Pro-Israel Rally London: nice people versus the nasties

We attended the pro-Israel rally outside the Israeli Embassy in Knightsbridge this evening that was arranged only within the last 24 hours as a counter demonstration to the nightly demos by anti-Israel thugs. I understand the demonstration was originally arranged by the Christian Friends of Israel and was going to be fairly low key, but word got around - especially among the young Jewish community via Facebook and the result was a very impressive turn-out that clearly took the anti-semites (and yes that is what the vast majority of them were) on the other side by surprise. Some poor quality images are shown here and don't really give a feel for the size and density of the crowd. which I would estimate as at least 3,000.


When we arrived at Ken High Street tube station we were greeted by a middle-aged white Englishman standing in the street and screaming relentlessly and with total hatred "Murderers" at a small group of elderly people being escorted along the road by policemen. It turned out that this was the first group of pro-Israel demonstrators and was ironically probably mainly the Christian Friends. It was difficult to comprehend the hatred of this guy. I wondered why people like that would not show the same pure hatred at, say, the Sudanese for the massacre of black Africans, the Sunni and Shia groups massacring eachother in Iraq, the Chinese for their brutal oppression of the Tibetans, the Sri Lankans for their treatment of the Tamil Tigers, or dare I say it Hamas for their continmued attacks against civilians or even for the brutal massacre of their Fatah opponents. No, for this guy - and so many like him - none of those real murderers stirred his conscious. Al Quada, the Taliban? No - what consumed this guy with rage was Jews finally defending themselves against terror.

Anyway, we joined the small group and had to pass the violent anti-Israel mob (who had George Galloway apparently leading the chorus). The police described them as a bunch of very nasty people. This was the only time we really got to see them because we were shepherded to the other side separated by a couple of police lorries (and at the end of the rally we were not allowed to go back to Ken High Street tube but had to walk in the opposite direction). The pro-Israel crowd very quickly grew (the slow start was due to the fact that although we had heard
it was scheduled to start at 7.30, most others heard 7.45 or 8.00). We were packed in very tightly about 30-40 deep across a length of pavement about 100 metres long (hence the estimate of at least 3,000). As you would expect, in stark contrast to the other side, our crowd were polite and dignified, singing the occasional Hebrew songs about peace, interspersed with renditions of both the Israeli and British national anthems. On the other side they cursed and threatened, promised death to Israel and honoured the Hamas terrorists. One guy walked along in front of us waving a Hizbullah flag. We heard that on a number of occasions the thugs tried to break through the police lines to attack and that they were verbally abusing the police continually. I guess it was little surprise then, when at the end a policeman came up to us and said that we were the nicest group of demonstrators he had ever encountered.

So there you have it. In the Alice in Wonderland world of the UK and its media, the anti-Israel demonstrators (who glorify terrorism, fight the police and call for the destruction of Israel) are apparently the 'opponents of the war' i.e. the peace lovers. And the pro-Israel demonstrators who sing songs of peace are the fascist Zionists supporting a genocidal war. At least the police (and any other passers-by in Kensington) know different.