Pro-Palestine demonstrations are “hate marches.” Suella Braverman

The UK home secretary, Suella Braverman, has called pro-Gaza protestors “hate marches” and charged them with calling for the removal of Israel from the map.

The declaration was made in the wake of the greatest Jewish fatality since the Holocaust—the massacre of civilians. Police should adopt a “zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism,” Braverman reiterated. But without a change in the law, police and human rights attorneys contend that courts will find it difficult to convict anyone chanting the slogan.

Despite the fact that detaining thousands of people—many of whom interpret the slogan as innocently advocating for Palestinian self-determination—Scotland Yard has declared that it is unlikely to arrest those who chanted it during the march. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, called Braverman’s remarks reckless and thoughtless, saying that while efforts to restore community cohesion and acknowledge the pain people are experiencing due to the Hamas attacks and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes and the glorifying of terrorism must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

With an increase in activity from Iranian-backed groups, the most senior police officer in the UK, Sir Mark Rowley, issued a warning that events in the Middle East were having a serious impact on Britain. In a letter to police officers, Braverman begs them to stop anyone trying to harass or threaten Jewish people by using songs, flags, or swastikas.