In central London on Sunday, thousands of demonstrators, some waving Israeli and British flags, marched against anti-Semitism.
The demonstration took place one day after sizable pro-Palestinian gatherings in London called for a comprehensive ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The UK has witnessed a surge in anti-Semitic incidents since the unprecedented October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that triggered the latest conflict in the Gaza Strip.
‘The hate has got to disappear. You can’t have hate on either side,’ 69-year-old retiree Michael Jennings told AFP, as the march began outside the Royal Courts of Justice.
Demonstrators, who were joined by ex-prime minister Boris Johnson, held posters that read ‘Zero tolerance for anti-Semitism’ as they walked to parliament.
They also displayed photographs of Israelis and foreigners kidnapped by Hamas militants.
‘We’re here to support Israel. We’re here to ask for the release of all the hostages,’ 52-year-old Debby Goldberg told AFP, a large Israeli flag wrapped around her shoulders.
‘We’re here asking for peace and asking for this nightmare to be over,’ added Goldberg, an Israeli citizen originally from Argentina.
Worried about the prevalence of anti-Semitism, Omer Plotniarz, a 37-year-old music therapist, chose not to march with his wife and child in tow.
‘We’re not here about hating people. We’re not here to shout for murder. On the seventh of October we woke up to a new reality and we are all traumatised by that,’ he told AFP.
Plotniarz and other protesters wore stickers that said: ‘Our love is stronger than your hate.’
‘We just want to see our babies, our wives, our brothers, sisters, everyone back home,’ Plotniarz added.
As the tenuous truce endured in the seven-week war, plans were in place for the exchange of a third set of hostages for Palestinian prisoners on Sunday.
In the most lethal assault in Israel’s history, Hamas gunmen seized approximately 240 individuals and caused the deaths of around 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, according to Israeli authorities.
Responding, Israel initiated a comprehensive military campaign, involving air, artillery, and naval bombardment, coupled with a ground offensive aimed at dismantling Hamas. The Hamas government in Gaza claims that nearly 15,000 lives were lost, with the majority being civilians, including thousands of children.
Tommy Robinson, a far-right agitator instructed to stay away, was arrested by police during Sunday’s march, organized by the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The recorded incidents during this 40-day period stand as the highest-ever total since the inception of logging in 1984, a stark contrast to the 217 reported in the equivalent period of 2022.