World Jewish News

Israeli Minister Erdan denounces anti-Israel rally organized by groups linked to Hamas scheduled in London on Saturday

An anti-Israeli rally is scheduled to take pace at Grosvenor Square in central London next Saturday to mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.

The rally is organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), in association with other boycott and anti-Israel delegitimization organizations including the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), Friends of Al Aqsa (FOA), and the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB). The PSC announced that some 10,000 people are expected to attend the rally and that transportation has been organized from various cities in the UK.

All these organisations are known to have ties to Hamas, a group listed as a terrorist group in the UK, the EU, the US and Canada, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The rally will take place during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the United Kingdom during which he will participate in a dinner marking the Balfour Declaration centennial and attended also by British Prime Minister Theresa May.

In a letter to British London Mayor Sadiq Khan and British Minister of State for Security at the Home Office Ben Wallace, Israel’s Minister of Public Security and Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan writes: "I urge you to examine whether allowing an event organized by members and supporters of the murderous terrorist organization Hamas is consistent with the need to ensure an atmosphere free of incitement to terror and hate, as well as with the recent adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.’’

Erdan adds: ‘’If the event does go ahead as scheduled, I would urge you to take every step necessary to ensure that it is free of incitement against Israel’s existence and does not contribute to a hostile atmosphere for those who support Israel’s rigt to exist as a national home of the Jewih people.’’

According to the Israeli minister the rally pulls down the masks of the anti-Israel boycott organizations, revealing their leaders ties to radical-Islam terrorist organizations.

Among the rally’s organizers is MAB, one of whose founders is Muhammad Sawalha, a senior Hamas activist who held military and political positions within the movement. Sawalha used to be a member of the Hamas political bureau (2013-2017) and took part in a Hamas delegation to Russia in September 2017. Sawalha left MAB and established the BMI (British Muslim Initiative), and currently serves as its president.

Another participant is, Dr. Daud Abdullah, a leader of the BMI and the Palestinian Return Center (PRC), which is also affiliated with the terrorist organization Hamas. He is scheduled to speak at the rally. Abdullah and Muhammad Sawalha signed the “Declaration of Istanbul” following the anti-terror operation Cast Lead (“Oferet Yetzuka”), stating their support for Hamas, and that the jihad in Gaza is part of the global jihadist movement.

Zaher Birawi, a member of Hamas, will also be in attendance. He served as former director of MAB, was an affiliate of Sawalha at BMI, and served as a chairman of the PFB. It should be noted that Sawalha and Birawi led the Gaza flotilla raid in 2010.

A participant in the raid who will also be in attendance is Ismail Patel, founder of the FOA. The FOA plays a central role in anti-Israel activity throughout the United Kingdom, and cooperates with numerous pro-Hamas and anti-Israel delegitimization organizations. Patel has also met with Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political bureau chairman, while visiting Gaza.

Earlier this week, during a debate to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration in the House of Commons, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson declared: “I believe that the Balfour declaration paved the way for the birth of a great nation. The state of Israel has prevailed over every obstacle, from the harshness of nature to the visceral hostility of its enemies, to become a free society with a thriving and innovative economy and the same essential values that we in Britain hold dear.”

He noted that widespread antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had “created the necessity of the Balfour Declaration”.

He added: “I see no contradiction in being a friend of Israel and a believer in that country’s destiny while also being profoundly moved by the suffering of those who were affected and dislodged by its birth. That vital caveat in the Balfour declaration — intended to safeguard the rights of other communities, by which, of course, we mean the Palestinians — has not been fully realised.”

At numerous points during his statement and the debate that followed, Johnson reiterated the British Government’s commitment to the two-state solution. He struck a positive tone when discussing the latest attempts to revive the peace process, noting “that the US Administration have shown their commitment to breaking the deadlock, and a new American envoy, Jason Greenblatt, has made repeated visits to the region”.

Johnson said that while the British government ultimately wants to recognise a viable Palestinian state, the time is not yet right to do so. He also said it was “disappointing” that Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn will not be attending a dinner to mark the centenary later this week.

Responding to the statement, Labour Shadow Foreign Minister Emily Thornberry expressed her party’s “continued support for the state of Israel”.

She praised Israel’s founding egalitarian principles and said that “modern Israel still stands out for its commitment to egalitarianism — in particular, its commitment to women and LGBT communities in a region where these groups are far too often subject to fierce discrimination”.

Thornberry went on to argue “that there is no better or more symbolic way of marking the Balfour centenary than for the UK officially to recognise the state of Palestine” and said that if this government will not recognise Palestine, “then the next Labour Government will”.

EJP