranian Human Rights and Allies, and the Reverend Hayley Ace, from the Christian Action Against Antisemitism group.
Payravi, supported by numerous attenders waving the flag of Free Iran among the sea of blue and white Israeli banners, spoke passionately of the potential for close relations between Israel and Iran once the current Iranian regime was overthrown. “We have a choice, a voice and a vision,” he told the crowd. That vision included the rebuilding of friendly relations with Israel and “justice and a lasting solution for the Palestinians… and a new dawn for the region”.
He called for “a new Iran and a new Middle East, based on democracy, human rights and peace” — and reminded those present that “we are not the Islamic Republic — we are the Iranian people”.
Two politicians from the Conservative and Labour parties drew warm applause: Lord Pickles, the government’s post-Holocaust envoy and chair of the Conservative Friends of Israel in the House of Lords, and Bury South MP Christian Wakeford, who has just returned from a Labour Friends of Israel mission to Israel. Lord Pickles, renowned for blunt speaking, pulled no punches: he was, he said, “a committed and unapologetic Zionist” who was “proud to stand with Israel”.
Speaking of the 7 October massacre, he said: “I knew that the world is wonderful in remembering long-dead Jews. But when the Jews have arms and seek to defend themselves, it [the world] is indifferent.”
Like other speakers, Lord Pickles deplored the actions of those who had participated in Saturday’s massive pro-Palestinian event. “The overwhelming majority of them are not antisemitic, but they are happy to walk with people who are antisemitic, to stand next to people who hate Jews, happy to stand next to people who look towards the destruction of Israel. What they need to understand is that Hamas cares not a jot about their support. It’s not looking to create a Palestinian state. It’s looking to destroy Israel, and Western civilisation. So we need to understand that Israel is fighting for all of us”.
Lord Pickles said there could be a lasting peace and an immediate ceasefire: “all that’s required is to send the hostages home, for Hamas to give up its weapons, to surrender; and for the Palestinian Authority to stop paying terrorists for killing Jews. It requires the United Nations to stop funding books that describe the desirability of killing Jews.”
Pledging that he and others would do everything possible to bring peace and rebuild Gaza, Lord Pickles said that could only be done by bringing the hostages home.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, sent a special video message to the rally, thanking King Charles, the government and the opposition for their support. And two relatives still with family trapped in Gaza —Ayelet Svatitzky, whose brother is a hostage, and Elon Keshet, cousin of the two Bibas children, Ariel, four, and Kfir, due to turn one on 18 January — made emotional pleas for their return.
Well-known Israeli singer and actress Miri Mesika flew in especially to perform two songs, one of which she dedicated to Dror Or, who is still held by Hamas in Gaza. After 100 seconds of silence, Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis recited a special prayer for the return of the hostages.
The last words came from an impassioned Eylon Levy, Israel government spokesman, who began to speak as a small counter-demonstration, bearing a banner saying ‘Stop Israel’s Gaza Genocide’, assembled at a corner of Trafalgar Square. Police ensured they were kept away from the main rally; nevertheless a group of pro-Israel activists went over to sing “Am Yisrael Chai” at them in defiant response.
Levy opened his remarks by speaking about Romi Gonen, one of those kidnapped from the Nova music festival. The 23-year-old, he said, “is the glue that holds her family together”.
Her mother Merav had listened to Romi’s desperate phone calls as she was taken captive “by Hamas terrorists who burned, beheaded and raped their way through Israel that day. For 100 days Romi Gonen has been a hostage of the Hamas rapist regime.”
The spokesman had asked Merav Gonen what message she wanted him to give to Londoners at the rally. “She said, don’t look away, and don’t let anyone else look away either. Only light will triumph over darkness — the light we shine by standing together… and that is our mission, to shine a light where others can see, so they cannot look away.” Captive with Romi and the other 135 hostages in Gaza, Levy said, “are our hearts”. He urged the crowd “to shout for those who cannot speak”.
For Israel, Levy said, time had stood still over the last 100 days. “We didn’t start this war. We fight because we must”. And, he said bitterly, Israel “does not want the world’s sympathy, Israel exists because we’re sick of its tears. We demand the world’s respect, because we are doing exactly what they would do if God forbid they were subjected to such a barbaric assault”.
Israel’s enemies, he suggested, “are trying to ‘Gaza-light’ us, trying to make us doubt our humanity, our morality, our sanity”. The very reverse was true: “We choose life.”
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