Growing outrage at Israeli onslaught on Gaza

 by New Worker

 correspondent

HUNDREDS of thousands of people all around Britain, and all around the world have been taking to the streets to express anger and outrage at the new Israeli bombing and threatened invasion of Gaza.

In London the protests started two weeks ago driven by anger and dismay at the cold-blooded kidnapping and burning to death of Palestinian teenager Mohammad Abu Khdeir.

On Saturday 5^th July around 1,500 people gathered opposite the Israeli embassy in London from many different organisations, including Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War, Jews for Justice for Palestinians and many individuals.

Chanting was loud and continuous: “From the river to the sea, free, free Palestine!” and as demonstrators arrived on the opposite side of the road the swell of protesters totally blocked the road with a sit-down demonstration.

But within a few days, by Friday 11^th July, after the new bombing onslaught on Gaza had begun, another demonstration of tens of thousands totally blocked the whole area around the Israeli embassy.

There have also been a couple of protests at the BBC in Portland Place over its unacceptable bias in favour of the Zionist aggressors and a growing public pressure on the BBC to report even-handedly, treating Palestinian lives as being of equal value with those of the Israelis.

And more demonstrations are planned for the weekend with a big one in Westminster for the afternoon of Saturday 19^th July.

Jews for Justice for Palestinians issued a statement utterly condemning: The horrific bombardment of Gaza, which has seen:

·         Whole families destroyed. Hospitals and ambulances targeted. Reports from health professionals of new weapons that “melt bones”. Gaza’s water and sewerage infrastructure deliberately bombed.

·         The people of northern Gaza told by Israel’s military to leave or die, raising the spectre of the 1948 expulsions among a population mostly descended from those refugees.

“As the toll of deaths and terrible injuries mounts, Gaza is suffering collectively, on an industrial scale, the fate of Mohammad Abu Khdeir, the young boy burned alive two weeks ago in Jerusalem by Jewish vigilantes. The world proclaimed its horror at his murder. But what is it doing to save Gaza?

“Israel claims to be the state of the Jewish people worldwide, and expects Jews to support it, ‘right or wrong’. JFJFP represents an alternative Jewish viewpoint that judges Israel’s deeds by international law and the UN Charter of Human Rights.”

JFJFP called for an immediate end to the onslaught on Gaza and for every life to be treated as of equal value. “Palestinian human rights start with the right to life,” they said.

Protests have been happening all around the country. Last weekend a march brought crowds of people on to the market square of Cambridge to protest about the violence in Gaza.

Members of Cambridge Palestine Solidarity Campaign set up a stall, and after marching in the square, took in a wider route through the city centre, distributing leaflets and chanting “Free Palestine”.

Internationally there have been protests in capital cities throughout Europe and the world, including one in Paris that turned violent.

In Belfast as many as 1,000 people took part in a white-line picket more than a mile long along Belfast’s Falls Road to call for a halt to the Zionist blitz on Gaza.

Organised by the Belfast Friends of Palestine, the picket saw people from across the Belfast community coming together to express their anger and horror at the calculated viciousness of the punitive and unrelenting aggression of Tel Aviv.

And in Lahore, Pakistan, representatives of various religions, sects and over 32 political and religious parties of Pakistan have urged the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take immediate measures to put an end to Israeli aggression against Palestinians in Gaza.

Speaking at the Palestine Solidarity Conference held by Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) at Lahore Press Club, the participants demanded that Pakistan government instantly convene a conference of Muslim rulers and join hands with other friendly countries to play an active role in the UN to put an end to Israeli aggression.